An Evil Sister Act
“These two sisters that used to watch me and my siblings would put Tabasco Sauce on our lips and tongues when we were ‘bad.’
They would also force us to take naps by putting us in our bedrooms, locking the door, and turning off the lights. I was 5 and my parents never made us take naps at that age.
For some reason, I only ever complained about the nap thing, not the Tabasco thing. If I saw them on the street, I called them tthe girls who make us take naps.’ I should have told my parents about the hot pepper sauce torture!
Luckily, they were ‘backup’ sitters who only came to the house a handful of times. Our other sitters were like family, they were really lovely girls.”
Why You Never Agree To Play “Kidnapped”
“Being the youngest of four sucks because often, my babysitters were my siblings. The worst that any of them had ever done is one time my sister, who is six years older than me decided she wanted to play ‘Kidnapped.’ Since I was only like 6-7 at the time, I agreed. She proceeded to tie my hands and feet together into a hog-tie and then duct taped my mouth and stashed me in the closet. I thought it was fun for the first 30 seconds or so, and then I realized that I wasn’t getting out.
I lost it. Screaming and crying and losing my mind. I was crying so hard, my nose instantly filled with snot, which made it near impossible to breathe. I freaked out harder. I don’t remember much after that, I’m pretty sure I passed out. It’s an odd angle to stay in for so long. I do know, that I kept screaming though, making muffled screams and crying like a baby.
I remember once, my brother, who was also in on it, opened the door and said something along the lines of, ‘Had enough yet?’ and threw some water in my face, then closed the door again.
I was in there, stuck in the dark, scared, crying, breathless, for almost six hours. SIX HOURS! They pulled me out when my mom called and said she was leaving work. I had rope burns on my wrists and ankles and a duct tape burns on my mouth. They made me tell my mom that we were just playing and I agreed to it and that I thought it was fun. She still doesn’t know how long I was tied up for.
The best part of the whole thing, though, was that I’m now majorly into bondage, which I’m totally cool with. And the entire experience was, honestly, probably a good thing. If I’m ever tied up getting tortured or something, I know I can handle it.”
Get Her, Boy!
“I had a babysitter who would try to hit me, but she was 60 or so she moved rather slowly compared to 8/9-year-old me, so she rarely ever landed anything. She would usually hit me for pointing out that she was wrong or me talking back to her. One night, she tried to hit me so I ran upstairs to my parents’ room where we kept our dog because she was terrified of dogs. I released the dog (breed: American Eskimo) and shouted that I’d released the hound. The dog ran downstairs and, having never met her before, barked at her. This babysitter ran outside barefoot into the snow. Ran down the driveway, through the street and to the neighbor’s house across the street. She called my parents and said she was never babysitting me again.”
The Lowest Key Hookup
“I had a babysitter who turned out to be pretty well known for selling illegal substances in that part of the state. Didn’t realize that until I was 18 or so.”
This Fails Babysitting 101
“She didn’t do it intentionally but I had a babysitter who let me drink bleach when I was 2 or 3-years-old. I was in the hospital for days, I had seizures and almost died.”
Not The Nicest Prank
“I had a babysitter who pretended to die. He just was laying sprawled on the floor. 8-year-old me and my 6-year-old brother were both in hysterics before he got up and yelled, ‘Gotcha!’
…And then my brother and I cried until our parents got home three hours later.”
Treated Like A Dog
“My neighbor made me wear a leash. Her kid was out of control and we had to go to the grocery store. She pulled a leash out of her purse and hooked a velcro wristband around his arm. Before I had a chance to make fun of him, she pulled out another one and hooked it to me.
I walked around patiently, hoping to be released on good behavior, but no luck.
Also, the rule in her car was ‘Hands under the seat belt,’ which was terribly uncomfortable and dangerous, too.”
She Betrayed The Family
“She was in high school and I was in elementary school. She would watch me and my younger sister most days after school before my parents would come home. She was alright to us, I remember she was very lazy. She would sleep on the couch for hours while we would play around the house or neighborhood. What made her terrible is that she started stealing from us. She found my Dad’s checkbook and forged some checks. My dad is in finance and always balances the checkbook and it was obvious that money was missing. He got in touch with the bank and found out that it was her. Also, my parents would hold onto my and my sister’s cash that wasn’t in the bank. Like maybe, $120 total and that mysteriously went missing, but they couldn’t prove she took it. My parents didn’t call the police because they didn’t want to ruin her life and also, her parents were very nice. They paid back the money she took and I never spoke to her again. I actually looked her up on Facebook and she has three daughters now. I wonder if she ever thinks about how much she betrayed our trust.”
Whatever Happened To “Boys Will Be Boys?”
“My next door neighbor was babysitting us one day (I am one of four brothers) and he just couldn’t keep track of us all at once since we all wanted to run around and do little kid stuff. He decided to grab my oldest brother and tie him to a tree. Now, my brother didn’t like this one bit, so he started screaming for help. I heard the summons and saw my brother sitting there, helpless, and my neighbor nowhere to be seen, so I made a mad dash for the tree in an attempt to free my brother from his captivity, when out of nowhere my neighbor snatched me up and said, ‘Two down, two to go.’ After we all were tied to this tree, he walked back over to his house and did who knows what until about an hour before my parents returned. Needless to say, he never babysat, nor came near us again, also he went to jail later in life, so who’s tied up now?!”
A Protective Brother
“A babysitter’s son kept trying to take my 5-year-old sister into his room to ‘play games’ and he told my brother and I to stay out. The kid, who was about 12, was kind of a freak so I said absolutely not and I wouldn’t let my sister leave my side. My older brother and I told my mom and we stopped going there.
Then my brother told the sitters kid that I was the one who told, so the kid would always threaten me when he saw me at school, but he never actually did anything.”
A Horror Story
“One of my friends was repeatedly abused by her babysitter for about three years, starting when she was 5. She never told her parents because she was always too scared they would be angry at her (doesn’t make sense, I know, but it was toddler logic).
The babysitter would put her older sister to bed, then sneak into my friend’s room and do it to her. The only reason it stopped was because another baby was born, so she started sharing a room with her older sister when her old room was turned into a nursery.
Her parents eventually found out during our senior year of high school and made her go to therapy. The babysitter was already in prison for assaulting his niece. As far as mental issues go, she is surprisingly normal.”
Just One Small Problem
“She showed me her chest. I was 12 and what should have been awesome wasn’t…because I’m as gay as springtime.”
He Got Hurt On Her Watch
Not actually looked after me.
I fell backwards in a high chair, busted my head and she thought I was dead and so called my mom to tell her, as opposed to an ambulance.
She was wasted.
Milk As A Torture Device
“When I was seven, I had a babysitter who insisted I have a glass of milk with my dinner because it’s healthy for me. I always said no and begged her to not make me drink it but she always forced me to so I did. I’m lactose intolerant, every time she made me drink that glass of milk I would instantly puke and be sick for the rest of the night.
She told me that this feeling was normal and that I’m getting healthy and that everyone goes through this when they first start drinking milk. Then she would sit on the couch and watch TV for the rest of the night as I remained in bed in utter pain.
My mother told her that I was lactose intolerant when she first hired her and told her repeatedly that the milk in the fridge could be for my sister but not me or else I would get really sick.
This carried on for probably 4-5 Saturdays in a row until I told my mom what happened. Needless to say, she was fired and my mom put out the word all over our municipality about how she forced a lactose intolerant kid to drink milk, I hope she never got a babysitting job in our area again.”
What Kind Of Punishment Is That?
“I had a (female) babysitter threaten to urinate on me if I didn’t listen…I wasn’t sure if I should have listened or not…”
War Swords and Wrestling
“When I was 6-7, a creepy old lady made me nap next to her and showed me a rusty old sword she said her late husband used in a war. ‘He killed a lot of people with this,’ she would say.
When I was 9-10, the girl-next-door babysitter and I would ‘wrestle’ – those were some good years. She was 12-13 at the time.”
The Worst Babysitter Is No Babysitter
“My mom never left me with a babysitter. She always just left me home alone when I was about the ages of 8 and up. Back then I thought it was cool, and I was proud of myself for being able to stay home alone. However, looking back, that was pretty irresponsible, I don’t even remember her giving me any emergency numbers or anything.”
Don’t Play with Fire
“When I was around 8, I had a babysitter who thought it was amusing to light matches directly in front of my face. I ended up developing pretty severe pyrophobia.”
Her Sense Of Humor Just Wasn’t A Good Fit
When I was 6 years old, I had a babysitter named Latoya. All night, she made fun of my favorite babydoll, calling her ‘Big Head.’ When it was time to go to bed, my brother and I took a bath and while I was brushing my teeth, she lifted me up by my ankles, held me headfirst and upside down in the toilet and gave me a swirlie. I told my parents what happened and needless to say, she was not asked back.”
She Let Him Explore All His Weird Tastes
“My babysitter was my cousin and she would kind of let me do whatever while she watched Maury. This was the 90’s.
I would do things like eat condiments straight because I figured since they were so good on food, they’d be good by themselves. I remember eating a spoonful of salt, a few spoons of butter, and about a fifth of a jar of mayo. Then my stomach hurt so I took a nap on the welcome mat.
In other aspects, she was awesome. She once made rice crispy treats and woke me up for some at 11 at night so I wouldn’t miss out.”
Abuse in Disguise
“I had a female babysitter who would take me into the bathroom with her. She would sit on the toilet with her pants/underwear off and have me pee into the toilet bowl between her legs, she would ask me to hit her ‘hairy spot’ every once in a while.
I’m male and was about 8 years old at the time.
I remember thinking that it was pretty awesome”
She Was Too Cool To Show Up
“My mom was a single mom struggling to make ends meet. She found a job in the next city over where she could make more money than she had been. My sister and I were in elementary school. I was probably in 2nd grade and my sister in 3rd. My mom hired a sitter in the morning so she wouldn’t have to leave us alone for a couple hours before school, and the babysitter was supposed to walk us to school.
This was fine for a while even though I didn’t like the babysitter. She had all these stupid rules, which weren’t rules when my mom was home, but I tolerated her for my mother’s sake. However, one day she didn’t show up, and my mom had left for work, as usual, thinking the babysitter would be a little bit late. This was before cell phones, so she had no idea what was going on. My sister and I walked the two blocks to school by ourselves not really thinking anything of it. However, the next day she didn’t show up yet again and my struggling mother was paying her for babysitting even though she wasn’t there. I was fed up with this stupid college-aged girl and left her a message saying, ‘Hi Carly, this is Riley. You’re not showing up to babysit us and you’re still getting paid. You’re fired.’
Later that night my mom came into my room and asked me if I had called and fired Carly. I told her that she wasn’t showing up and my mom just kind of agreed. Since we had been getting to school just fine by ourselves my mom decided to save on the babysitter and trusted us enough to make the two block trip by ourselves. We lived in a pretty safe neighborhood and lots of kids walked to school alone so it wasn’t a big deal.
My mom told me a couple years ago that Carly had called and told her that I had fired her and asked if she still had a job. My mother told her, ‘I guess not.'”
The Punishment Went Way Too Far
“I had a babysitter lock me outside on a cold, rainy day. I was in a t-shirt and underwear. I was 8 years old.
I got angry and dragged the garden hose to the door and got her to open the window. I pulled up the hose and started spraying her through the window, drenching the hardwood floors in the back half of my parents’ modest home. My sister let me in while the babysitter was drying off.
My parents got home a few hours later to find my sister and I zip tied together in the living room and the floor still covered in water. To this day that floor is ruined and my parents refuse to fix it.”
That’s Just Straight Up Abuse!
Mine just used to throw me down a flight of stairs and punch me in the legs and arms when I was ‘acting out.’ I didn’t talk until I was like 3 because of her… If my older brother tried to protect me, she would force him to be locked in his room… then take it out on me in front of his door so he could hear how bad of a brother he was to me. The only way it got found out is because my aunt showed up unannounced one day and saw her hit me. My aunt, who is super tough at the time, beat the crap out of her while on the phone with the cops. My aunt didn’t have any charges pressed on her because apparently the babysitter had a weapon on her and my aunt claimed self-defense. I am not bitter about it and I don’t have any true emotional scars because of it all. Just was able to get over it… Just don’t hit kids…”
The Scottish Sitter
“30ish years ago, my father was in the British merchant navy and my mother would sometimes come along (working the bar, kitchen whatever).
At the time, I was just a baby, and they had the chance for some shore leave together but needed a sitter.
The first mate volunteered to take the duty, he was a Scottish lad with a strong desire for a drink just about every night (playing to stereotypes, but it’s true). But he took his sitting duties seriously and didn’t touch a drop whilst looking after little me.
Upon my parents return they found him looking after me safe and sound……being bottle fed just a small touch of his favorite strong drink to help me get to sleep. I don’t think my parents were even angry, just amused.
But my dad has some great stories from when he was in the navy (as I suppose every sailor does) and this one is quite sedate in comparison.”
To This Day, He Won’t Eat These
“When I was three years old I was left with a babysitter ONCE. For lunch, she fed me Spaghetti-O’s, which call little toddler me a snob, but I thought they were gross. She forced me to eat them until, eventually, I puked. Then at nap time, I remember not wanting to sleep, so she threatened me with a hammer. I didn’t get hit with it, but I was terrified.
I do not eat canned pasta.”
She Was Lucky Her Sisters Were There To Watch Out For Her
“I was about 1 at the time, my sisters were 8 and 11.
My parents went away for a few days and a friend recommended this sitter. She found my parents’ secret stash and drank most of it. Apparently, she locked the room I was in so my sisters wouldn’t wake me (I guess so she wouldn’t have to deal with a 1-year-old crying).
My oldest sister had the smarts to know this wasn’t ok behavior and rang a friend of my mom’s. She used some kind of code to let Mom’s friend know things weren’t ok. The friend was smart enough to just ask yes/no questions in case the sitter heard and cut off the call.
As soon as she could, my mom’s friend got to the house, sent the sitter off packing, and looked after my sisters and I until my parents came back. They never went on an extended trip like that until my sisters were old enough to look after themselves/me.”
A Life-changing Encounter
“I was like, 6 years old, and our family had gotten a Nintendo Entertainment System. I basically only played a couple of games, nothing very intense or interesting. Things like Super Mario, Duck Hunt, Mickey Mousecapades, Yoshi Cookie, etc. Kiddy games. We had tons of games, though, because my cousins gave them to us used. My babysitter was this really responsible, neat, Asian college student. He saw the game collection and immediately got excited about seeing Final Fantasy in there, and asked me if I minded if he played it while he babysat me. I told him to go ahead, and I was kind of blown away (for whatever reason, I don’t know. Maybe just seeing an adult get really excited about a video game.) But it was a major turning point in my life! Became a pretty serious RPG /sci-fi/ fantasy/anime nerd, over time.