Babysitting can be a frustrating profession.
Not only does one have to wrangle the youth, they have to deal with parents.
And parents can be the real issue.
Usually, all people talk about are the babysitters breaking the rules.
But who holds parents accountable?
Case in point…
Redditor yftdddtf wanted to discuss her experience and get some feedback. So naturally, she came to visit the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit.
She asked:
“AITAH for calling the police on parents?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“I (23 F[emale]) was asked to sit for a date night while the parents went to a wedding yesterday.”
“I was supposed to have a baby boy, 13 weeks old, and his sister, 2 years old, from 5 to 11 p.m.”
“This is not my first time watching either child.”
“Our evening went as smoothly as it could with a toddler and baby.”
“I got them to bed by 7:30 and started putting the house back together.”
“At 10:15 pm I got a text from the parents asking if I could stay until 12 am and I told them that’s fine and to have fun.”
“12:15 rolls around, and I haven’t heard from the parents.”
“I sent a text asking if they’re close and didn’t get a response.”
“I can be pretty anxious, so my mind started thinking they got into an accident or something bad happened.”
“I didn’t hear from them after 5 minutes and then decided to call, but got no answer.”
“1 am rolls around, and the baby has already woken up to feed again, and I’m just overly anxious at this point.”
“It’s 1 am, and I have no one to call to calm me down.”
“I would never assume that a late parent is just a late parent at 1 am.”
“So I am just on our city’s Twitter page, where they’ll let you know road conditions and accidents, seeing if something happened within the last hour and a half but nothing.”
“2 am rolls around, and I kid you not; I have called around 15 times and received no answer from either parent.”
“I wanted to call the police at that point but also didn’t want the kids woken up and taken out of the house at 2 am.”
“I was hoping that the parents would walk in, and although I’d be angry, at least they’re fine, but again, that didn’t happen.”
“At 5 am I decided to call the police and report the parents missing.”
“And I told them I couldn’t keep the kids after having them all night.”
“The police showed up at 5:22 am and took a statement from me.”
“I was asked for the parent’s numbers, and the police asked if I could stay with the kids until they could figure out what exactly they’re going to do.”
“At this point, the neighbors were outside, and the woman directly next door told me she could stay with them, but I didn’t know their relationship to her, so I told her I’d wait with the kids for a bit.”
“At f**king 5:48 am, they roll up and are greeted by the police.”
“The mom ran into the house, thinking something had happened to the kids, and sighed when she saw they were there.”
“’Our phones died, and we didn’t know how to get home from the venue,’ is what she said to me, and I was fuming!”
“I called them irresponsible and the shi**iest parents I’ve ever worked for.”
“I demanded she pay me on the spot, and I left.”
“I got a super long message about how this is my job, and I’m a huge a**hole for disrespecting them and calling the police.”
“She felt like I could’ve left them with the neighbors or called the emergency contacts, not the police.”
The OP was left to wonder:
“AITAH?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed some options to the question AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Many Redditors declared OP was NOT the A**hole.
“NTA. You actually did the right and safest thing.”
“Also, it’s 2024. Who in this day and age doesn’t have either a portable charger or a car phone charger?”
“They are parents.”
“They should have been prepared for their phone dying.”
“Also, they got lost for THAT long?”
“Nah, something fishy there in my opinion.
“Wipe your hands off them.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” ~ MyPath2Follow
“NTA. You are totally right.”
‘I have a cable in my car. They could have stopped anywhere and asked for a favor to be able to recharge their phone or just get directions.”
“There is no excuse, especially with children so young.”
“I hope the police had a serious talk with them.”
‘You must have spent a terrible night.”
“You did the right thing for the children’s safety.” ~ TwinZylander214
“I hope the cops checked to see if they drove home drunk, too.”
“NTA at all.”
“Those parents are terrible and are deflecting blame for their stupidity and lies.” ~ Tall_Confection_960
“Both of their phones died… together?”
“I had no clue phones had love stories! How… romantic?”
“It’s bulls**t. You did everything right and waited a lot longer than I would have!”
“I’d have called at 1 am with radio silence from the parents.”
“NTA, and I’d never sit for these folks again.”
‘If there is a sitting app you use… I’d mention it there so that they can’t pull this BS with some other sitter.”
“They don’t deserve this treatment any more than you did.” ~ Shalarean
“100% agree. What were they doing all night that they ‘couldn’t figure out’ how to get home?”
“They were driving around for 5 hours?”
“There was no 24-hour McDonald’s or CVS or hotel that they could find in five hours to charge their phone at, buy a car charger, or use the phone to make a call and buy a map or get directions?” ~ lawfox32
“To be fair, I grew up in a place where there wouldn’t have been a place open that late to buy anything or ask for help.”
‘The only 24-hour gas stations were by the highway, and we weren’t very rural.”
“It was suburbs.”
‘But I think their story is bullsh*t and they just wanted to stay out.”
“Every wedding I have been to over the years has always had an after-party for the couple and their friends etc.”
“I would assume they were at that.”
“They either partied the whole time ignoring their phone or drank too much, so they couldn’t drive home right away.”
“I’m assuming based on the babysitting originally only being from 5-11 that they weren’t too far from the wedding venue.”
“Which makes their claim that they got lost even less plausible.” ~ OHarePhoto
“If THEY didn’t have one, they absolutely could have borrowed one from basically anyone.”
“Or purchased one at the closest gas station.”
“They explain why you didn’t hear from them for, like, an extra half an hour… but not almost six hours.”
“I’d have been worried, too.”
“There’s a reason we give time updates, and sure, give an extra hour for buffer.”
‘But emergency contacts would have also called the police.”
“That’s what I would have done while I came to relieve you so you could go home. NTA.” ~ BlazingSunflowerland
“You did the right thing and NTA.”
“You did what you had to do.” ~ Kangaroo-Pack-3727
“NTA. Not only that, but they’re telling you that BOTH their phones just happened to die?!?”
“You did the right thing!”
“They should’ve paid you double.”
“I hope you were compensated for all of those extra hours!”
“Almost 6 am is INSANE!!”
“I have anxiety too and I can only imagine how hard waiting was for you!” ~ angelwarrior_
“Did both their phones go straight to voicemail?”
“If not, their phones didn’t die.”
“And how the hell did they get lost for almost 6 hours… a lot of bs there. NTA.” ~ dafunkisthat
“NTA. Who in 2024 would let their phone die, especially as a parent of two very small children when they know they need their phone to get directions to home.”
“Even if they had noticed that their phones were dead, assuming they weren’t in the middle of nowhere… there would have been a phone somewhere (borrow a friend/acquaintance’s phone, use the location’s phone, find a hotel) that they could have used to give you a call (or call someone to call you) to let you know the situation.”
‘Hiring a babysitter for a set number of hours doesn’t mean it’s your job to stay all night until whenever they decide to come home.”
“Assuming they did get their phones charged in order to get home, how on earth did they not see all of your calls and messages and call or text you immediately to let you know what’s going on?”
“This is all insane and completely irresponsible of the parents, and you did nothing wrong.” ~ fallingintopolkadots
“NTA. The mom is lying and toxic.”
“She’s lying because she could have purchased a phone charger at any gas station.”
“THEY PASSED OUT AT THE WEDDING AND DON’T WANT TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!!”
“What do you want to bet if you pulled the body cam, you would find some more lies such as, ‘We told her it was overnight.'”
“NTA but whoa they sure are.” ~ emorymom
“NTA. You went above and beyond for them.”
“If there’s a page or website where babysitters can post, share this experience, so no other babysitters have to deal with that family.” ~ The_Bad_Agent
OP came back with a few notes…
“Emergency contacts are mom’s parents, who are a 6-hour plane ride away, their pediatrician’s office, and 911.”
“I felt like 911 would be best in this case.”
“The wedding was a friend of the dad’s, so I just don’t see how they’d not be able to contact anyone from there.”
Well, OP, you had every right to call the police as you were concerned for their welfare.
Maybe you should warn other local sitters about these people.
You’re better off with a new job.
Good luck.