Babysitters share their strange but true stories from the job
Reddit user Foraring posed the question to the internet, “Babysitters of Reddit, what were the weirdest rules parents asked you to follow?” Well, the internet was quick to respond. A whole bunch of Reddit users chimed in with strange stories of diapers, helicopter parents, rules about milk, and childhood habits.
Keep reading to find out what really goes on behind closed doors in suburbia. Some of these stories are actually bone-chilling. Imagine if you went to babysit for a family and their one rule was not to eat an entire bowl of sugar…
Fleetwood Or Bust
“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. But it was always on the note left for me. Like, pager number, pediatrician, chicken soup for dinner is in the fridge and, and WATCH FLEETWOOD MAC at 6:30 before bed.” —Onlylivingirl
The Pajama Problem
“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.” —dezz-the-artist
No Singing Allowed
“When they heard me sing asked me not to sing to the kids.” —Lord-AG
Well, either this guy was a really bad singer or this family just has a thing against music.
A Scary Peanut Allergy
“Not necessarily a rule, but the first time I went to their house they told me about their daughter’s very serious peanut allergy, walked me through the epi-pen, 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 appreciate the thought, this freaked me out and I was 100 times less comfortable.” —[deleted]
On Repeat
“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.’
“That isn’t super weird…But it was like several hours long, and apparently, they listened to it every night.” —optimuspaige91
No Cuddling Allowed
“Babysat for a family that had three boys, one a newborn. I was never to feed the baby by holding it next to me, but I was to put it on my legs and make eye contact with him at all times…no cuddling.
“Also, I was never to let the older boys lose any game we were playing. I quit after about a month. Years later, I found out that youngest one…the baby that wasn’t to be cuddled…jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.” —mahas511
Still In The Driveway
“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.” —heckinghell
Obsessed With Nilla Wafers
“I used to babysit for this family when I was in high school (in the ’80s) and they had no books or reading material of any kind, except that there would usually be like two sections of the WSJ and a running magazine lying around. No. Books.
“Anyway, once I went over there and the mom told me like nine times, BEGGED ME, not to eat the box of ‘Nilla Wafers that was in the cupboard because she needed them for a recipe the next day. BEGGED. I was like, ‘Ok, got it. They’re totally safe because I don’t even like vanilla wafers!’ She kept mentioning it, and it was the first thing she asked me about when they got home.” —ZweitenMal
She Was Being Tested
“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.” —Reddit User
Open A New One
“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 5 or 6 jars in a 2-hour sitting. They cost more than I usually made for sitting.” —GooberMcNutly
A Literal Silver Spoon
“They asked me to spoon-feed their 3-year-old. He was perfectly capable of eating by himself, yet they fed him like that until he was 5.
“I also interviewed for a family that had twins and they were still sleeping in cribs at 3 years old. The mother wanted me to hand wash their socks and underwear. No thank you.” —justmede123
Have A Weapon On You
“Not a rule but a single mom once told me to use the bat by the door in the event the kids’ father comes by and tries to take them.
“That was pretty weird and uncomfortable.” —berniemac85
Milk In A Bottle
“To give him warm milk in a baby bottle right after every dinner—he was a fully functional 10-year-old boy.” —QueenRaptor
Well, that’s super weird. Ten-year-olds should not be drinking out of bottles.
Driving Miss Daisy
“Asked me to drive their 3-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.” —[deleted]
No Chocolate Milk Allowed
“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.” —Krindus
A Bowl Of Sugar
“I was told that the only thing she specifically wasn’t allowed to do was eat a bowl of sugar.” —naomi_is_watching
Why would anybody ever want to eat a plain bowl of sugar?
A Sad Situation
“Her dad had been the mascot for a popular fast-food chain and had recently died in a bizarre accident where he’d asphyxiated at a family Christmas party during a breath-holding contest with his brother.
“Yeah, it was pretty weird. Every night before the kid went to bed I had to take her to a photo of her dad and say goodnight to him together. It was kind of sad really.” —DowntownCarob
Burning Toys
“I babysat for this woman who was, and is still, an awful mother. For instance, one of her ‘rules’ was that if her oldest daughter misbehaved I was to threaten her with burning her toys in front of her.
“She wanted me to take this kid’s toys and light them on fire. No.” —FoolishWhim
Microwave Mayhem
“Family from my church asked me to babysit their three kids. They were…difficult children, but my mom made me agree (I was around 15). I got there and the house was a mess, like hoarders level bad; stuff piled to the ceiling in some rooms.
“They told me not to open the microwave because a mouse had gotten in it and the little boy had turned it on and the mouse had exploded.” —Avaylon
A Real Barbra Streisand Fan
“They also left the newborn baby with me. He cried all night long. I tried everything. When they got home they told me I had to listen to Barbra Streisand’s ‘Woman in Love’ on repeat for him to fall asleep.
“Did that the next time. Spent the entire night in the kitchen, if I stopped swaying or the song changed he cried.” —Shufflegoop
Plain Bologna
“One family often had plain bologna as a snack. A slice at a time. I was REQUIRED to microwave it until crisp, like well-done bacon.
“Apparently, this was because of ‘germs'” —PagingDoctorLove
No Toilet Paper Allowed
“To only wipe the children’s butts with washcloths. Even when they poop. Also, they were like 8 years old. No toilet paper in the house.
“I never went back.” —redditor56784
Babysitting With Dad
“Regularly babysat a little girl, the dad was ALWAYS there. I wasn’t allowed to change her, feed her or do basically anything else.
“AND the dad would take me and the daughter out to lunch every weekend and insisted on paying for it.” —ebayk
A Spooky Peephole
“I babysat for a neighbor of my friend, she wasn’t available. They had a four-year-old boy. The boy was to eat at this kid’s table that was up against a mirror-covered wall. He would watch a movie on the TV behind him by watching through the mirror.
“They also had a lock on his door that locked from the outside and it also had a peephole looking in. Freaked me out and I never went back.” —thefamilyo
Urinating Outisde
“To let their 6-year-old pee outside. It was fine until I see him playing with mud in the middle of a drought.
“When I asked him how there was mud, he said: ‘I made it!'” —Knockout23
Diaper Duty
“I had to change the kid’s cloth diaper every 2 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 encouraged him to use the bathroom if he had to go. I never went back.” —Drsweetcheeks
No Rules At All
“Hippy family. The 2-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.” —CannedTornado
Let Him Outside
“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 4-year-old boy.” —imapuppycat
You’ve Reached Your Reading Limit
“Only 2 hours of reading time. To be fair, the mom was a librarian and her two kids were adorably nerdy. They had an entire room filled with books and even then we’d make trips to the library from time to time.
“The rest of the time was supposed to be outside or doing some activity. It was a super sweet deal, too, because she paid for not only her kids to have a pool pass but me as well, so we basically went every day all summer and we would play in the pool.” —concat-e-nate
