15 Nannies Who Had an Unexpected Babysitting Experience (2025)

• I’m ananny. Awoman called and said that she urgently needed togotohospital tovisit her mother, and there was noone tostay with her son overnight. Iagreed, thinking that the child was about 5years old— Iwould feed him, play with him, and put him tobed. How wrong Iwas.
  When Iarrived, anice woman met meand took metoher son, who was... 25years old. No, she’s not looking for abride, hereally needs ananny. He’s anavid gamer, soaddicted tothe game that heforgets toeat and wash.
  His mom explained how toknow when around isover sothat atthat pointI could feed him, remind him about the toilet, let him finish playing another round and send him tobed. She paid very well, bythe way.©Caramel/ VK
• Working asanon-call nanny for anagency. Idecided that living inthe same family for years isnot forme, but helping parents for acouple ofhours aday isfun.
  During this time I’ve seen alot ofkids, but almost all ofthem have one thing incommon— simplicity and directness. They don’t hesitate toask questions, like why the grass isgreen, how much candy you can eat, and soon.
  But recently one girl struckme. She leaned toward mewith the serious face, andI was getting ready totell her where babies come from. But the question was even more interesting: why, ifmen have nipples, they can’t feed their babies with them.©Not everyone will understand/ VK
• Myfriend works asananny inthe daily care. Yesterday, she told meastory over tea.
  “Children are sosensitive, you have noidea! Today Ihad aheadache all day, mymood was terrible. Ofcourse, itdidn’t affect the children— Ismiled, cared for them, asalways. But atsome point, Mary and Nora came uptomeand said, ’Ms. Gala, you are sad! Don’t besad, please.’
  Can you imagine? IthoughtI was amaster ofdisguise, adults probably wouldn’t have noticed, but the kids felt itright away. Ihad toadmitI had aheadache. And the sweetest thing isthat after that they started bringing mecandy, apples and bananas tomake mefeel better.” ©Not everyone will understand/ VK

• Iwas playing hide-and-seek with the 3kidsI was babysitting (they were 3, 6, and9), andI was seeking. Well, Ifound the oldest and the youngest but couldn’t find the middle child.
  After 30minutes ofsearching (the house wasn’t that big), Ijust wanted todie. Icouldn’t believeI actually lost achild; itwas like abad movie. So, Icalled the parents, ready tohave the worst from them onaccount oflosing their child.
  Itold them what happened, and they laughed and said, “Did you specify the boundaries?” The WHAT. Turns out the smart middle child hid inabush intheir neighbors’ front yard (aplace that she had hidden inbefore, which ishow the parents knew aboutit) becauseI didn’t specify the boundaries ofhide-and-seek.©mai_life/ Reddit
• Myfavorite child thatI babysit got mad atmeand locked meout ofthe house with the meanest look onhis face (his mother calls itangry baby face). Good thing the dad was doing work from home that day whileI watched the kids. Since then, I’ve always kept aspare house key inmypocket while I’m there.©ilikethebluesky/ Reddit
• Babysat for the neighbor ofafamily friend. Aseemly normal house asyou walked inthe front door. Gothrough towhat would have been anormal, family lounge...
  All 4walls are covered floor toceiling intanks containing snakes, lizards, spiders, terrapins, fish. Gointo the kitchen, more tanks. The kid I’m babysitting has 2tanks inhis room, there are tanks inthe hallway upstairs— this house isbasically azoo.
  The guy was late for wherever he’s meant tobegoing because hewas trying toget metohold atarantula that “hasn’t eaten for afew days, somay bite you.” Um, yeah, no, thanks. The longest 6hours ofmylife, constantly thinking something was crawling onme.©petitepamplemousse/ Reddit

• The last job Ihad, a3-year-old girl, was the most stubborn childI have ever met. Literally, the only way toget her todoanything was tobribe her with ajelly bean. One, tiny, Jelly Belly. Iwatched her parents give her one all the time.
  One dayI was trying, and failing, toget her tostop violently attacking her baby brother. So, Ifinally resorted tothe jelly bean trick. Told the parents later, and their response (which completely ignored the violence) was, “Let’s maybe lay off the candy.” But day after day, they continued togive her jelly beans toget her tobehave. Right infront ofme.©Unknown author/ Reddit
• The kid was already sleeping for afew hours, Iwas watching amovie. Atmidnight, Iheard something scratching atthe door.
  First Iignoredit, got scared and checked again. Then Isaw glowing eyes through the window: they had adog, and they didn’t tellme.©97Kelly/ Reddit
• Iwas watching 2kids, andI heard what sounded like ababy crying. Iwalked into the back tofind atoddler just waking upthat the parents hadn’t told meabout. Icalled the parents. They told methey thought hewould sleep the entire time.
  They had only told meabout the older 2kids. Needless tosay, Iwas paid extra that night.©lilnosewhistle/ Reddit

• I’m aprofessional nanny and one ofthe familiesI worked for had astrict “nogames” rule. Not asinvideo games, but asinany game that could have awinner and aloser. Noboard games, notag, nothing. “Winning and losing leads tohurt feelings” was their explanation.
  I’d have tostop the girls any time they said something like, “IbetI can get tothe end ofthe driveway faster” and remind them, “Mom and Dad say nocompetition, remember?” Everything had tobeperfectly equal, orthe parents would lose itcompletely. Ifired them asclients shortly after.©undeadgorgeous/ Reddit
• Onmyfirst day, they sent over anadult male friend oftheirs who asked tocomein. Isaidno, and was then toldI was being tested, andI had passed.©Onions***/ Reddit
• The familyI worked for had arule. Ihad togive the boy warm milk inababy bottle right after every dinner— hewas afully functional 10-year-old boy.©Unknown author/ Reddit

• One mother had mefeed her 1-year-old only from afreshly opened baby food container. Ifshe only ate 2or 3spoonfuls, Iwas tothrow itaway and when she wanted more in15minutes, Iwas toopen anew one. Ithought itwas soshe would finish her meal and befull for awhile, but she said itwas okay tofeed her every time she wantedit.
  Iwould probably throw away 5or 6jars ina2-hour sitting. They cost more thanI usually made for sitting.©GooberMcNutly/ Reddit
• Ibabysat for this family for the first time ever and the mother was walking mearound the house, giving meinstructions and showing mearound and then stopped atthe fridge. She explained tomethat whenI sent her son tobed, Iwas togive him 1hotdog out ofthe fridge. Noheatingit, nobun, just acold soggy hotdog for her son tomunch oninbed.
  Apparently heate one every night. This was like 7years ago, andI seriously haven’t stopped thinking aboutit.©groceryenthusiast/ Reddit
• Worked asananny for afamily with twins. The parents were away, andI had tostay with them for 2days straight.
  So, myfirst night astheir nanny looked like this. Itucked them inand went tothe guest room tosleep. Iwake upinthe middle ofthe night toachild’s voice, “Maria, I’m scared.” Istart togetup, suddenlyI hear from the other side ofthe bed, “Maria, I’m scared too.”
  Being sleepy, Ididn’t realize atonce that itwas the second child, atwin with the same voice. Iwas sofrightened thatI started shrieking.©House No.6/ VK

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lilnosewhistle / Reddit