Woman Ruins Parents' Plans By Refusing To Babysit After Suspecting They Lied About The Ages Of Their Sons
After confronting the mom, she was met with pure hostility.
kate_sept2004 / Canva Pro It's no secret that finding a good babysitter is like finding a needle in a haystack. When parents find a good fit for their children, they keep them close, becoming an extension of the family. So when this babysitter got a call from her “typical” family recommending her for another job, she trusted them enough to think it would be a good fit.
However, when she showed up to babysit the two young boys, she was shocked. In a Reddit post, she detailed exactly what happened and called out these parents for being “angry” despite her discomfort with the boys’ physical appearance.
This babysitter refused a job after suspecting the parents lied about their sons’ ages.
“I’ve been babysitting occasionally for a few families over the past two years,” the young woman said in her post. “A week ago, a new family got my number… I told them upfront that I have this rule.”
To keep herself comfortable and safe, does not babysit for any boys over the age of 10. While she doesn’t have an “age rule” for girls, she sticks by this stipulation for any young boys and is always clear about it with potential clients far in advance.
Her new family acknowledged the babysitter's ‘10-and-under’ rule over text.
“They told me they had two boys, ages 9 and 10,” she wrote, “so I agreed. They told me that they had very important plans the day I am to babysit and I assured them I am very professional and would be there on time.”
Of course, with many babysitters being relatively young, it’s not unreasonable for the parents to get reassurance on things like a start time. However, this young woman seemed to have her work life fully managed, was respectful of the family’s requests, and expected the same in return.
When the day rolled around, she made sure to show up a little bit early. “The dad greeted me, then took me to their living room to meet the boys.”
When the babysitter arrived she immediately had a bad feeling — ‘Both were taller than me… one had facial hair.’
“To my surprise, the boys looked like no 9 and 10 [year olds] I’ve ever met. One looked 12 and the other looked like he could be 15 or even 16.” She explained her discomfort as she introduced herself, acknowledging that both of the boys were taller than her, and one even had “visible facial hair.”
While it’s not impossible to grow facial hair at 10 years old, most young boys tend to develop it in their teen years — something this young woman was fully aware of after babysitting for several years.
Photo: LSOphoto / Canva Pro
Knowing how difficult it is for parents to find babysitters and how important their event was, she couldn’t help but feel like the parents lied to her. “All that was going through my head was these parents lied… I led with my rule about ages and they lied to me just so I would accept.”
Potentially as a last resort to finding child care, she assumed the parents thought she would simply “brush off” any suspicions about their sons’ ages but she wasn’t afraid to stick up for herself. She felt guilty, knowing the parents’ plans were important, but had no other choice.
“When the mother came down and greeted me, I asked to speak to her in another room. I told her I cannot babysit. I was also truthful about the reason, but she was livid.”
After confronting the mom and telling her she wouldn’t be staying, they completely blew up on her. Fearful of the parents, she excused herself from the home.
Regardless of her rule and the discussion they had prior, the reality of the situation was that this young girl felt uncomfortable.
Instead of deflecting blame and getting angry, this mother should’ve taken a second to empathize, no matter how old they really were. As a young woman, being around two boys much larger than her that she’d never met, it’s no surprise she felt it was a compromising and scary situation.
But, that’s the opposite of how this mom reacted.
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“She stomped off to the living room and I could hear her tell her husband to ‘Get this [expletive] out of my house, I will stay with the boys.’ I walked out of the kitchen towards the door and announced ‘I’m leaving!’”
Feeling relieved to get out of the situation, she was later met with guilt when she got a call from the family that recommended her.
“She said maybe one is actually 11, but the other is truly only 9… they just look older,” the mom admitted. Despite acknowledging the blatant lie, this mother also seemed angry at her but, “there was no way their mother didn’t realize her boys looked so much older.”
Her age rule is about much more than just age — something the mother should’ve been able to conceptualize over text. It’s about this babysitter’s safety. Despite being younger than her, they could be more physically powerful.
“I’d be suspicious and feel unsafe, too,” one commenter wrote. “You shouldn’t feel bad about protecting yourself. You NEVER know what could happen.”
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango focusing on pop culture analysis and human interest stories.