Trusting someone to watch the children is such a big deal. Taking a chance and hiring a teenage babysitter requires a lot of trust especially, and when it’s “betrayed” it can get ugly. One mom found this out the hard way when her trusted teen sitter got drunk at her house. This obviously sounds like a total and complete deal-breaker, right? Well, for this mom, it turned out to be a little more innocent than she thought, and her response to the incident is causing all sorts of controversy.
The mom explained that the sitter had been coming to their house to watch her kids (an 8-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl) for about two months.
“She’s a very sweet and quiet girl and is good with the kids, we’ve only had small problems here and there but nothing major at all,” the mom wrote on Reddit. “When she first started babysitting for me I had asked her if there were any drinks or snacks that she’d like me to keep at the house as she’s here from 9-7 every day Monday through Saturday.”
She ended up having one request: seltzer water, which the mom obliged for the first month and then forgot about.
“A few days ago I bought hard seltzers for me and my husband, and didn’t think anything of it,” she explained. “A little bit after 2 pm she messaged me that she wasn’t feeling well and thought that she may have to go home, if it was possible if I could get off from work earlier.
“I asked her to try and hold out until the end of the day,” she continued. “Not too long after she called me crying, saying that something was wrong and she had to go home. She was drunk clearly, she drank the hard seltzers. I told her to leave and she walked home.
Yes, this mom had a drunk teenager walk home alone. Um, YIKES!
The sitter called her the next day to profusely apologize for the misunderstanding – but the mom wasn’t having any of it.
“She messaged me the next day and said that she now knew that hard seltzers were alcohol, and she hadn’t known, she never drank before as both of her parents were alcoholics and she has diagnosed PTSD regarding alcohol, she never planned on drinking in general,” the mom claimed.
“I told her not to come back as she put my children in danger. She called me crying and saying that she didn’t know, and that she cared deeply about my children and would never ever drink with them, or at all, and that she needs the money to pay for her driver’s permit (she comes from a not so well off family). I told her to find a real job and that it wasn’t my fault she got drunk.”
People were floored the mom acted so harshly.
“You’re an ungodly [expletive],” wrote one user. “Those seltzers are newish in the alcohol world and I wouldn’t expect someone who hates alcohol to know that. How mature of her to let you know. How immature of you to do what you did.”
They also pointed out that the mishap was actually her fault.
“She’s 16 and accidentally drank what she believed to be seltzer water, which you offered to provide her with,” is how another user plainly put it. “When she started feeling strange (poor child), she called you right away. When she figured out what had happened (smart child), she called you to discuss it (responsible child).”
The person continued: “You’ve rewarded her mature approach by firing her??? This could very reasonably, and just as easily, be considered your fault. You made the mistake of not telling her not to drink them. It’s entirely possible for a child not to recognize hard seltzer.”
Furthermore, people even noted that she was the one who put her kids in danger, not the sitter.
“You made a confused drunk 16yo walk home alone. I would never allow my child to babysit for you again. Not because you forgot to buy seltzer after asking her. Not because you bought hard seltzer. And not because you assumed she’d know they were alcoholic,” wrote another reader.
“All of that is normal, reasonable [expletive] that happens,” the person continued. “This 16yo kid called you as soon as she realized there was a problem. She’s still a KID. But you, a grown adult, fully aware she was drunk and confused – knowingly put her at risk.”
Yep, we’re inclined to agree with the internet on this one. This mom was so in the wrong!