I lost track of the amount of times I wondered off. My bestie and I once decided to build a fort in his backyard when we were suppose to be hanging out front. We neglected to tell anyone, cut to two hours later and the whole neighborhood is scouring the block for us. Needless to say getting punished was an understatement. I'll never forget the look of horror and relief on my babysitter's face. Sorry Janeen.
EVIL
Bad Child GIF by Tones and IGiphy"A family from church asked my mom if I could babysit for them, so I had to."
"Soon after the parents left, sitting in their living room watching cartoons with both the kids, a boy and a girl, the little girl asked for some kind of elaborate snack or something and I chuckled and said "no sorry."
"No expression on her face, the little girl stood up, crossed the living room to a crate that their large dog was locked in, released it, and told it to go after me, which it did. I remember that evil little kid cackling while this huge dog chased me in circles around the house. And that was the end of my babysitting career."
Badddger
PANIC!!
"My sister was babysitting and I got a screaming panicked call from her. She was putting one child down for the night (a girl around 3, I think), and the little boy (around 6) stopped playing, grabbed a chair, unlocked the front door, and left the apartment. She was distraught. I told her to call 911 and I'd come help her with the toddler. When I got there, the police were talking to her and wrapping up."
"Thankfully, even though it was dark, two older women had been out for a walk and found him wandering down the sidewalk of one of the busiest roads in town!The weirdest thing is that the parents were completely unfazed. They apologized for NOT TELLING HER HE HAD DONE IT BEFORE and wanted her to babysit again. My sister never babysat again."
iaperson2015
The Filthy Guy
"When I was in high school I used to baby sit for a family that had a glass door off their kitchen and when ever I'd get something out of the fridge for the kids I'd think to myself how scary it would be if someone was just standing there looking in."
"One night it was storming really bad and I went to get one of the kids a glass of milk and lighting flashed and a filthy man I'd never seen was standing there framed in the glass door staring in. I screamed and yelled for the kids to go hide. Of course they didn't listen and ran into the kitchen."
"Turns out it was their uncle stopping by to drop off something he had borrowed. He worked construction and had gotten quite muddy and was just going to leave what ever it was by the door which is when I saw him. So it ended up being a case of nothing, but the terror I felt when the lightning lit him up was pretty intense."
wiggysbelleza
Bad Dad
"The estranged husband showed up, drunk, demanding to see his kids. Tried to break into the house. I called the wife and the police. Never babysat for them again, even though the wife was very nice - just too traumatizing for all. The husband moved away I believe. Wife is remarried and much happier."
misseslp26
Too Thin
Over It Maid GIFGiphy"So I used to babysit for the lady who lived next door to me a few years back."
"Her children's room was the bedroom that shared a wall with me. While putting the kids to bed I heard someone moving around my bedroom (the walls were stupidly thin). One of the children told me that they hear the noise a lot. My parents weren't home. I didn't want to go home."
Marynotpoppins
See, this is why I started a neighborhood dog walking business instead of watching kids. Kids are a mess. And their parents aren't much better.
Shots in the Fall
Drunk Happy Hour GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy"1978, fall (October?), Wyo. I was watching my Spanish teacher's kids when I heard a gunshot."
"It actually went through a small shared section of the wall. Scared the crap out of me! I knew a cop, called his house and he came over. Turns out the neighbors were cleaning their hunting rifles… drunk."
NVCricket97
Damn Cousins
"Babysitting" my cousins when I was like ~10 and the three of them were less than 5. Babysitting is in quotes because their mom was home but I was in charge of them in the bedroom. She was in the living room with my oldest cousin. I was playing with one of them when the youngest, about 2, started coughing, holding his neck."
"I clearly remember just standing there for 5 seconds, stone cold completely bewildered. I had NO idea what to do. I just froze. Luckily my oldest cousin somehow heard the baby choking and he rushed in. He grabbed the baby and pulled a barbie shoe out of his mouth, while I still stood there, shocked."
"I got an earful from my aunt and mom for nearly letting the baby die. I'll never forget it. I wasn't afraid, I wasn't scared, I didn't feel anything. Just froze. Let this be a lesson to never let 10 year olds watch babies. They're just not equipped to deal with disaster... or at least I wasn't."
mdizzle106
Poor Bub!!
"At 8 or 9 I was put in charge of my infant brother for some reason. Got distracted by my lipsmackers collection, and the little booger climbed up the bunk bed (I didn't even know he could do that!), he fell onto the side of a wooden toy box and broke his leg."
"My mom insisted it wasn't broken even though he wouldn't stand, because he barely cried. Poor bub got a big banana yellow cast while I sobbed hysterically, I STILL feel bad about it. He would turn out to just be the injury prone brother. I don't know why that never tipped them off it's a bad idea to put children in charge of children."
Fimmy
Tragedy
Sad Tears GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy"Nothing spooky, just generally unsettling. Their first baby died of SIDS so I basically sat in silence listening to the baby monitor the whole night, worried in case something happened."
goblin__king
PTSD
"I was babysitting a child and my own 2 yo. Took them down to the pool and there was a 3 yo boy being babysat by a guy and his girlfriend there. Apparently They turned their backs on him, bc when we came down inside the pool area, the 3yo boy was face down in the pool. I screamed, jumped in and pulled the boy from the pool. Started CPR, and he threw up a bunch of M & Ms."
"They had a pulse when we was placed in the ambulance, but he was declared brain dead 3 days later and he became an organ donor and saved 5 children. To this day, I can’t watch hair floating loose in the pool. Gives me ptsd flashbacks after 35 years."
suffragettebloodline
Panic
"I live in a small town and our prize possession is a rather large mental hospital. I got a call from the parents telling me to lock all the doors and windows because a dangerous patient had escaped and was in our neighborhood. I told the kids to stay inside, but didn’t tell them the reason in order to not freak them out. I went to change a diaper and when I got back the oldest boy (about 8) was missing."
"I immediately started panicking and went to look in the backyard. He had decided that that was the perfect time to pee outside because 'the outside potty was better.'"
"Bonus: I babysat two year old twins and they often burped and farted at the same time, it was terrifying."
Chubb_Rubb8
The Contractor
"Watching my younger sister, infant at the time. I wasn’t much older, like 7. Mom’s in the house, but downstairs dealing with a contractor that came by. Upstairs on the second story, internal balcony that overlooked the central area of the first floor. Railings all around the upper edges, with gaps, but pretty small gaps in most cases."
"Sister is crawling around, puts her head between bars on railing. Annnnd her head is small enough that her whole body starts to slip through. I got ahold of her shirt and some diaper before she tumbled completely through the railings. Managed to keep the grip and stopped her midair with my arms hanging out the railings."
"Cried bloody murder and my Mom stood below while the contractor sprinted upstairs and pulled my sister up and back in. 30+ years ago at this point, but still remember it pretty damn clearly. I took it pretty well but parents were quite shaken for awhile."
Nordramor
Loaded
Girl Fire GIF by MOODMANGiphy"The 12 yr old pulled a gun on me. A real loaded pistol. No reason... just for the lols I guess."
jadechey
NEVER leave the yard!
"Had the neighbor's teenage boys climb over the backyard fence between the two properties while I was swimming with the kids. Ushered the kids inside and called the dad who called the police and came home himself. Other time, same family, the kids were out front playing in the yard with their toys while I was making PB&J sandwiches for lunch (so only about 5 minutes since I'd left them) when one of the kids came inside."
"I asked where their sibling was and they said they'd gone down the street to visit their friend. Panicking, I asked if they knew where the friend was and they said they lived down the street but didn't know where they lived exactly, so I went running down the street, screaming this little kid's name until they came out of one of the houses, surprised that I was so upset."
"Dragged (not literally) them back home and told them they were NEVER to leave the yard, especially without telling an adult where they were going."
dragonmom1
Weirdo
"My wife does hair from home and her clients will often bring their kids with them. This usually results in me having to keep them occupied for several hours. One time, this woman came with her son & daughter who were maybe seven and five and this boy is farting non-stop and laughing his head off."
"At one point he aims his arse towards his sister and farts in her general direction, which seems to piss her off. I made some joking comment like 'Do that again and I'll fart on you' and this kids eyes just lit up. He starts going "Yeah! Yeah! Fart on me! Fart on me!" and won't shut up about it."
"I get a bit freaked out and try to brush it off and carry on distracting them and trying to entertain them but this kid won't drop it. He carries on farting for the next 20 or so minutes and at one point flat out sits on his sister and let's one rip. She looks like she's about to burst out crying and wriggles free, then this kid lies down on my sofa, opens his mouth wide, then literally screams "PIN ME DOWN AND FART IN MY MOUTH" with clenched fists raised in the air."
"I had maybe another hour or so of looking after these kids and he spent the entire time trying to get me to fart in his mouth or on him in some capacity. Kid was f**king weird."
rattmob
In the Dark
"Was babysitting my niece. She started crying in her crib upstairs so I paused Netflix and went up to check on her. The lights were completely off as to not wake her up more. As I was standing in this completely dark room soothing her I heard voices downstairs in the living room talking about breaking in and taking things."
"I had been alone in the house, my cellphone was downstairs, and my sister wasn't coming home for another four hours. I was freaking the f**k out. After what seemed like forever I got up the courage to go check out the noise... only to find Netflix had unpaused and it was a heist movie I was hearing."
joyfall
Scary Times
"I got a text from the kid's dad saying to lock all the doors and close the blinds. There was a shooter running around the street they lived on. I wasn't really able to get a lot of information so I just turned the TV on and kept the kids distracted. Turns out there was a school shooting that had happened and the kid's mom was actually at the school when it happened. She was fine but it was extremely stressful because she was pregnant at the time."
esswein13
Placing Blame
Drunk GIF by Big Brother CanadaGiphy"A kid got up from bed went downstairs opened the fridge and asked 'can i make some chocolate milk?' I said no and he poured the milk on the floor and threatened to blame me."
dabestpotatox2
Tragic
"Growing up, my friend's mom worked as a babysitter. She was stay at home, but then when dad was home, she was free to go babysit for some other family and pull in some extra cash. Kid she was watching had SIDS. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Completely shattered her as a person."
"She left home, I don't know if she ever came back. At least that was the story I was told. Thinking back now, I suppose it could have been one of those situations where something horrible and violent happened, she ended up in prison, and I got told a sanitized version."
It takes a special kind of heart to look after kids. I don't have it. And kids today need better rearing. So I'm stick with fur babies. I need a Xanax after this thread.
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