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It’s perhaps a bit strange that so many parents are happy to pass off the task of looking after their children to college students or even teenagers. However, for so many people it was the number one way to make some cold, hard cash when they were young. But, as anyone with even a tiny morsel of imagination can guess, sometimes things go wrong.
So we’ve gathered some of the creepiest stories from current and former babysitters. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the scariest examples and be sure to add your own thoughts and experiences to the comments down below.
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#1
Sharing this on behalf of my sister. When we were younger, our parents decided we were old enough to be left home by ourselves - both of them worked weekdays during the summer holidays, so we had to babysit our younger brothers.
One particular day I was feeling dizzy and I wasn't thinking straight. I was really tired. But, being 11, all I wanted to do was play video games. I grabbed my DS and sat on the couch, while my sister watched TV. Suddenly, I started seizing. I shut off completely. My sister, with no experience at all, rang an ambulance, my parents and grandma telling them what happened. I was raced to hospital within 10 minutes of seizing (we did live fairly close!). My younger brothers started crying, thinking I had died when they saw me on the stretcher (I was very blue at the time). My parents cried too; my dad has epilepsy and his family has a history - so it was a horrible feeling that it was passed down to me. However, my sister was calm and collected, serving as the backbone of the family that day.
She's never received praise for saving me, despite this happening multiple times. Even my brothers have learned to help out (one even picked a lock when I seized in the bathroom!). I'm on medication and take them daily, but I'm really indebted to my sister for being a real trooper through my first seizure!
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#2
I was playing hide-and-seek with the three kids I was babysitting (they were 3, 6, and 9) and I was seeking. Well, I found the oldest and the youngest but couldn’t find the middle child. After thirty minutes of searching (the house wasn’t that big). I couldn’t believe I actually lost a child; it was like a bad movie. So I called the parents, ready to have the worst from them on account of losing their child.
I told them what happened while I’m scared to no end, and they laughed and said “did you specify the boundaries?”
The WHAT.
Turns out the middle child hid in a bush in their neighbors front yard (a place that she had hidden in before, which is how the parents new about it) because I didn’t SPECIFY the BOUNDARIES of hide-and-seek.
Even though the parents weren’t mad, I still have nightmares about that.
#3
This happened like 20 years ago so the details are a bit hazy. I was in middle school, lived in an upper middle class neighborhood in a little New England town with virtually no crime. I had just started babysitting, had just taken a whole babysitting course at a local hospital , and after putting up some fliers, I got my first gig. It was at a house in my neighborhood (about a 5 minute walk from my house). They had an older girl (who was maybe 8 or 9) and a young toddler-ish age boy. Their mom was giving me a the rundown of their routine and giving me a little tour of their house. We went into her son's bedroom and she said something to the effect of "hmm that's odd, why is his window open...?", quickly shut the window, and seemed somewhat distracted from that point on. She hurried through the rest of the tour and then told me to go hang out with the kids while she finished getting ready. About 2 minutes later she hurries in, sort of hustles us out the door and outside. I'm pretty confused at this point, but being an awkwardly shy middle school-aged girl I just go along with it. Once we get to the driveway she pulls me aside and tells me that she went back to her bedroom after noticing the window was open, and saw most of her jewelry was missing. Soon after telling me this, about 10 cop cars come flying in. Cops tell me to leave, so I head home, pretty terrified. Turns out the burglar (who had broken in the night before) was still hiding in the son's closet, right next to where we were standing when the mom realized the window was open and something was off. Don't really like to imagine how that could have gone had she not noticed the open window and left me there for the night with her two kids. Needless to say, that was the beginning and end of my babysitting career.
#4
I was babysitting my niece a couple of years ago (she's six now, so she would have been three then). I put her to bed, read her a story, gave her a cuddle, then went down to watch a movie and ended up falling asleep on the couch in the living room.
I don't know how much later it was, but I woke up to something grabbing my ankle. My eyes shot open, I freaked out, and I shook my leg as hard as I could. Bad idea. She'd managed to unfasten her door, climb over two different baby gates and get down the stairs without doing herself an injury, all to ask me if I could read her another story.
We don't tell her mother about the time I almost dropkicked her daughter across the living room.
#5
My mom did some babysitting jobs for neighbors when I was younger, and I wanted to share the most frightening experience she had.
She was watching a friend's daughter who was somewhere in the 2-4 year old range. The little girl was so sweet. Even at such a young age she didn't want to inconvenience anyone.
While eating lunch, she started to choke, but every time my mom looked over at her, she would just smile big as anything. Mom eventually realized the poor girl was really choking and helped her. The poor kid would have chocked just to not have my mom worry.
#6
I babysat these two WILD terror boys that lived across the street when I was young, maybe 14. They were never disciplined and incredibly hyper and violent. The youngest one, maybe 4 at the time, swiped a pencil from a drawer and stabbed me in the forehead above my eye with it HARD. The lead broke off under the skin and I couldn’t get it out. It ended up getting infected and becoming extremely painful. I ended up having to have surgery and still have a scar from it. The kids parents paid the medical bills but never apologized. She just basically said that boys will be boys. They were awful people.
Toujin C'Thlu 2 hours ago
I really wish people would quit using 'boys will be boys' as an excuse for violent behavior.
#7
Last year actually! I get 2 elementary school age kids ready for school in the morning so their parents can leave for work. I came in one morning and the mom was on the floor, having what I later found out was a seizure. The dad had already left, and she wasn’t responding to me.
While I was on the phone with 911, I could hear the TV in the next room, and figured the other kid was still sleeping. She started to come out of it and got up to continue making her lunch for work. I could hardly convince her to sit and I was scared she’d fall and I wouldn’t be able to catch her.
I sent the TV-watching kid upstairs with the dog just before the paramedics arrived. I’m on the phone with the dad, neighbors are texting me if everything’s alright, the paramedics are asking me questions.
They take her to the hospital and I talk to the kids and get them ready for school. They were totally okay - really, they missed the whole thing. The school bus came, and I cried the whole way home!
#8
The kid was already sleeping for a few hours, i was watching a movie. At midnight i heard something scratching at the door. First I ignored it, got scared and checked again. Then i saw glowing eyes through the window: they had a dog and they didn't tell me.
#9
Not paid, but I was babysitting my brother while my parents went to Miami to get my mom her passport. This was around the time my little brother got pills for a.d.d and he was having the worst time swallowing one pill by itself and water...
Cue it gets around 8 pm and my brother comes down and says I practiced swallowing my pills! he was super proud and I was terrified. I thought he swallowed the whole bottle or enough to be overdosed. Call my mom up and she's like okay get him water and try to get him to throw it up.
He probably thought I was crazy for what I tried to get him to do. I learned later he was practicing with candy, specifically skittles.
Just that gut wrenching moment was terrifying to me.
#10
Watching a 3 year old neighbor. She was spinning in the computer chair and wanted to go faster. I spun her too fast and she had a seizure. Not a grand mal, but a focal. Her eyes were going left to right like a Felix clock and she was unresponsive. I laid her on the couch and she came to quickly. She had no idea what happened and said she felt fine. I called an RN and she said that fast spinning can cause it, it should pass quickly and her doctor should be notified on her next visit.
Told her mom immediately and she said she does it all the time. Thanks for the heads up.
#11
I was babysitting these demon siblings. It was when I first started babysitting. They were 8/9ish, boy and girl, generally bratty but I thought I could handle them. We were playing a game of hide and seek in the house. I was hiding in a tiny closet and the kids locked me in there.
I yelled, screamed, begged all they did was giggle. I was locked in there for 3 hours before their parents came home and let me out. By that time I was crying and had peed myself, not my proudest moment. I quit on the spot.
To this day I still won’t babysit or nanny older children. Generally once they’re potty trained or start school I’m out.
#12
Okay this isn't the worst story here, but it still terrified me. I was watching kids of teachers at my school while the teachers did conferences and there was a small baby. I didn't even know his parents but I had the most baby experience out of a group of five high schoolers so I was watching him. We were heading outside to play and I was carrying him while walking down the stairs when I tripped and slid down many steps holding this kid. He was fine and no one saw but I was terrified that I was going to hurt this baby that I just met.
#13
I brought the 16-month-old kid I was babysitting to an overgrown community garden in his neighborhood, where we often went for his daily nap and a bit of wholesome playtime. He had knocked over a flower pot, and while I was cleaning up, he completely disappeared. At the time, he wasn't a fast mover, but the garden was surrounded by fairly busy streets, and he had recently been distraught that I didn't let him run into an intersection to pick up a rock he liked. I panicked and scoured the garden to find him chasing a butterfly in a patch of tomatoes. He still calls me "Butterfly Lady!" and his parents have no idea why.
#14
I was reading to a 6yr old on the couch when his twin brother came running past to the kitchen. Twin then came running back the opposite way with a knife in his hand. I jumped up and ran after him as he tackled another kid on the trampoline and tried to stab him.
I didn’t babysit at that house much longer.
#15
Babysat a 1 year old who was very different than me, ethnically. I wasn’t familiar with the food they chose to feed their daughter & parents insisted she eat these sausage links (looked like them). Cut them up as well as I could but she started choking on one ... I thank GOD I was certified in CPR. Had to stick my pinky finger in her throat while she was basically upside down on my arm.
After I couldn’t stop crying and never could she. She was okay and perfectly fine but I had to decline watching her after.
#16
Babysat two kids, an older girl and a younger boy. The boy was adopted (the girl was not) and mentally troubled. As one point he dragged the vacuum cleaner out of the closest into the room plugged it in in the corner and just started screaming. Stuff like that the entire time.
#17
One of my first babysitting jobs. Girl was 3 or 4 and boy was about 1. The girl refused to go to bed because their was a man outside the sliding glass doors. I finally get her to bed and lay on the couch. Suddenly like two hours later I hear knocking on those glass doors. That little brat had gotten up and scared me. Btw last time babysitting for them. I was supposed to be done at 1am and her stupid mom rolled in at 8am.
#18
Was watching a 2 month old and a 6 year old. Both, unfortunately, have Epilepsy. I can relate because I, too, have Epilepsy. I was feeding the baby when I hear a crash and look over to the 6 year old having a Grand Mal seizure in the living room. I quickly but carefully set the baby in his pack n play and ran over and put the 6 year old on his side and let the seizure play out, there's nothing you could do to stop them, you have to let it go. I was also on the phone with 911. Literally, as soon as the ambulance got there, the 2 month old starting seizing as well. The paramedics were tending to the 6 year old and I was tending to the 2 month old so everyone in the room was busy. A second ambulance was there in minutes to take the baby to the hospital. I was told to ride with the baby and meet with the parents at the hospital. It was insane. I think the loud noises and crying scared the baby because he was crying and probably very overwhelmed and scared so that's what may have caused his seizure. The parents felt really bad for me but honestly, I felt bad for the kids. Hopefully they'll grow out of it while they're still young.
#19
I was about 13 and watching a kid old enough to walk and run, but not really talk. He was happily playing with cars and made a crash knocking his favourite under the couch. The couch had a pretty big gap under it and I was a small 13 year old so sliding under the couch to grab it was pretty easy for me. Well, when I come up from under the couch the kid is gone from the living room. As I sttod there wondering where he got to I could hear a munching noise, like someone was chewing on wet. I headed to the kitchen figuring the kid grabbed some of the apple that I left out on the table earlier when I saw movement from the bathroom. I don't remember if I dashed over or not, but when I got to the bathroom the kid was popping pills like they were candy.
I did my best to scrape the pills from the kids mouth and luckily they were just multivitamins, but young me was still terrified so I called the number his parents left for me. I thought they were going to be so mad with me, but they weren't too concerned. They came home at the time planned, payed me in full and gave me a ride home. The kid was fine and I babysat him a bunch more afterwards.
#20
When I was a preteen I babysat a lot.
Once I was babysitting two sisters- one was about 6 and the other was an infant. The 6 year old was down the street at a birthday party and the baby and I were just chilling and watching t.v. The parents were off at a movie and about 30 minutes after they left there was a knock at the door.
I got up and looked through the small window in the door to see this dude in a shirt with a xcel energy tag and a clipboard. He gives me this talk about checking a gas meter in the basement. I had this instinctual gut feeling that something was wrong and tell him that 'I'm the babysitter- give me a minute and I'll call the parents to see if they forgot to tell me about an appointment.'
So I head to the kitchen to get the phone and call up the mom (I also checked to make sure the backdoor was locked). She starts freaking out and assures me that they didnt have an account with xcel and tells me they're leaving the theater immediately.
I go back to the door and explain that I wont be letting him in. He starts getting pushy with me and telling me that its really important and is a safety issue ect. I didn't see any xcel energy van or car on the street outfront and am beginning to get nervous.
Luckily the parents called a neighbor who showed up and demanded the guy leave the property. The guy ran off and walked around the corner so we didnt get a vehicle description but the police came and took my statement as soon as the parents got home. A few days later the parents were telling me that a similar guy had gone to a neighbors and tried to intimidate his was into her house.
#21
When I was younger I had a bad fear of storms. I was babysitting three kids, I was about 13. The youngest one was napping and the other two were eating. They had the TV on and suddenly a tornado warning for our area came on the screen. I froze, I was terrified and had to take a moment to process. The two who saw the warning knew what it meant and started freaking out.
Before I could stop her, the oldest ran upstairs (to grab her American Girl Dolls) and I shouted after her. I finally collected myself enough to tell the child remaining at the table to go in the basement and get blankets. I ran upstairs to get the youngest one who was napping and, of course, the light in his room wouldn’t turn on so I stumbled through the room to get him. Remember, I’m terrified of weather in the first place so I’m completely freaking out on the inside that I have to take care of myself, plus three kids and a dog.
Finally, I get all of the kids down to the basement behind the bar the parents were building. As I sat down, part of the bar fell off and gashed my leg open. So now I’m trying to staunch the bleeding, keep the kids calm and safe, and keep myself calm.
Tornado never even came close, we were totally fine. Everything turned out well. Still one of the scariest moments of my life.
#22
This was about 25 years ago.
The family I was sitting for had a microwave that was so old you could turn it on with the door open. They also had a six year old. And the kid microwaved his hand. He only did it for 10 seconds (THANK GOD) to "see how it felt" but ust those 10 seconds put him in the hospital for a week because he literally cooked some of his hand. Scared the heck out of me, and his parents, who rushed home from dinner to take him to the hospital. I guess he turned out okay, but I don't really know; they never had me babysit for them again even though it was not my fault at all (I was busy making the 8 year old brush his teeth and the 6 year old snuck out of bed and ran into the kitchen).
#23
I was about 14, we lived in military housing, and there was a new couple with two kids who were referred to me. The house was pretty empty- they had only been there a week or so. And the mom was showing me around with the 3 month old baby in her arms.
I was a little worried- 3 months old was the youngest baby I'd every sat. And the mom thought similarly. They were only going to go to their welcoming event for a couple of hours, and it was right there on base, though, so not far. What could go wrong?
What went wrong was at the top of the staircase, as her 3 year old called her, and she was following me down. A strap on her sandal broke, and she suffered a catastrophic fall, taking me out as she toppled, dropping the baby in her arms. Well, I'm not sure how it happened, as I'm not exactly famous amongst friends for my grace, but as I was being bulldozed over I reached up and snatched the baby out of the air, and held her up high as we all fell.
I ended up with a black eye and some bruises where mom essentially tackled me. The baby was completely unscathed. Mom, she ended up with an open fracture of one leg, right above her knee, and a decent concussion. She didn't act as if anything hurt at all, though. She just kept on "You saved my baby, you saved my baby," as dad called the ambulance.
I think they paid me $200 for a 4 hour gig that night, which in 1987 wasn't too shabby. But I don't think my pulse slowed down for a week. I pretty much stopped babysitting shortly after that, because it freaked me out so much. Not just the event, but word getting around that I was like some superhero with cat-like reflexes, when I'm pretty sure if that happened again, i couldn't grab that baby if I tried.
#24
I was 14 looking after a 10 and 7 year old, overnight stay at a house In the sketchier part of town. I lived in Winnipeg so there was some gang activity in that area of town.
Everything started out normal, just hanging out watching tv until a kid knocked on the door about 16 years old, asked if the 2 could come and hang out, I said no because i had no idea if that was ok and told him sorry. This guy messages the 2 kids I'm looking after on their phone or whatever, and they want to go hang out with him, but still unsure about it, a bigger teenager wanting to hang out with the 2 young kids seemed weird even at 14 so i said no.
The kids eventually just decided that they were going whether i said yes or not, and left the house while i was in the bathroom.
Im a 14 year old scared of the neighborhood so i never got very far from the house looking for them. I called the mom of the kids right away and she came back from her party very quickly, and found the kids in no time, dragged them back to the house and I witnessed the scolding of a life time. She apologized to me a ton but I just felt bad about the whole thing.
Got paid a hundred bucks for it tho.
TLDR; kids left the house to hang out with weird older possibly gang affiliated teenagers.
#25
They decided they didn't like me, so they locked me out of their room and all three of them climbed out on the roof with the cordless phone. Then they called their grandmother who came over and scolded me.
#26
I was watching this little girl while her mom ran errands. 20 minutes into it, this huge man is pounding on the door, yelling. I get hella alert and jump from the couch, just staring out the window. The curtain was closed, but it was kind of see through. He starts yelling "LET ME IN GIRL. YOU BETTER" So I take the girl and a knife and we book it to her room. I lock it and call the police. The knocking stops for like 10 mins. Long story short, the police come and cuff the guy. Her mom rushed home and said that he was an ex who wanted his kid back. He wasnt supposed to come near her, legally. She said this guy has been troubling her, and didnt expect him to actually come to her house. I went home like what. I got paid extra so idfc.
#27
My friend asked me to come with her to baby sit her niece and nephew while their parents went out for the night. We got all set up with our movies and munchies and we were loving having the big tv all to ourselves. My friends sister called her around midnight saying “Make sure the doors are locked..” and explained that her husband had been thrown out the bar for being drunk and violent and was on his way home and my friends sister didn’t want him in the house. So we locked the doors. He arrived at the house, drunk and banging all windows and doors to get in. We just sat tight in our bed (which was a pull out bed on the floor) thinking he’d go away. Then we heard a crash and he had broken the window at the back door, let himself in, covered the entire house in his blood and was shouting and falling about naked. He walked into our room and obviously didn’t see us on the floor in the dark. He tripped over us and landed on top of me. My friend hit the lights and I was horrified to see I was covered in his blood and he was naked and incoherent. 13 year old me was not impressed at all.
#28
I was maybe 12 years old and watching two little girls. I had only watched them once before and so I was still really trying to impress their mom, they lived in a bad part of town and we didn’t play outside very often.
This night I was to spend the night and sleep on their couch. In the living room there was a door that led outside to the backyard, the front door was directly across the little townhouse from the back door. Off to the right, looking towards the front door was a kitchen and on the left was the stairs that led to the second floor bedrooms and bathroom. When you opened the front door all the way, the door blocked off the access to the stairwell.
At some point I fell asleep on the couch and was snapped awake. There standing in the house by the back foot is a VERY drunk man. He’s dirty, he’s drunk and he’s walking towards me. My 12 year old mind was panicking and I knew if I called the police, I’d be attached to the wall by the phone and couldn’t prevent him from going upstairs. They didn’t have a cordless phone yet.
I immediately started talking to this man, he says he’s looking for someone and he’s going to go upstairs, I bolt off the couch and beat him to the front door. That’s when I noticed headlights out front. Through the peep hole I see it’s a taxi and I fling the door all the way open and start yelling for the driver to help me. He rolled his window up and shrugged.
I do not know how I did it, but I managed to stand in front of the wide open door and block his way up the stairs. He’s pushing me hard and all I can think of are these little girls asleep in their beds and I remembered he’s looking for someone who doesn’t live here.
I say “hey hey!! Rosie and Trevor are waiting for you in the cab! Look! They’re waving you dude!”
He buys it and walks out the front door just enough for me to slam and lock it. I run the the back door and lock that too. After him banging on the door for a few minutes he goes around back and tries to get back in.
He leaves in the taxi cab and I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. I never told anyone, never phoned the police and never, ever went to bed without locking all doors and windows again.
#29
I was in highschool at the time and probably 17. I was babysitting for a 4 year old boy, and just before bedtime, I had to let their dog out to pee one last time. I shut the door behind me so the child wouldn't get cold with the door open, but as I try and re-enter with the dog, the door is locked behind me. The boy sees this and we try together to get the door unlocked (the deadbolt was unlocked but the handle had a lock). He could NOT manage to do this and was beginning to freak out. He then tells me with increasing panic that he can smell burning. Obviously I am freaking out on the inside, but on the outside I told him to stay put and immediately went to the neighbors. Luckily they were out drinking in their garage and all came over to help us and wait while the police were called. I didn't care if I had to smash a window, I was getting back to that kid and doing my job. One of the neighbors successfully talked the child through unlocking the door after about ten minutes and I was able to call off the police response. Nothing was burning, he just had a panic reaction. I got him all tucked into bed, the neighbors went home, and eventually I had to tell his parents what went down.
They never asked me to babysit again.
#30
Was caring for a 3 and 5 year old for a week (24/7) while their parents were out of the country and could not be reached. A few days in, the three year old started complaining of pain, multiple symptoms (including severe swelling and bloody stool) landed us in the ER of the local Children’s Hospital. We waiting in triage overnight for 6 hours with both kids exhausted, and one screaming in pain and inconsolable. I was going out of my MIND. We ended up being admitted and she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. Super fun week!!! The other child (5yo) also had severe food allergies so really could not eat almost anything in the hospital cafeteria. It was, hands down, one of the worst times in my life. I had my worst to date migraine afterwards from all the stress. 0/10, would not recommend. 🙃.
#31
In high school, I regularly tutored an eleven year old girl, and the parents had me babysit her and her twin a couple times. One time, the parents were meant to go downtown to a game then be back around twelve.
Around 8 or so, it started raining very heavily. I live in a gulf city, and storms can blow in fast and turn into flooding quickly. Once it became clear we were in for a big storm the parents tried to head home early, but the streets had already started to flood and they ended up trapped in a parking lot. The parents called and we agreed I'd spend the night in their guest bedroom. I had the kids go to bed and set up in the kitchen to do homework and watch Netflix.
After a bit of this I noticed water seeping in from under the back doors. They had a large house with like three double doors to the back, so it was a big area. I got every towel in the house and started wiping up the water and using the towels to block the door. After this had mostly been cleaned up, I went back to the kitchen table to watch more Netflix. Not even 15 minutes later, the power cuts out and all the lights shutoff. This freaked me out a bit, but I tried to stay calm. Then the burglar alarm went off in the other room. II was in a pitch black house with two kids, surrounded by flooded roads no one can drive on. After a minute, I realized I was the closest thing in the house to an adult, so I grabbed the biggest kitchen knife and went to go check all the doors. They were all still closed and no one was in the house, so I called the parents. It turns out the alarm went off when the power cut out, and I just needed to shut it off with a code upstairs. This happened about 3 more times over the next few hours.
After the power came back on, I thought things had chilled out but then we got a tornado warning. I went and got the kids from upstairs and we all hung out in the study for about an hour until the warning passed. At this point it was about 2 am, and I passed out in the guest bedroom. The parents woke me up when they got home around 7 am and I drove home past giant fallen branches and stalled abandoned cars. It was surreal.
#32
My mum used to run a “private kindergarten” in our house when my siblings and I were young. She looked after kids from a few months to 8-10 years old.
One day, a boy, who must have been around 3-4 at the time went missing. His parents had just arrived to pick him up and when called for, he didn’t show. We started looking for him, the parents, my mum and myself, the oldest of the children too (I was around 7 years old at the time). I noticed that our front door was open, which was a big no-no in our house: in order to be able keep everyone safe, all doors had to be closed at all times. I went out to our garden through the open door, and started walking while calling the missing boy’s name. Just a few steps from our front door, there was a swimming pool and as I approached it, I noticed the missing boy was floating on top of the water, face down.
My memory gets all blurry here, but I do remember feeling shocked and horrified despite the fact that I didn’t fully understand what has happened. I called out to my mum, she and the boy’s parents came running, the boy was taken away with an ambulance and turned out to be fine. We attended his birthday party later that year and my mum and his parents are still friends today. Oh and the door: the boy’s mother forgot to close it when they arrived which means the boy snuck out and got himself in trouble in less than 5 minutes.
#33
When I was a preteen I would help out in the church nursery on Sundays to get out of having to go to sermon. One of the women who ran the nursery asked me to pass out animal crackers to the kids, which were stored in one of those bulk plastic containers you get at Costco. The container was nearly empty, so I stuck my hand in and started fishing around for crackers. The next thing I know I feel a small, circular object and pick it up. It turns out to be a pill. So I bring it to the woman in charge. She speaks broken English and acts like she doesn't have a clue what I'm talking about, so I show her the pill in the palm of my hand. (I believe it was either an aspirin or Tylenol, it was small and white.) She didn't seem to care one bit that there was medicine in the bottom of the container and told me to keep passing out the crackers. I told my Mom what happened and she spoke with one of the youth ministers. I don't know what ever became of the lady, I stopped going to church soon thereafter for other reasons, but I always wondered what the hell that pill was doing in a bunch of crackers and what could've happened to one of the kids if they had ingested it.
#34
Babysitting for my parents to go out to dinner (I’m 20 my little sister is 1.5).
Well they weren’t home when they said they would be, or hours later. Not answering their phones, no one I knew had heard from them. My dad usually checks in on the two of us every hour or two, so no contact for hours was very strange, especially past when they said they would be home. I just remember laying in bed for hours looking at my little sister scared that something bad had happened to our parents and I would be alone to raise her.
Turns out that after dinner they went to an old friend’s house and fell asleep on their couch. They were perfectly safe, just slept through all my phone calls.
#35
The family friend who baby sat me and my siblings was watching some kids including some of her own grandkids when her grandson got attacked by a neighbors dog. The family friend was going outside to check on the older kids out back and her infant grandson managed to slip out with her without her knowing. The neighbors had a big black dog (maybe a Rottweiler) that was chained in the backyard and the kids knew to avoid it, but her infant grandson did the opposite and was picked up and shaken like a rag doll. His mom drove him to the hospital crying while he was in the back seat telling her "it will be ok mommy" trying to calm her down and he needed something like 30 stitches or more.
#36
My girlfriend (now my wife) and I were watching her 2 month old niece for about an hour. The baby just started choking on air. Nothing in her mouth. She hadn’t eaten in a while so I don’t think she could have been choking on puke and in any case none came out. It felt like it was going on for a long time.
She stopped as I was starting to dial 911. The baby was perfectly happy afterwards. We still have no idea what happened. She’s 8 now so I guess she’s been ok :).
#37
Babysat a friend's kids a few weeks ago. One of them (about 1.5 yo) came wandering out of the hallway pointing and saying "man! man!" There was no one home except me, the kids and another mum. I'm hoping he just saw a picture or maybe a neighbour through a window or something.
#38
When I was about 17 I babysat this little boy who was about 3 years old. His mom worked at 5am, and she had to walk to work so she always wanted me to be at her house by 4am. So I would show up tired, she would leave for work, and I would lock the door behind her and lay in her bed with the toddler and fall back asleep.
Well one day he woke up before me, went into the front room, unlocked the front door to their upstairs apartment, walked downstairs, sat on the sidewalk and cried for his mom. I woke up to someone knocking on the door, and panicked when I noticed there was no child in the room with me. I ran out of the room and saw a woman standing in the open door-way with the little boy. I said thanks and closed the door. (Later I felt really bad about just closing the door on her but I was freaking out!!)
I didn't know what to do, I was crying and having a panic attack. I called my mom and told her what happened and she told me I needed to tell his mom. Well before I had the chance she had already heard about it and called me. (small town)
Needless to say she was not very happy, but she still let me babysit until I eventually got a different job.
TL/DR the toddler I was watching left the apartment while I was asleep and was returned to me by a complete stranger.
#39
I’m not even a babysitter. I worked at a bike shop and the owner told me to take his kids to get ice cream. They’re really young and kept bothering him and he wanted them out of the shop for a bit.
We start going down the street and the boy just bolts - he ran straight across a pretty busy intersection while the light was green.
Thankfully it turned out OK as he crossed back over after the light turned red. We did end up getting the ice cream. I made him hold my hand the rest of the way. But, I was totally unprepared to watch someone’s kids and felt like I had to because my boss insisted.
#40
I'd lived in NYC for 3 months and was babysitting to make ends meet while going to grad school. It was my second time babysitting an 8 year old with special needs and her 2 year old sister. After dinner, something set the older one off and she ran to the door, flung it open, and ran out of the apartment. It was so unexpected, and I was in just my socks. Initially I ran to the door after her, but I didn't think I could run down the stone steps fast enough in my socks to catch her without leaving the 2 year old for too long. I had visions of her toddling after us and falling down the stairs. I picked the younger one up and went down the stairs as fast as I safely could.
Now thankfully this story has a happy ending. The parents of these kids were actually just one floor below us, so I rushed in as calmly as I could and just said, "I need you to come with me please." To make a long story short, we quickly found the 8 year old hiding in an office on the same floor, but man, that feeling of "I just lost someone's child in New York City." I went on to babysit them for 3 years, but after that I *always* triple locked the door and the few times she tried that move again I channeled my inner Usain Bolt and beat her to the door to hold it closed.
TL;DR always be ready for a child to try and escape.
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