“Refused To Say No To Their Kid”: 25 Weird Babysitting Stories
Babysitting can be full of surprises, from the heartwarming to the downright bizarre. Most babysitters deal with kids doing unexpected things, like trying to “cook” with toothpaste, sneaking pets into the house, or staging elaborate games that leave the house looking like a tornado hit. Others recount strange encounters with eccentric parents, peculiar house rules, or inexplicable occurrences that made them feel like the kids would eventually end up having issues as grown-ups. Scroll below to dive into this list of the most bizarre babysitting experiences people shared in response to a question recently posed on Reddit, asking folks to recall the strangest babysitting experiences that convinced them the kids may not turn out to be well-adjusted adults!
#1 I have a friend who worked in a daycare right out of college.” “There was a baby who came in everyday dirty and hungry, so when she changed the baby’s diaper at the end of the day she would write the date and time on the diaper with a sharpie.” “That baby came back the next day with the same diaper…. 12 hours later. After a few days of that she called CPS.
Image source: Chickiepie, Vural Yavas
#2 Not a babysitter, but I think my cousin might be a good example in this situation. He moves around so much that he literally lives in a boat, he has done school virtual schooling his entire life, so his only friends are his cousins, and his mother is both a Covid denier and an anti-vaxer. I feel bad for the poor kid.
Image source: jkvader06, Julia M Cameron
#3 I babysat for my apartment complex when i was younger, practically running a day care out of my apartment. I had this one boy, Max, who was just reckless with everything.
Image source: mediocredepression, Mike Bird
He would listen to me, but any time one of the others needed attention, he’d disregard me and what I’d told him. I stopped this kid from getting multiple concussions, I made sure he didn’t play in traffic, but the one day he had an attitude and wouldn’t hold my hand when crossing the street, s**t hit the fan. People would speed through the complex, and a large SUV ended up hitting him while I was trying to get him out of the way (difficult with 8 other kids). It wasn’t just some rando either… it was his OWN MOTHER that hit him!!! She had me stop babysitting until he was back on his feet and terrorizing her again, but I wasn’t gonna take responsibility of this wild child and any potential injuries that came to him under my watch. He was a good kid, just did stupid s**t constantly, like trying to dive in the shallow end of a pool, jumping out of trees that are 15 ft up, running up to any and all dogs to pet them (i was a dog sitter too and there were 4 or 5 dogs in the complex that were too aggressive for him to be doing that), and it was genuinely a matter of when, not if, he was going to get hurt again and I can’t defend myself for his injuries.
#4 I’m a teacher, not a babysitter. But, when kids are afraid to go home or have their parents contacted about anything, there is something going on that raises red flags (and will, possibly, leave the kid fu**ed up for years to come).
Image source: Onyx_Owl, RDNE Stock project
I had a student a few years ago who broke down in tears in front of me, begging me not to email his mom. He had cheated on a test and was so scared of his mother finding out that, after the crying, he threw up in the trash can.
If you are that scared of your parents, then something is majorly wrong.
#5 S****y parents that doesn’t care. I once babysat a little boy, from the time he was 1-3. His mom was busy going on vacation and partying. I remember as he grew he had less and less clothes, because he outgrown the ones he had.
Image source: SantaStoleMyCar, Anna Evans
I remember he only had 1 pair of socks, because his mom would lose every f*****g sock. I felt ashamed delivering him to the daycare with two different socks, all the time. It may not seem like a big deal, but look at it from a different POV: if you can’t take care of a pair of socks, how are you gonna take care of a baby?
#6 Babysat this kid while I was in high school. He was like 8, I was 17. He got thrown out of mainstream school for flipping a desk on his teacher. I think the biggest “this kid is going to be screwed up when he’s older” was either when he showed me his collection of knives he stole from the kitchen or when he took me to see his dads p*** collection. Yeah, didn’t work there too long.
Image source: Top-Hat1341, Anabella Castro
#7 I was a casual babysitter, but when I lived in LA I babysat for a family that lived in a giant house on a hill and they refused to say no to their kid, and I wasn’t allowed to either.
Image source: springflingqueen, Hrant Khachatryan
She wanted to do something dangerous and I wouldn’t let her, and she told me her parents let her do it. I said “well I’m responsible for your safety right now so I can’t let you do that.” When her parents got home they scolded me for saying no. That was the last time I babysat for them.
#8 Knew a kid whose parents thought it was funny to tell him the wrong names for things. Socks were called turtles. Put your turtles on. S**t like this. Wondered why he had screaming meltdowns in daycare then kindergarten etc until he was finally able to read by himself. In grade 4. Because spelling turtle s o c k doesn’t give you any head starts.
Image source: dropthemasq, Kaboompics
#9 I’ve worked in several kindergartens.
Image source: Fun_Mistake4299, cottonbro studio
For me, most of the kids I thought that about.. Well, it wasn’t their fault. They had just been dealt a really bad hand in life, and I knew it would take so much work for them to get ahead.
One kid, he was 5. His mother was diagnosed with scizophrenia, and this kid lived with a foster family, who did the best they could do.
This mother had basically “babied” him, resulting in this poor 5 year-old having no social skills at all. He would get into conflicts with other kids because he didn’t understand their games and would interrupt them and they would, as a result, tell him to go away. He would then be sad, and took his sadness out on the kids by hitting them. He also had very bad verbal skills. When I first met him, I barely understood what he was saying. His tantrums reminded me of a much younger child. He also LOVED his mother. Since she had raised him by herself, she was his whole world.
The most heartbreaking situation was one day, when his mother came to visit him. This was after he had been moved to his foster family, and the mother was only allowed to see him with supervision. We had an agreement that she could come visit him in kindergarten for a few hours every week. So she showed up, and he ran into her arms. Two hours later, we had to physically pry him off her. He wanted to go home with his mom, and he could not let go of that. He didn’t stop screaming until two hours later when he tired himself out and fell asleep.
I thought to myself that day “This kid is not growing up to be a functioning adult.”.
It broke my heart. He was a really sweet kid. Funny, curious, inquisitive. I still send him a thought once in a while. I hope he’s doing okay.
#10 Not a babysitter, but a Paraprofessional at an Elementary School. First Grade teacher goes around the classroom asking the kids what they want to be when they grow up. One of the boys says “I want to go to prison like my Dad!”.
Image source: CharSea, RDNE Stock project
#11 I’m not a babysitter, but a relative of mine was for a short period of time. She said this 4 or 5 year old kid would tell her about how he wanted to cut into his pets to “see how they work.” The creepy behavior continued, she brought it up to the mother who didn’t seem to care. One day she arrived, and the kid brought her a handful of various teeth that weren’t human, still bloody. That was the last time she babysat.
#12 A twelve year old with no physical or developmental disability still needing his mother to take him into the family restroom. (My nephew).
Image source: NathanielleS, Hakim Santoso
#13 TL;DR Had a classmate whose parents were too lazy to teach him the right things, told him his education was full of lies and eventually home-schooled him, they let him go to school by himself aged 8 and he was clumsy and kinda rude.
Image source: anon, Max Fischer
Not a babysitter but had a classmate that had parents that knowingly taught him the wrong things to avoid him getting confused and eventually pulled him out of school after only a few years of him being in our school. They said for example that negative numbers don’t actually exist, decimal points are just full stops for big numbers and so on and so forth. Parents also gave him waaaaay too much free reign; I live in an area of London that isn’t the best for crime, i.e. you shouldn’t really be letting children go to school by themselves until at least age 14-15 and if so at least with a few friends. By age 8 his parents allowed him to go to school by himself (he lived about 15 minutes away). He was also extremely clumsy and could be very rude.
#14 In this instance it was when I was a preschool teacher but still applies.
Image source: WellRoundedMama, Diana
A boy joins the school (age 3 years) with his almost 5 year old brother. 3 year old boy (let’s call him Billy) has been enrolled and expelled from 3 other preschools in a year.
Billy beats other kids and teachers. Not hits beats them. I saw him grab a girl by the hair and start punching her repeatedly in the face because she wouldn’t share her toy.
Here’s the rub though. Billy obviously has issues, but the brother is making such a fuss to parents and other adults, Billy is never without being corrected. Billy once threw a ball to his brother and it hit the brother in the face by accident. The older brother said nothing until he realizes I saw it happen. The brother immediately falls to his knees and fake cries about Billy hurting him again “just like always”.
The parents inform us that at home the brothers are not allowed near each other, and since Billy is a handful, they put Billy in his area of the house and that is where he eats and plays separate from mom, dad, and brother.
So Billy is absolutely f****d when he grows up. He already has some underlying issues but he will never get the chance to work through them because he’s locked in his room away from his family and has no one who loves him. Even though he punched me in the face, I feel sorry for him.
#15 Over the summer I was a nanny for a pretty wealthy family. They were great and super down to earth and the kids were awesome and polite. However, they had a family visit for a few days. The family was from LA and the dad was a Hollywood agent. I don’t really care for celebrities, pop culture or brands but it’s all this family would talk about. They had two children and the older girl, who was around 6, said/screamed the following things to me over the few days:
Image source: troby07, Alex Green
“Get me conditioner because my hair is important!” (after throwing a goddamn fit when I told her there was no conditioner for her bathroom because it was in the room where the baby was sleeping)
“Nanny, get me food.” (literally snapped her finger above her head)
“Build me a fort or I’m telling them that you should be fired!” (after being so incredibly mean to the other children and constantly complaining how bored she was in a house full of toys, art, and swimming pool outside)
I shut this s**t down so fast and told her to never, EVER speak to me or another adult like that. I told her parents and they acted mortified but never dolled out consequences or an apology. She put on a full face of make up everyday and wore heels.
#16 Had a friends five year old little boy kill his kitten while I was making lunch because he didn’t want to play with it anymore.
Image source: Forevryours, Pixabay
Called the friend right away and told her and said I was gonna bury it in the backyard and that when she got home we needed to sit down and explain why what he did was wrong.
That evening we did just that but he failed to see how killing a living thing was different from throwing away a puzzle or book he didn’t want anymore. Needless to say I told her I could not continue watching him and that he needs some help. She understood and did try therapy, although she said that did not go well and he wasn’t allowed back. I moved out of that state a year later and she moved back to her home state but I always wonder how he turned out or if he will be the next Ted Bundy or what not as he would just be about 22 now.
#17 I used to work at a daycare and this one kid kept trying to stick his finger in the electrical sockets (the sockets were taped off so he couldn’t) and would fall from pretty high places and hit his head. I have no clue how he’s still alive but I now believe he is immortal.
Image source: Wii_wii_baget, Neven Krcmarek
#18 They were taught the original wording to the song “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe” by their parents. The slurred version.
Image source: DeFactoLyfe, Lukas
#19 Honestly, parents who don’t care about the kid’s education, for whatever reason. Probably, the parent didn’t graduate high school in the first place and doesn’t place a whole lot of value in education. Many of those kids (source: former teacher) end up working at McDonald’s or struggling to find some other work. They don’t even get into trades because you have to go to some kind of school for those, and school just isn’t something they can “do”.
Image source: DTownForever, cottonbro studio
This happened with my step-daughter, who is an absolutely wonderful person but her mom never cared how she did in school or even if she went. Hence her trying to make a living now at 25 by working in day cares, which does NOT pay very well. She wants to do other things but they’d all require school and she just says “I hate school.”.
#20 Had a kid who doused his mother’s bed with her and her current pump in it, with lighter fluid, and was sitting in the floor trying to light matches. He was just shy of 5. ?.
Image source: quietly_consumed, willy wo
#21 Smooth time.
Image source: Rossthedinoguy, Towfiqu barbhuiya
I babysat a 6 year old and his parents has a few strange rules, but Smooth Time was by far the worst. My first day while walking through the routine, I was told every evening after bath time, I was to cover this kid head to toe in petroleum jelly to “prevent cracks in his skin” aka dry skin. It happened every morning as well, but the mom or dad did it then. I really don’t think it was anything malicious, the other rules were similarly overly-cautious like the kid had to wear shoes at all times to prevent him hurting his feet, but that kid is gonna have a hard time at his first sleepover.
EDIT: What made it extra weird was the kid was extremely smart for his age and well articulated, so I don’t understand why the mother insisted he needed help. I felt like he could do it himself.
#22 When I was around 12 I’d babysit this family with 4 kids, usually for around 9 hours at a time. The older two were manipulative a******s who would convince the younger two(twins) to do what they wanted knowing that the twins would be the only ones punished.
Image source: anon, Tima Miroshnichenko
I caught on pretty fast, partially because I got the chance to babysit the twins alone and they were angels. The oldest especially scared the hell out of me, she was a monster, I’d regularly call my mom crying and begging for help because she stopped bothering to try to seem like a good kid after I started punishing all four of them when the older two got the twins into trouble, and she knew I saw through her. She was regularly on the front of the town paper for doing nice things, and went to church etc, so everybody who didn’t know her well loved her. She is a teenager now and is still a manipulative person who tries to ruin peoples lives if she doesn’t get her way.
Another kid I worry about is a total sweetheart, but he seems to have a very addictive personality and is incredibly competitive. His gaming time has to be very carefully regulated or it will completely take over his life and he’ll start getting anger issues. He can’t stand losing games to the point where he kicked the board over and stormed off crying when we played snakes and ladders because I landed on a ladder, despite still only being half as far along the board as him.
Edit: Also the two boys around 5 and 7 who made a game the revolved around trying to grab my boobs. I don’t really know what I expected after their 13 year old sister/my classmate told me she had trained the 2 year old to fetch her beer on demand.
#23 The boy took me to his shed and showed me a bunch of road kill, you figure it out.
Image source: Ieatkids2020, Tanner Vote
#24 When I lived in Canada and worked as a nanny, I used to do casual babysitting on the side for a number of local families. One of them, well – the parents were cool people with basically good hearts, but they should never have been parents.
Image source: anon, Lina Kivaka
Their youngest son had the video of the original Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson ‘Batman’ screened at his fourth birthday party, then ‘Army of Darkness’ at his fifth; the fifth birthday party was attended by the then four year old that I was nanny to, and I had to play dumb and tell my employers that I had no idea why their son was running round the garden with a Super Soaker shouting “This is my boomstick!” The parents were also ex-hippies who hauled their son and his two older sisters round in a bus following the Grateful Dead, and they bought their son a “Can You Find Stoned Waldo” T shirt at one of the shows; when the kid wore this shirt to school before he turned six, he was made to take it off and turn it inside out before putting it back on, and when asked if he knew why he’d been told to do this replied, “‘Cause there’s illegal activity on it, but my dad says it’s not illegal if you’re sick.” Listen, I am completely 420 friendly, and I love my horror movies, but a child that young does not need to be exposed to things like this…
#25 Baby sat a kid. That kid is 8, all she does all day is watch youtube videos. Her parents don’t care that youtube is just taking her down wormholes – so she now believes that the world is flat and she’s obsessed with watching people open these weird dolls that have a gazillion plastic parts.
Image source: No_cats_in_hell, freestocks
Her parents buy them for her and she opens them and discards them. She is 8 and still has temper tantrums cause her parents reward them, and her parents who don’t really like each other much, neither of them provide any discipline what so ever. Babysat once, once was enough – cause I said no to her and she hit me. Cause her parents have never said no and she has never had consequences for her behavior. Kid don’t have any real friends – cause her parents gave her no instructions in how to be a real human being. It’s a shame.
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