My babysitter took advantage of my kindness, now she’s controlling my 8yo son

“It's our son's house too, he should be able to run around without having to tiptoe around his babysitter.”

*Paula’s son, Jake*, spends most of his time at home during the school holidays, playing around the house, reading books and enjoying himself.

As she works an hour away from home, during the holidays Paula has permission to work from home after 2pm, leaving her son alone to himself in the mornings. 

So, she decided to hire a babysitter, Laura*. Now, finding a good person to watch your kid is no simple task, and at first, everything seemed fine - then, it started going pear-shaped. 

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No more having fun, kid, I have a job interview soon. Picture: iStock

“I felt like I was the one babysitting for her”

“Her first day, she arrives and tells us that she landed a big job interview over Zoom,” Paula recalled on Reddit.

After sharing their “congrats” with the babysitter, Laura asked if she could their home for the interview “since it actually started right at 2pm”. 

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“We said yes, but felt like our hands were kind of tied because she asked urgently on the spot,” Paula clarified. 

At first, it wasn’t a big deal. That was until “she was still at our place interviewing and asking for silence from us and our son until almost 5pm”.

Of course, having complete silence in your own home can be a little difficult, especially if you have “things to do and had to put them on hold because she was at our home past her ending time”.

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“It's also very difficult to keep a kid (who also has autism and stims loudly) quiet for hours on end,” she added. 

Paula, while thankful for Laura babysitting her son during the morning, was starting to feel a little irritated. 

“I felt like she was imposing on our space and I was the one babysitting for her,” she said. 

“It's our son's house too - it's his summer break, and he should be able to run around without having to tiptoe around his babysitter.”

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After she went home, Paula believed that would be the end of it. 

Yeah, right!

“The next day, she arrived at our house and said she would have to leave right at 2pm, as she had another interview scheduled this time for 2:10 pm,” Paula explained. 

Paula was relieved, and more than happy for the babysitter to leave on time to make her interview. But that didn’t exactly go to plan. 

“Right before 2pm, she messages me that it will take her 20 minutes to get home so she would ‘have to’ use my house again,” Paula said, who then suggested she visit a local cafe and complete the interview there. 

Nope, that wouldn’t work, as the cafe “didn't have a stable internet connection there”. 

Of course, it doesn't...

“When I opened my door at 1:55pm to try to get her out, she was already dressed in business attire and sitting at my kitchen table preparing for her interview,” Paula said. 

Laura explained she’d also need peace and quiet in the house until 5pm, looking toward Paula’s son “like he needed to be quiet during that time”. 

By this point, she was getting fed up, babysitting another person in her home. “Since I telework from 2pm - 5pm, it's also uncomfortable with her using what's typically my workspace for that entire time,” Paula said. 

“I am trying to be polite by keeping my son quiet, but he wants to run around and jump and play because it's the summer and that's what kids like to do,” she added. 

While she likes the babysitter and is thankful for her work, Paula can’t help but want to fire her from the job. 

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“This is bananas behaviour!”

Online, people were baffled why Paula couldn’t just say “no” to the babysitter. 

“‘No’ is a complete sentence,” someone advised.

“Why are you trying to be polite when she is clearly taking advantage of the situation?” another asked. “She can just schedule her interviews at 2:30 and you should start looking for new childcare.”

“You need to be more assertive,” someone agreed. “She sounds like she has no idea about boundaries and needs a quick lesson.”

Others couldn’t believe Laura’s ridiculous requests. 

“Wait.. so now you are trying to keep the kid quiet for her?” a person asked. “That’s a line too far.”

“This is bananas behaviour!” said another. “I'll bet she's using your house as a backdrop so she looks better.”

Others offered helpful solutions. “You're better than I am,” a comment began. “I would've opened the door and said ‘GET OUT’, especially asking me to be quiet in MY home. If she didn't leave, I would've disconnected the internet modem.” 

*Names have been changed

Originally published as My babysitter took advantage of my kindness, now she’s controlling my 8yo son