Share your worst/craziest experiences you've had with past NFs/babysitting clients?

[Anonymous]

I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen a thread like this before on here. I have been a nanny and babysitter for over twelve years. Over that time, I have worked with many great families, most of whom I've had very positive, long-term professional relationships with. Unfortuntely, during that same time, I've also had some less than positive experiences as well. Sadly, not all MBs are reasonable (and not all children are raised well, I'm afraid). I'm sure I'm not the only one with a couple horror stories! I guess I'll just get the ball rolling, I hope others contribute as well:

I did an after school gig for one week once. One of the first red flags was this: they had two large dogs, and I was to arrive at the house fifteen minutes before the kids to let the dogs out. But I couldn't just let them out; I had to go outside with them and make sure that they didn't eat each other's poop! When it was explained to me it didn't sound so bad, but when I had to actually deal with them I realized that these dogs, who weighed more than I did, really, REALLY wanted to eat each other's poop and it was all I could do to physically restrain them while I bagged up their poop and threw it away. On day three, despite my best efforts, they did succeed. So gross.

This family had B/G twins, 8 years old. The mom told me they had homework to do every day, and they had to do their homework before they could do anything else. She said I should try to make them do it themselves but if they had any questions to help. On day one, after saying hello, asking about their day, and offering a snack, I asked them to do their homework, and told them as soon as they were done we could go to the park. They said they were going to their room to do it. I went to check in on them a few minutes later, and found them playing video games in their room. I told them to turn the video games off. They screamed and cursed at me. I reminded them of the offer to go to the park after doing their homework, and they both protested that they didn't want to go outside. I insisted they still had to do their homework before anything else, including video games. I set them down at their desks with their homework, and waited as they worked on it for a few minutes. Then I went into the next room to grab a text book to read. Thirty seconds later, I heard DS talking in the kitchen. He was saying "...but the babysitter isn't letting us play outside at the park and we really wanted to! She says we have to stay in our room and can't come out so SHE can do HER homework!" As I walked into the room, DS walked over to me with the biggest, smuggest smile, and said "My mom wants to talk to you!"

MB proceeded to yell at me over the phone, saying that it was wrong of me to keep them inside on such a nice day (I completely agree! I love getting kids outside! Again, I had been encouraging the kids to go outside, after homework; they were the ones insisting they didn't want to go outside!), and yelling that she was paying me to take care of them, not do my homework! I tried to tell her what had really happened, but she refused to listen and said she had to get back to work. (For the record, when she had first discussed the job with me, and I told her I was in college, she had encouraged me to use the 30-ish minutes the kids spent on their homework to get some studying done, so I was pretty surprised to hear that.)

I went back into the kids room. I found DD playing video games, and DS was not there. DD told me he went over to his friends house. I took her to the friends house, collected DS, much to his protest, and had to practically drag him back to his house, all while he screamed "child abuse!" At the top of his lungs (and many of his neighbors were outside and saw and heard). I succeeded at keeping them inside the house until MB came home, but couldn't get DS to do his homework. When MB came home I tried again to tell her my side of things, but she refused to listen. DS told her I wouldn't let him go to his friends house (because he hadn't done his homework, I reiterated), and MB told me her kids were allowed to go to their friends houses whenever they wanted to.

Day two, the kids came home, dropped their backpacks, and immediately left for their friends houses. When I tried to find out where they were going exactly they literally ran away, in opposite directions. I wasn't given addresses or even last names, just that DS was going to "Will's house" and DD was going to "Megan's house." They were gone for hours. When it was getting close to the time MB got home I felt weird about the fact they'd been gone the whole time and that I still didn't really know where they were. I proceeded to knock on random neighbors doors until I found the kids (which wasn't easy; DS had already left Wills house and gone to another friends, same for DD) and brought them home, just as MB was arriving home. I told her it made me feel uncomfortable that I was being paid to watch the kids when I didn't even really know where they were, and also felt that I shouldn't invite myself over to other family's houses. MB told me she would solve the problem by telling the kids they couldn't go to their friends houses, but their friends could come over to their house.

Day three, the kids came home, and brought their friends with them. There was a total of eight children in the house, running around, acting crazy. I kept telling my charges they could only have one friend over each, but they called their mom, and, surprise, surprise, she sided with the kids (again). DS was acting out of control at one point, saying he was going to show his friends how he could jump off the kitchen counter and swing from the chandelier. I told him he was not allowed to do that, he said "am I allowed to get a glass of milk, babysitter?" He called me "the babysitter" in a very rude tone, often. I reminded him of my name, and said yes he could get milk. He then took out the brand new, full, gallon of milk from the fridge, and literally threw it on the floor, where it exploded. He and his friends burst into laughter and ran out the door, leaving me to deal with the mess.

When MB arrived home that day, I told her I couldn't work for her anymore. I remember it very dinstinctly when she said "so, you're just going to quit, just like that??" And I remember feeling weird about it; I'd never quit a job without giving notice before, but then again I'd never experienced such a horrific babysitting job before that either!

Anyway, that was years ago, and I'm happy I haven't experienced anything quite like that craziness since! Anyone else have any horror stories to share?

[Anonymous]

OP can you summarize what you wrote. It's way to long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP can you summarize what you wrote. It's way to long.

Not the OP, but perhaps you can print it out, grab a cup of hot tea and read it by the fireplace w/a blanket over your legs.

[Anonymous]

I would never have gone back after the first day!

I also never care for any kids older than three unless I have been their nanny/sitter since they were babies and know them well.

Nothing any kid does under the age of three ever bothers me in the least. But I have NO patience for older brats!!!


The worst experience I ever had was back in high school when I was asked to babysit by a new neighbor with an infant. When I got to the house I saw they had a huge German Shepard and I love dogs. I went to pet the dog and he growled at me. The mother said that he was just uncomfortable around new people and would get used to me in a few minutes. He did seem pretty mellow and sweet while she was still there showing me where things were. The second she left the dog cornered me and started barking and growling at me. I ended up in the bathroom with the infant in my arms and the dog barking and growling furiously at the door for an hour before I had to call the mother to come back. This was before cell phones so thank God they had a landline extension in the bathroom. When we got out of the bathroom, the dog had bitten and scratched the bathroom door.

They ended up having to put the dog to sleep after he bit a child just a month or so later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP can you summarize what you wrote. It's way to long.

Not the OP, but perhaps you can print it out, grab a cup of hot tea and read it by the fireplace w/a blanket over your legs.

I sent it to myself in an email and has Siri read it to me as I fell asleep.

[Anonymous]

Ah another nanny bitching about the family that hired her.
Go DCUM!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never have gone back after the first day!

I also never care for any kids older than three unless I have been their nanny/sitter since they were babies and know them well.

Nothing any kid does under the age of three ever bothers me in the least. But I have NO patience for older brats!!!


The worst experience I ever had was back in high school when I was asked to babysit by a new neighbor with an infant. When I got to the house I saw they had a huge German Shepard and I love dogs. I went to pet the dog and he growled at me. The mother said that he was just uncomfortable around new people and would get used to me in a few minutes. He did seem pretty mellow and sweet while she was still there showing me where things were. The second she left the dog cornered me and started barking and growling at me. I ended up in the bathroom with the infant in my arms and the dog barking and growling furiously at the door for an hour before I had to call the mother to come back. This was before cell phones so thank God they had a landline extension in the bathroom. When we got out of the bathroom, the dog had bitten and scratched the bathroom door.

They ended up having to put the dog to sleep after he bit a child just a month or so later.

Scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen a thread like this before on here. I have been a nanny and babysitter for over twelve years. Over that time, I have worked with many great families, most of whom I've had very positive, long-term professional relationships with. Unfortuntely, during that same time, I've also had some less than positive experiences as well. Sadly, not all MBs are reasonable (and not all children are raised well, I'm afraid). I'm sure I'm not the only one with a couple horror stories! I guess I'll just get the ball rolling, I hope others contribute as well:

I did an after school gig for one week once. One of the first red flags was this: they had two large dogs, and I was to arrive at the house fifteen minutes before the kids to let the dogs out. But I couldn't just let them out; I had to go outside with them and make sure that they didn't eat each other's poop! When it was explained to me it didn't sound so bad, but when I had to actually deal with them I realized that these dogs, who weighed more than I did, really, REALLY wanted to eat each other's poop and it was all I could do to physically restrain them while I bagged up their poop and threw it away. On day three, despite my best efforts, they did succeed. So gross.

This family had B/G twins, 8 years old. The mom told me they had homework to do every day, and they had to do their homework before they could do anything else. She said I should try to make them do it themselves but if they had any questions to help. On day one, after saying hello, asking about their day, and offering a snack, I asked them to do their homework, and told them as soon as they were done we could go to the park. They said they were going to their room to do it. I went to check in on them a few minutes later, and found them playing video games in their room. I told them to turn the video games off. They screamed and cursed at me. I reminded them of the offer to go to the park after doing their homework, and they both protested that they didn't want to go outside. I insisted they still had to do their homework before anything else, including video games. I set them down at their desks with their homework, and waited as they worked on it for a few minutes. Then I went into the next room to grab a text book to read. Thirty seconds later, I heard DS talking in the kitchen. He was saying "...but the babysitter isn't letting us play outside at the park and we really wanted to! She says we have to stay in our room and can't come out so SHE can do HER homework!" As I walked into the room, DS walked over to me with the biggest, smuggest smile, and said "My mom wants to talk to you!"

MB proceeded to yell at me over the phone, saying that it was wrong of me to keep them inside on such a nice day (I completely agree! I love getting kids outside! Again, I had been encouraging the kids to go outside, after homework; they were the ones insisting they didn't want to go outside!), and yelling that she was paying me to take care of them, not do my homework! I tried to tell her what had really happened, but she refused to listen and said she had to get back to work. (For the record, when she had first discussed the job with me, and I told her I was in college, she had encouraged me to use the 30-ish minutes the kids spent on their homework to get some studying done, so I was pretty surprised to hear that.)

I went back into the kids room. I found DD playing video games, and DS was not there. DD told me he went over to his friends house. I took her to the friends house, collected DS, much to his protest, and had to practically drag him back to his house, all while he screamed "child abuse!" At the top of his lungs (and many of his neighbors were outside and saw and heard). I succeeded at keeping them inside the house until MB came home, but couldn't get DS to do his homework. When MB came home I tried again to tell her my side of things, but she refused to listen. DS told her I wouldn't let him go to his friends house (because he hadn't done his homework, I reiterated), and MB told me her kids were allowed to go to their friends houses whenever they wanted to.

Day two, the kids came home, dropped their backpacks, and immediately left for their friends houses. When I tried to find out where they were going exactly they literally ran away, in opposite directions. I wasn't given addresses or even last names, just that DS was going to "Will's house" and DD was going to "Megan's house." They were gone for hours. When it was getting close to the time MB got home I felt weird about the fact they'd been gone the whole time and that I still didn't really know where they were. I proceeded to knock on random neighbors doors until I found the kids (which wasn't easy; DS had already left Wills house and gone to another friends, same for DD) and brought them home, just as MB was arriving home. I told her it made me feel uncomfortable that I was being paid to watch the kids when I didn't even really know where they were, and also felt that I shouldn't invite myself over to other family's houses. MB told me she would solve the problem by telling the kids they couldn't go to their friends houses, but their friends could come over to their house.

Day three, the kids came home, and brought their friends with them. There was a total of eight children in the house, running around, acting crazy. I kept telling my charges they could only have one friend over each, but they called their mom, and, surprise, surprise, she sided with the kids (again). DS was acting out of control at one point, saying he was going to show his friends how he could jump off the kitchen counter and swing from the chandelier. I told him he was not allowed to do that, he said "am I allowed to get a glass of milk, babysitter?" He called me "the babysitter" in a very rude tone, often. I reminded him of my name, and said yes he could get milk. He then took out the brand new, full, gallon of milk from the fridge, and literally threw it on the floor, where it exploded. He and his friends burst into laughter and ran out the door, leaving me to deal with the mess.

When MB arrived home that day, I told her I couldn't work for her anymore. I remember it very dinstinctly when she said "so, you're just going to quit, just like that??" And I remember feeling weird about it; I'd never quit a job without giving notice before, but then again I'd never experienced such a horrific babysitting job before that either!

Anyway, that was years ago, and I'm happy I haven't experienced anything quite like that craziness since! Anyone else have any horror stories to share?

Wow! I don't think I would have gone back after the first day. You did better than me.

[Anonymous]

Wait, OP, you've never seen a thread here asking nannies to complain about their MBs? Or as you say, "share their horror stories"?

You must be new here.

[Anonymous]

OP, that family sounds nuts and they are raising monsters. I can not imagine what the mother is thinking, asking you to be in charge but not giving you the authority to do so - it's dangerous. The kids could have been running all around town and you'd have no idea how to find them. That's ridiculous. To me, it's very important that my children respect our nanny and I spend a lot of the first few transition weeks checking in on how discipline, respect, and bonding is going - you have to be able to run the show as the adult in charge when I'm not there.

I used to be a sitter and my worst experience also included ill-behaved kids I couldn't control. I was young and not so experienced at the time and I think the kids had outgrown me; they needed more of a professional at that point, so it was a mutual split.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP can you summarize what you wrote. It's way to long.

Not the OP, but perhaps you can print it out, grab a cup of hot tea and read it by the fireplace w/a blanket over your legs.

I sent it to myself in an email and has Siri read it to me as I fell asleep.

Oh yeah...It is 2015 now...NOT 1999!! Lol.

[Anonymous]

Wow, not a nanny or a mb. That's quite a horrible story. That family should be ashamed of itself. Probably theyre raising "wolves of wall street." Unless their kids od at a frat party.