A babysitter has taken to the internet to share their story of why they decided to call the police on a mother who returned home late. The babysitter explained why she ended up calling the cops and asked if she was being petty and was in the right to do so.
The story posted to Reddit by Electronic_Professor attracted over four thousand comments at the time of writing, with a majority of users backing up the babysitter.
The 28-year-old explains she babysits on weekends to make extra cash, and with one particular family, the mother is known to never come home on time. She says her lateness throws off her schedule and she’s unable to do things on the weekends because of it. She explains the history of the mother saying:
I (28F) do babysitting on the weekends to make some babysitting on the weekends to make extra cash. There is one family I definitely should've fazed out by now but the kids are cute and if I don't have another job, it's easy money. My issue is, the mom is never home on time. She used to not give me return times but finally I started asking as it made it impossible to get anything done on the weekends. I'd go babysit so she could go to "brunch" but she'd be gone from 11 AM to 7 PM. My whole day was gone. After that, she'd start giving me times but never stick to them. She wouldn't even call to tell me, she'd just stay out.
The babysitter explains that with her last job with this household, she arrived at 6pm and expected the mother to return home by 9pm, telling her she needed to be on time as she had plans that night as well. When the mother did not return, the babysitter continued to try to contact her until midnight with no response.
On Saturday, I got to her house at 6 and she was supposed to be home by 9. I told her she needed to be on time because I had plans to go out with friends. I was even getting ready at their house after I put the kids to be. She promised. Of course, 9:00 rolls around and she's not home. I call her, no response. Text, no response. Another hour. Nothing. Still calling and texting. Finally, it is midnight. By this point, my plans are long ruined but I'm p***ed and exhausted.
Evidentally frustrated at the situation, she left a voicemail and text on the mother’s phone explaining that if she doesn’t come home in the next half hour, she would consider the kids abandoned and therefore call the police. She kept trying to get in contact after this to no avail. She continues:
I call her and leave a voicemail saying if she's not home in the next hour, I'm considering the kids abandoned and calling the cops. I also text her this. I try calling her 30 minutes later and it goes to voicemail on the second ring, I text her again and she leaves me on read. If she had reached out saying "Hey, I'm staying out until x time", I would've stayed. I don't know any of her family nor the father of the kids so I can't call them. I gave her a grace period of 15 minutes and tried calling again, finally called the cops (non-emergency line).
As the police arrive at the household, they try to make contact with the mother also with no luck, leaving the children in the care of the police and then are taken to the police station. She says:
They showed up and I showed our agreement in text from earlier in the week confirming that she'd be home by 9. They try contacting her, didn't answer. I was dismissed and they took the children to the police station. I go home and go to bed.
After this, the babysitter received a panic call at 3am from the mother frantically asking where she and the kids were. She explained what happened:
I am awoken at 3 AM by a frantic call. It's her. Where are the kids? Why am I not here? I tell her I followed through on my threat, check the police station. She cursed me out, I hung up and went to bed.
The following day, the mother sent the babysitter a message saying the children’s father was called and she is now under investigation. She finishes her story by saying:
The next day, she sends me an essay saying the kids' father was called and there's a DCF investigation launched against her. She called me every name under the sun but I didn't think I was wrong until I spoke to a friend with kids. She said I should've just waited it out and refuse to ever sit for her again. She asked if her potentially losing her kids was worth me being petty.
Many users flocked to the comments to share their opinions, most siding with the babysitter saying the children were neglected.
One wrote, "You're not being petty. It's her actions that have caused this situation not yours. She has shown a total lack of concern for the welfare of her children.”
Another said, "You made a good faith effort to contact her more than once. She left both you AND the police on read, and refused to respond, most likely because she assumed her kids were fine, and just went on having fun. But the thing is, what if you'd been contacting her because one of the kids was hurt? Or what if the cops were contacting her because YOU'D been hurt and that's why they were with her kids?"
Another agreed with the babysitter's actions saying she was right to do so since it had happened before:
"It would be one thing if it was a one-time occurrence, but this is clearly a common thing and makes me concerned about what else is happening in this household that you aren't aware of. I don't think you were being "petty" because it's concerning what she's doing so late that makes her unable to answer any calls or texts. You also gave her a bountiful warning and she chose to ignore you, or was incapacitated to the point of being unable to respond to you.”
Someone else voiced that she should've tried asking the children for an emergency contact rather than contacting the police first:
"I will probably be downvoted for this - in another comment OP mentions that the 7 year old was asleep and therefore couldn’t provide an alternative phone number (dad, grandparents, etc.) - I would have much rather woken this child up to ask them a couple questions to see if they could provide you those numbers (and hopefully then cared for by someone they know), rather than have them woken up and carried out by police. Unfortunately due to their mothers negligence, this is a memory the 7 year old will now carry around for the rest of their life."
"That’s not on you - it’s on the mom - but I find myself wishing that all possible avenues could have been potentially exhausted before the option of having the kids being taken out of their beds by the cops."
When one user asked what the mother's explanation was for not returning until 3am, the babysitter replied in a comment saying, "She wouldn't give me one. She said it was none of my business why she stayed out so late.”
Image Credits: (DimaBerlin / Strike Pattern / Shutterstock.com)
