Let me ask you: have you ever babysat someone’s child? That’s something I’ve never had the pleasure of doing, ha, ha. I say that with a bit of a smirk as ‘pleasure’ might not be the right word to describe it.
It’s especially true when you listen to the following stories some babysitters shared on Reddit. A used asked, “Babysitters of Reddit, what were the weirdest rules parents asked you to follow?”, and the answers might actually shock you. Check them out.
This Odd Request
“I had to put the kids to sleep with the CD player going. That wasn’t the weird part. It was a recording of their parents basically going, ‘Molly, you are wonderful. You are a star. You’re going to shine bright.’ It was several hours long, and apparently, they listened to it every night.”
Oh, wow! I don’t know about that, ha, ha.
This Hot Sauce Lover
“No hot sauce after 9 p.m. To give some context, the kid LOVED hot sauce…but his folks were super overprotective…maybe they had heard of people eating too much hot sauce and throwing it up as it would not settle? Honestly, the kid was made of solid steel…we went to Taco Bell pretty much every time I babysat.”
Oh my goodness, that’s hilarious. I love hot sauce, too, but not that much.
This Defiant Babysitter
“Asked me to drive their three-year-old twins around in my personal vehicle for 2.5 hours because ‘that’s the only way they can nap’. No. I simply put the kids in their beds, closed the door, and they were asleep in 15 minutes.”
Ha, ha, right on. Apparently, the babysitter knows more than the actual parents.
This Hippy Family Rules
“Hippy family. The two-year-old had no bedtime and no rules. ‘She can eat what she wants, no bedtime, and if she falls asleep, leave her wherever she crashed.’ The parents came home at 2:30 to a toddler eating chocolate cake on the couch with her preferred American Pickers on TV. That’s fine apparently.”
What a lucky kid, huh?
This Close For Comfort Situation
“The mom is very pregnant and asks that when the baby is born if I could wrangle the toddler while the mom gives birth in a bathtub at home. The two-year-old was to be in the room, watching, while I explain what was happening. I left that evening when the parents came home (fried chicken in the toddler’s hand, Keeping Up with the Kardashians on TV) and denied their next request to come to sit. As a 20-year-old, I wasn’t prepared to see the mess of someone else’s home birth!”
Oh, heck no!
These Free-Wheeling Parents
“On the opposite end of the spectrum, the family gave me instructions to let their kids drink chocolate milk, which they were otherwise not allowed to have. I think they wanted their kids to associate babysitter time with fun time, so the parents could go out more often. Seemed to work out well for them, the kids both grew up to be successful people.”
Yay, party time!
This Parenting Style
“To give him warm milk in a baby bottle right after every dinner. He was a fully functional 10-year-old boy.”
Sometimes it’s harder for parents to let go of their babies than it is for the babies to grow up. It seems to be the case here. What do you think of this scenario?
This Outdoor Time
“If Brady stands by the door it just means he needs to go out. Open the door, and let him back inside in a few minutes. Brady was a four-year-old boy.”
At first, I thought they were talking about a cat, and then I realized it was their actual kid, ha, ha.
This Weird Situation
“The mom had me put her kids in their car seats and sit in the driveway with all the car doors open while she just hung out inside the house. Five hours of me standing in the driveway watching them sit inside their car. Never returned.”
I guess she needed to get some cleaning done. Otherwise, I can’t explain this behavior here.
These Music Lovers
“The 3-year-old daughter HAD to watch this VHS tape of a live Fleetwood Mac concert before bed. I was like, okay cute, that’s adorable, 3-year-olds love the weirdest things she’s so quirky and this will be fun. But she didn’t love it. She always wanted to watch land before time instead. Obviously, the family eventually found out I wasn’t making her watch it, as I had no reason to believe it was a secret. They were clearly upset by this and I was never called back to babysit.”
Aww, I feel so bad for this child. I wouldn’t want to sit through that every night.
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This Babysitting Test
“Wasn’t a rule, but on my first day, they sent over an adult male friend of theirs who asked to come in. I said no, and was then told I was being tested and I had passed.”
Oh, snap! I guess you showed them after all, ha, ha.
This Uncomfortable Feeling
“A single mom once told me to use the bat by the door in the event the kids’ father came by and tried to take them. That was pretty weird and uncomfortable.”
Wow, I don’t think I would feel comfortable the whole night wondering if the kids’ father would show up.
This Rule Breaker
“The mother: ‘Our children (6, 4, 1) are vegetarian, please respect that!’ The father, once the mother had gone upstairs: ‘Sorry, but they are my kids, too! If they want meat, it’s because they probably need it. There is a fridge in my workshop…'”
Ha, ha, I hope the mom didn’t find out.
This Religious Tribe
“‘Don’t let the children play with the nonbelievers.’ They were a super Christian family that I babysat for a few times. One time the children were looking out the window at the neighbors playing and I asked if they wanted to go outside and play, and I shit you not, this little 5-year-old looks me in the eyes and says ‘We can’t. They are not of God. So creepy. I wasn’t asked back after I accidentally said “oh my gosh” one time. Apparently gosh is too close to God.”
Oh, boy!
This Prevention Method
“I used to regularly babysit one of my younger cousins. At nap time I had to put her in zip-up pajamas with feet. I then had to duct tape the zipper down and duct tape the wrists in a way that wasn’t restricting but she couldn’t pull her hands into her onesie. If I didn’t do this she would pull her hands in and dig in her diaper…always. My aunt got tired of cleaning poop-covered walls regularly.”
Yikes!
This Freshness Obsession
“One had me feed her 1-year-old ONLY from a freshly opened baby food container. If she only ate two or three spoonfuls, I was to throw it away and when she wanted more in 15 minutes I was to open a new one. I thought it was so she would finish her meal and be full for a while, but she said it was OK to feed her every time she wanted it. I would probably throw away five or six jars in a two-hour sitting. They cost more than I usually made for sitting.”
Wow, I would go broke if I did that.
This Reassurance
“The first time I went to their house, they told me about their daughter’s very serious peanut allergy. They walked me through the EpiPen, prevention, phone numbers of their neighbors who were doctors — all fine so far. I took this very seriously. But then the mother put her hands on my shoulders and said, ‘If she dies, we wouldn’t blame you. It wouldn’t be your fault.’ While I appreciated the thought, this freaked me the hell out, and I was 100 times less comfortable.”
Um, what? What an odd thing to say, right?
This Lazy Parenting
“I had to change the kid’s cloth diaper every two hours on the dot. The kid was 6. I assumed it was for some sort of disability or something, but no. His parents just didn’t want to potty train him, and the kid was content with being babied. I remember just making the kid put his own diaper on and encouraging him to use the bathroom if he had to go. I never went back.”
I know potty training is hard but you can’t just give up, huh?
Oh my goodness.
Can you believe these babysitting stories? Now I’m even more glad I never took on one of these jobs. It seems that some parents have trust issues. Don’t you think? And what’s up with all the weird requests? If I got asked to babysit for these odd couples, I would run out of there faster than I could say “no.” Have you ever babysat for someone and had a weird experience?
