35 Babysitters Share The Weirdest Things The Parents Ever Asked Them To Do

The most inappropriate thing I was asked to do is actually only so, looking back on it as a mother.

When I was 10, I started babysitting my next door neighbors kids, they were 3 and 6 years old. I'd play with them after school for an hour or two while their mom went grocery shopping or whatever. Super easy, she'd give me $20 and a candy bar lol it was awesome. This was in 1987 so it was actually really nice pay!

My neighbor 4 houses down had a baby, and she was friends with my mom. When that baby was a week old, she asked me to babysit for her while she went to some thing. I was 10. This was a newborn. She left for 4 or 5 HOURS. I'm mixing bottles of formula, feeding the baby, holding him, changing his diapers. I had zero experience with a baby. The closest I came was playing with baby dolls. Oh it went fine and I called my mom when I had questions, but seriously who in their right mind would leave a newborn with a 10 year old girl who had no experience at all for 5 hours?? And it became a regular thing. I babysat him weekly for the next 4 years until they moved away.

I consider this wildly inappropriate now as a mother. A newborn? A 10 year old? 5 hours? WTF was she thinking??

The most inappropriate thing I ever did while babysitting was lose a kid.

We had been playing in a bedroom when the two sisters began fighting over a toy. I interceded and the older girl stormed out of the room in a huff. It was awhile before I realized she wasn't coming back. I started wandering the house calling her name. No response. I checked the basement. I checked the yard. Fear rising in my chest, I dragged the little sister and the toddler to a neighbor’s who had playmates. Nope, had not seen her.

Now, I was really panicky, and for an additional reason than most. Years earlier, the family had suffered the death of a 4-year-old who had wandered from home and drowned in a neighbor’s pool.

So what’s a 13-year-old to do? I called my mom.

Minutes later, she walked into the house and said very loudly, “Fiona! Come out! We are going to Dairy Queen!”

We heard a giggle, then an, “OK!”

She had been hiding under a pile of dirty clothes in the laundry room. The little snot.

So, we went and got ice cream. I knew we were rewarding bad behavior, but this babysitter really needed some chocolate.

Once, I had a parent bring in her teething infant. Poor thing was suffering with her teeth and drooling all over. She also brought in some whisky. Now, a lot of old-school people used whisky to rub on baby gums to help with the pain. Ok, not something I agreed with, but I had teething medicine. However, the request was not just to rub it on her gums. She was giving her a tablespoon every four hours for pain. I was like “heck no!” Needless to say, they found someone else to watch the baby pretty quickly.

It was the early 70s and I was in college, babysitting occasionally to make a little spending money. Jobs were posted on a dorm bulletin board. I arrived at an apartment full of stoned people, including the parents, getting pre-high for a Dead concert. The kids were asleep already.
They offered me a hit. At first I was gobsmacked that they wanted me to watch their kids while high. And then I thought, dummy, they probably smoke around them all the time.
Then one of them said, “So . . . you goin’ to the concert?”
“No. I’m babysitting.”
“Oh, right, man.”
Good times.

To not take them out of the house. I was with them for 3 days a week, 9 hours a day for a year. The first 2 months were fine. They let me take them to the park, to the library for story time, up to the shops for an ice cream etc. After a while the kids got attached to me and the mother got jealous and said I was no longer able to take them out of the house.

“Whatever you do don’t let him take an orange into his bedroom.”

The words didn’t mean a lot to me at age 15 babysitting little Timmy (aged 4 I can’t recall his name) but boy did they ever spring back in my memory later.

My best mate babysat this kid in my absence. We had babysat him together but I was away and no one thought to tell her about the orange rule.

I was away at a camp. Jen was babysitting. Little Timmy asked oh so sweetly for a piece of fruit and Jen gave it to him. He took his orange to his room. He tore it up with his bare hands and then sorted it into fleshy pulp, pith and rind.

The fleshy stuff was fed to a GI Joe figurine he called “Chooms” (smooch backwards according to his mum). Juice all over his bedsheets.

The pith was posted into the all in one tv-video recorder unit in his play room (shh it was the 90s, yes I know I’m old) . This was discovered when I tried to put a power rangers video on for him on my next visit.

The rind he had been told was great for starting fires. Jen found him in the bathroom setting fire to toilet paper and orange peel with matches then flushing it at 10 at night. Little scientist. Bless. So glad it wasn’t on my watch. (Sorry Jen)

“If they misbehave, there’s a ladle in the left hand drawer.”

Yup, when I was babysitting the two daughters of one of our neighbors, the mom told me to hit them with a ladle if they were bad.

No, I never even considered it. And they were bad. A lot.

Someone once called me at 11pm on a worknight (I was in my 20s and worked almost full-time, but also babysat sometimes). I was fast asleep, and I was sick with a fever, and she asked me to come babysit. She then got angry at me when I said I couldn’t.

She then called my mom and told her I was being unreasonable.

One time while babysitting a friend of the couple (male, about 30) told them he would give me a ride home. Instead of taking me home - which was about five blocks away - he drove me to a remote area and started to grope me and try to kiss me. I protested and managed to back him off - even though I was only 12. It scared me. I never told anyone.

My grandkids go to a private school and I was babysitting them one night (6 of them) and I told the two school age girls to get ready for bed and they came down in their school dresses.

I said, “I said get ready for bed not for school!” They replied, “Mom lets us sleep in our school clothes because it is easier to get off to school in the morning.”

I said fine but held back a small laugh. I had never thought of that but I had never had six kids to get ready for school.

I baby sat rotation at the church nursery.

A mother told me her baby is breast fed and gave me instructions to let junior massage my breast while taking the bottle or he would be inconsolable. That child promptly had his bottle propped up on a blanket in the bed!

Another time a child was being potty trained with skittles candy. The mother brought a quart size bag for an hour sermon. Consequently child went potty without candy end of story. She didn’t understand how I got her to go without it… simple. Don’t mention it… kid may get potty trained but gets rotten teeth in the process. YOU are the parent people. It’s OK to call the shots!

The weirdest request I've ever had from a parent, was too make sure to not let their 5 year old son get ahold of any butter knives or flathead screwdrivers during December, and his birthday month. Why? Because the little rascal figured out how to unlock the door to the basement storage room (using butter knives, or a flathead screwdriver), and he'd also figured out that the storage room under the stairs, was where Mom would hide birthday and Christmas presents.

I was eleven. A young couple down the road from our farm had a baby boy. They hired me for $1/hour. His parents told me to add scotch to his baby bottle to help him take a nap. They didn't tell me how much though and I knew nothing about booze. I poured about half an inch, added milk and about an hour later the kid projectile vomited all over his nursery and was zonked for the entire four hours! My mom asked how it had gone. I told her about the scotch in the bottle and she went ballistic. She called them up and schooled them. The boy grew up to become an alcoholic and I always thought it was my fault.

In the 70s, I babysat once for my sister’s neighbor— just for the afternoon. The mom asked me to give the 6 month-old a bottle at 2 pm. Yeah, fill the bottle with Pepsi, she said. There was no milk in the refrigerator. I didn’t see any formula. He appeared to be a healthy well-fed baby. I did what I was told but I felt awful afterwards.

He slept like, well, a baby.

The most inappropriate thing that I was asked to do was babysit my newborn twin cousins at the ripe old age of 10. Now, one baby, I think I would have been OK, I had a brother 10 years younger than me, so a slight acquaintance with the needs of a baby. Very slight, I'm 10 after all. So there was a family wedding, college friends from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh of my aunt and uncle, who could not find a babysitter. My mom “volunteered" my services so that they could attendnd the Mass and skip the reception, they had newborns after all. So I'm driven to my aunt and uncles's house, no idea where I am by the way. They told me the babies were sleeping and shouldn't wake up, but gave me instructions if they did. That was the longest day of my life, praying that they did not wake up, and watching out the front window for their return. I think the babies were just beginning to stir when their car pulled up, I almost collapsed with relief.

I was asked to wash the feet of the kid from his mom. She was having trouble with his hygiene. I was really hesitant to do so because of the age. I had washed my friend’s feet for him when he was injured, but a 12 year old? I told her I would try as she left the house.
AJ was a soccer fanatic and always like to stay in his soccer uniform. I was able to get him to get his cleats off when he came inside and even his socks though the foot odor was almost unbearable. AJ said he hated taking showers or baths, but I replied that he needed to wash his smelly feet. After a few minutes, he complied and I drew him a hot bath and he stepped into the tub. I showed him the important parts to wash especially between his toes. I washed the soles of his bare feet and noticed they were noticeably smooth and well groomed for a boy his age.
AJ said his mom gives him a pedicure almost every other week. I stated that clean feet are important just as deodorant. He laughed as I scrubbed between his toes and tickled them. He thanked me for washing his feet.
Future visits were easy and the house didn’t smell of foot odor like it did before.

Weird requests I got while babysitting 1, 4, and 7 yr olds.

Don't let the baby take her shoes of, even though we weren't at any point going outside.

The 4 yr old could have soda with dinner, but the 7 yr old couldn't because she had school the next day.

Dont let the kids in the pool unless they had socks on. Apparently she was afraid their feet would get dirty.

The baby had to stay up until 11 so she'd sleep till 8 the next day.

Even though they could use regular cups the 4 and 7 yr olds had to use sippy cups. So the baby wouldn't feel singled out.

Once I was babysitting a very small one who had just started walking. The mom was a naturalist and didn’t believe in poison.

She said “There might be a mouse in the kitchen. Don’t feed the mouse. I am sure it is just visiting.”

Hearing a racket in the kitchen, I put small one in a crib with a toy, to investigate. Turns out there were eight mice in the kitchen. They not only planned on visiting, they were having a family reunion. I told mom the mice problem needed professional help. Her landlord took care of evicting the mice.

Five unruly kids I had babysat frequently for years came into the drug store where I worked. They pretended the youngest had his hands locked in a toy handcuff, as a diversion while they stole several cartons of cigarettes. Several of us saw them do it, but I was the only person who could recognize and name the kids, and I told on them. Their mother was furious with me.

I was working as a relief Nanny. Turned up to this family who had 1 child approx 12mths old.

They had a book on the bench a i had to write everything down. They wanted me to measure how much water was given how much was left which equaled how much was drunk. Each time he had a drink. I had to count how many steps he took and how many he crawled. I had to measure how much food was offered and type. I had to measure what was left and what was thrown on the floor. Nappy changes, dirty nappies were to be kept for inspection. Times he played with specific toys. He was not allowed to crawl on the carpet as itcouldnt be sterilized. His hands were to be washed beforehe put them near his mouth if he was crawling. I was to only play educational activities wit him, consisting of reading books, flash cards, and a few other specific activities.

After the first half hour of writing in the dam book it accidentally fellinto a sink full of water. I wouldnt of had time to interact with him if i did everything she wanted.