<p>When my d was in 3rd grade she became friends with a new girl at school. There was a birthday party after school and the girl needed a ride. I had no issue picking her up at school and taking her. The mom then asks if the daughter can also stay the night as she had a medical appointment. Not a problem, I don’t love sleepovers, but no biggie…</p>
<p>The mom didn’t pick her up for 4 days! She’d call every day and tell me about her recovery going slowly. The girls didn’t even have a change of clothes or a toothbrush!</p>
<p>It was starting to get really hairy, my d doesn’t handle people around that long, we didn’t know this mom from a hole in the ground.</p>
<p>Turns out she got a chemical peel and just enjoyed the time off. The horrible part was that her husband was a pilot and killed in a plane accident years ago. Apparently she just became like a cowbird leaving her bird in other peoples nests. </p>
<p>They remained friends for years, but we had to be extremely careful about her coming over because she always overstayed the welcome.</p>
<p>I was reminded of a story from years ago. My neighbor had several daughters, just like I did. One of them started babysitting for a new family who had moved in across the street. After about a month, the new family mom asked my neighbor if the D could go away with them for two weeks to their cottage. The mom was hesitant but her D begged her to allow her to go because she loved the kids, so finally she got the okay to go. My neighbor who was one of the best bakers I’ve ever known, sent her D off with the family with two big shopping bags full of food and home made baked goods.</p>
<p>When they returned after two weeks, new family mom came over to speak to my neighbor. No, not to thank her for allowing her D to go along and help her with three kids for two weeks for free! But, rather, to present her with a bill for the amount she paid for the girl’s meals when they went out to eat at McDonalds and a pizza joint while they were away! </p>
<p>There’s nothing crazier than people, as all of these stories show.</p>
<p>My DD had a friend over at about age 8, the step Mom called me and said she was leaving the Dad due to his alcohol use and anger issues and could I keep the little girl for the weekend. Hey, no problem, the sweet little girl did not need to go home to drunk angry Dad. That was late in the school year and she pretty much spent the rest of the school year and the entire summer with our family. Lucky for her we are pretty flexible! She was really a great kid with tons of potential, but her bioMom had been out of the picture for years and her Dad was a mess.</p>
<p>Along the lines of eyemamon’s story in #321. I was about 7 months pregnant with D2 and on strict pregnancy bed rest. I was grateful to a team of moms from preschool who each took D1 for one day each week (if it is Friday, Sue has her…). Another classmate’s mother (not on the support team) asked if she could drop her daughter for a play date on Saturday. Since DH was home, I thought it would be fine for a couple of hours. The mom dropped off 5yo at 8 am and finally returned at 10 pm! More annoying, I’m a knitter (on bed rest!) and she went to a knitting festival! Nope I didn’t get a thing!</p>
<p>Our next door neighbors have a son who is a year older than my son. They attended different schools (Catholic vs public) but played together frequently as they were growing up. Our driveways are next to one another - it is literally no more than 30 feet from our garage to their garage. </p>
<p>One evening when the boys were about 11 or 12, the mother calls and asks if we can watch B - a relative of hers was involved in a car accident and she needed to get to the hospital and didn’t know how long she would be. I was out of town, but my H said - of course, he’s welcome to come over, he can spend the night if need be, not a worry, just tell him to grab his things and come on over.</p>
<p>She wanted my H to stay at THEIR house and watch B. My H said - well, I have my own kids here, why can’t he come over? She said - I want B to study. H said - not a problem, our kids are studying too right now, it’s a quiet house, nothing will disturb him. She declined. She actually expected H to leave our kids alone in our house to sit 30 feet away in B’s house to watch B, as opposed to having B walk the whole 30 feet to our house.</p>
<p>I still remember being asked to babysit for a family as a referral. I was very young (maybe 13 or so). The parents gave me a monster list of all the contacts for their kid who had been in & out of many hospitals recently, plus he was only ONE of the four little darlings plus pets I was supposed to watch for the evening. I really (at that time & since) wonder what was going through their heads that they thought that it was a good idea to entrust their medically fragile young kid to the tender care of a 13-year-old who couldn’t do much more than call 911 if the kiddo started having problems! By contrast, we generally had sitters who are our friends and the youngest one we ever hired was in late teens WITH older sib. NEVER was available to sit for that family again & shortly after that stopped sitting entirely–too scary to think I might be called upon to keep a medically fragile kid alive. Sorry for the slight detour on guests.</p>
<p>HImom–I was babysitting for 4 little kids–I was 13–and one of the kids had croup, one was a baby and I had no clue. Plus they were paying maybe 25 cents per hour. They did tell me to turn on the shower and take the kid with croup into the bathroom which I did. We all survived, but can you imagine?!</p>
<p>I was getting SLIGHTLY more than you, but STILL! I can not imagine what made them think that I, a stranger at only 13 could handle a medical emergency that MIGHT send their darling back to the ER. I certainly did NOT feel at all comfortable with the situation. I just counted my blessings that we had an uneventful evening.</p>
<p>I also hated watching kids whose parents came home MUCH later than promised, even when they gave me slightly more because of “overtime,” I never felt comfortable not knowing when they would actually show up.</p>
<p>They were obviously desperate to get away from their kids. My babysitting experiences were so bad, I wondered if I would want to be a parent. Fortunately, I went ahead and had a kid anyway. But seriously?! What were those parents thinking??!!</p>
<p>I recall babysitting in the mid 70s, in about grade 7/8 for 3 pre-school kids, all day, Monday-Friday, while mom worked full time. I was paid $1/hour. It was a ton of work and there was very little guidance as to what they wanted those kids to do all day everyday. That was a long summer, but I guess she really saved on child care ;)</p>
<p>My s babysat once for a neighbor with the kids from H*LL. Totally out of control kids that locked themselves in rooms and refused to listen to anything. Oh, and the parents gave nim NO warning of this behavior or what to do, and didnt ansswer their cellphones when he called. I had to go over and intervene. I should have asked to be paid.</p>
<p>About 3 decades ago, my 11-yo stepdaughter was asked to babysit for a family who lived across the street and down about 8 houses. We didn’t know this family, but we did know that the kids were very young and difficult, because we often heard one of them screaming for long periods of time. She was at an age where we were still hiring babysitters for her when we (very infrequently) went out! She really wanted to do it so I agreed, knowing that I would be nearby. She told the parents that she could sit only until 11 (our rule), and they said they’d be home by then. 11 came and went, no sign of the parents. This was in the days before cell phones, and SD had no way to get in touch with them. She called me periodically. Finally, they called her around 2, party noises in the background, to say that they were not ready to come home, but that she could leave if she wanted to (leaving children alone). SD called to tell me this. I asked her what she wanted to do. I’ll never forget her childish, high-pitched voice saying, “Those children are my responsibility. I am not leaving until the parents come home.” They finally showed up around 4. SD and I had a sleepless night, we were both furious. Needless to say, she never sat for them again.</p>
<p>Just got our extended family’s first reunion in NYC. Can’t wait!! Guess what? NO KIDS invited! The invite says in two years there’ll be another one in Napa and kids can come to that one!</p>
<p>Just to make you jealous I babysat 4 darling angels. 3 little boys and 2 yo girl. The boys adored the baby and took care of her. And when you said “time for bed” they would go jump in, no questions asked. And I got paid well too. All I had to do was play games and watch “Beverly Hillbillies” with them.
Of course they were the contrast to the ONE child from hell I babysat later.</p>
<p>My mother never wanted me to babysit because she had heard too many women talking negatively about their babysitters and she didn’t want me to be the subject of such gossip. I did babysit for our next door neighbors occasionally, though. Always uneventful.</p>
<p>I had another babysitting job in which–before the mother turned the kids over to me and left–one of the kids grabbed a bottle of some kind of chemical used to turn clear plastic solid and tried to drink it! I grabbed the kid, put my finger down his throat, and told the shrieking mother to call Poison Control. It turned out that he hadn’t actually managed to swallow any. All I can say is that I’m glad it didn’t happen when I was alone with the kids! He was probably about 7 yrs old. What made him do such a thing at his age, I cannot imagine.</p>
<p>I just survived a 3 hour visit from H’s brother, wife and 2 boys. Since I had to bring mil to our house, I decided it would be easier to pick up dinner than to try to cook. I dropped off an order at Olive Garden on the way, and picked it up on the way back. After I got home, I realized they hadn’t included breadsticks or my entree. Fortunately, I got soup and salad, so I was able to eat without letting on there was a problem with the order. I had requested the pasta with alfredo sauce for one of the boys to not have parsley sprinkled on it, as he detests anything green. Of course, it was covered with the stuff.</p>
<p>The boys were in a mood, complaining bitterly of nothing to do and all we do is talk. DH turned on our Wii, but apparently we have no “good” games.</p>
<p>While I was cleaning up the dining room, sil was relaxing in the family room while the men were outside and the boys went in and out. Seems one of the boys left the door open and the dog left the premises. Dog ran up the street and attacked another dog being walked on a leash. Man driving by stopped and grabbed her until DH could get there. Sil thought it was okay for the dog to go out.</p>
<p>While I’m in the kitchen, bil comes in and asks where the trashcan is. He is gingerly holding out “soiled underwear” and wants to know where to put it. The boys are 10 and almost 9. Not sure what that was about. </p>
<p>Then I served cupcakes for dessert. Younger boy continuously coughs and is occasionally reminded to cover his mouth. I overheard his father tell him to go wash his hands because he had his hands in his pants and was scratching. All leftovers went into the trash. I spent the entire next day sanitizing my house.</p>
<p>I was really looking forward to seeing these people, as they live in another state. Doesn’t seem like it should be this hard. I wonder if I unknowingly brought mayhem on others when my kids were small.</p>