It’s a bit funny that babysitting is quite often the first job many people have, as many people might consider it one of the most stressful jobs out there.
Owing entirely to the fact that you are wholly responsible for the health and safety of other people’s children.
As a result, should anything happen to them on your watch, the blame will likely fall entirely on you.
Hence why any responsible babysitter will want to know every minute detail regarding the children’s needs before agreeing to take the job.
Redditor One-Neighborhood-553 had begun earning a reputation of being a highly desirable babysitter in her neighborhood.
As a result, a new resident jumped on booking the original poster (OP) to watch her children so she could go on an overnight trip.
However, upon showing up for the job, the OP realized that it was going to be a slightly bigger undertaking than she had been told.
Leading her to make a somewhat drastic decision.
Worried that she may have made a mistake, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole”(AITA), where she asked fellow Redditors:
‘AITA for walking out of a babysitting gig after I found out that the kid was diabetic?”
The OP explained how after a client left out a vital piece of information regarding one of her children, she felt she was left with only one solution.
“I (18 F[emale]) babysit for several families in my neighborhood.”
“One of the families that I babysit for recommended me to this woman who is new to the neighborhood.”
“She contacted me on Wednesday asking if I could babysit her two kids on Friday evening through Saturday afternoon.”
“Apparently it was her friends birthday and they were spending a night in the mountains to celebrate.”
“She asked me to show up a little bit early so that she could go over things with me.”
“Nothing abnormal, especially since I’ve never met them before.”
“I show up and she starts going over the usual stuff, and then she starts talking about insulin and blood sugars.”
“Apparently, one of the kids (5yo) has type one diabetes, and she didn’t think that it would be important to let me know beforehand.”
“I have ZERO experience caring for diabetic children.”
“I told her that I wasn’t comfortable, and she just said ‘oh don’t worry it’s easy’ and then tried to show me how to give an insulin injection.”
“I also told her that I am squeamish around needles, and she kind of laughed it off and continued trying to teach me.”
“I finally had to cut her off and basically told her that unfortunately I wasn’t comfortable caring for her diabetic child on such short notice, especially since she will be hours away (and probably drunk lets be honest).”
“She started freaking out and begging me to stay, as she didn’t want to miss her trip.”
“It seemed like she was about to cry as I was leaving, which made me feel bad.”
“I texted her when I got home and basically said that in the future I would be willing to try, but I’d like to have some kind of ‘trial run’ and we could build up to overnight once I actually knew what I was doing.”
“She read my text but didn’t respond.”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation, by declaring:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
The Reddit community firmly agreed that the OP was not at all the a**Hole for walking out on her client.
Everyone that the OP did absolutely the right thing by leaving, and her client leaving her alone with her diabetic children would have been a reckless decision.
“NTA.”
“I had that same experience when I was 16.”
“A friend of a woman I sat for wanted to hire me for a few nights, and I was totally ok with it.”
“What with her price range, 200 a night! ok!”
“Well.”
“Don’t I find out the day before that her kid is diabetic.”
“Hard nope.”
“She goes over how he can do everything himself, he was 7 or 8 at the time, and I basically won’t have to touch a thing.”
“I said ‘what if something goes wrong?'”
“‘It won’t’.”
“‘But what if it does?'”
“‘You worry too much’.”
“Sorry lady.”
“This is WAY above my paygrade.”
“I walked right out of there and told her no, I don’t feel comfortable with that amount of pressure, she called me names and spit at me and screamed so I ran home as fast as I could.”
“I’ll tell you what my mom told me:”
“You are NOT obligated to care for a child with health concerns that could lead to severe situations.”
“You have the right to say no.”
“You did nothing wrong.”- nicolepleasestop
“Type 1 Diabetic here.”
“Totally NTA especially because you have 0 experience administering insulin or dealing with lows.”
“Minor mistakes in dosage can have serious negative consequences, same with waiting too long to take insulin.”
“That mom should know better, good for you for walking away from that risky situation.”-NoSignificance2791
“NTA.”
“Since you are neither qualified nor comfortable with performing such a task, you made the right choice.”- Dark_Tangential
“NTA.”
“Insulin injects, blood sugars and all diabetic care can be super confusing and overwhelming when you have no experience.”
“The mom should not have ever put you in that position.”- Samu_2020_15
“NTA.”
“She blindsided you and was hoping for the best.”
“Even if the kid just needed to take a pill at bedtime, that sort of thing should have been disclosed when you took the gig.”-1962Michael
“NTA.”
“I’m a nurse and wouldn’t be comfortable caring for a 5 year old diabetic over night that I don’t know.”- ascottRN12
“NTA.”
“Special medical needs are something you absolutely deserve to know in advance before agreeing to look after children, and surprising you with that at the last minute is unacceptable.”-XanderTheMeh
“NTA.”
“That’s important info to just spring on a babysitter.”
“You did not feel up to it, refusing is well within your rights.”- DrMindbendersMonocle
“NTA.”
“I am a retired Medical Technologist now called Medical Laboratory Scientist, and sticking needles into small children does not always go well.”
“I cannot believe the mother wanted to dump her child’s care on an inexperienced teenager.”
“You did the right thing.”- 2badstaphMRSA
“How in the world did the mother think it was a good idea to get a babysitter with no diabetic experience?”
“Sure, it’s easy for her because she knows how to do it, but you cant say the same about others.”
“NTA.”- splbm
“NTA.”
“Easy would have been ‘my kid is allergic to peanuts there is no peanuts in the house if you have some please let them in your car’ not ‘here is a list of things to do and if you fail to do them on time my child could die’.”- Low-Purple4013
“NTA.”
“It’s pretty obvious the mom tried to ambush you, and was hoping she could run out of there before you could refuse.”
“Good job standing up for yourself, OP! At 18 years old this is an incredibly useful and important skill to have.”- claireclairey
“NTA.”
“It’s easy for her because she’s likely used to the routine.”
“That doesn’t make it a good idea to dump her diabetic child off on a babysitter with no knowledge of diabetes management.”- Chance-Contract-1290
“NTA.”
“She absolutely should have had you do a trial run before have you babysit for nearly 24 hours with her being hours away.”
“It was irresponsible her to assume that you are willing, never mind responsible enough, to manage her son’s diabetes for him.”
“It would be a bit different if he was older, but at 5 he still needs significant supervision.”-Forward_Squirrel8879
“NTA.”
“NTA in the slightest.”
“You did the right and responsible thing.”
“To look after a child with type 1 diabetes, you need to know what it is, how it happens, what insulin is and how it works, symptoms of DKA and hypoglycaemic episodes, how to carb count, how to give corrections, emergency protocols, when to go to the hospital and when something can be safely treated at home.”
“I’m a paediatrician from the UK and it’s normal for children and their families to stay in hospital for a few days after their first episode so the specialist nurses can teach them all of the above.”
“If I’m managing them, I’ll reach for the protocol to make sure I’ve not missed anything.”
“Do not, under any circumstances, agree to babysit this kid if you don’t feel comfortable.”-Sea_Midnight1411
One can certainly understand why the OP’s client was frustrated, losing out on a babysitter at the very last minute.
However, it’s fairly alarming that she didn’t think it was important to tell the OP her child was diabetic and needed extra care, particularly for an overnight trip.
As while she is used to his various needs, the OP is not, leaving the potential for something to go wrong far more likely than usual.
If there’s any good that came from this situation, one can at least assume that should this woman ever need a babysitter again, the fact that her son has diabetes will hopefully be the first thing she’ll tell any prospective babysitter.