Babysitting is a common way for teenagers to earn money here and there. It can be a good-paying job, and most times can prove to be very easy. However, not every babysitting experience goes as planned.

Dalton Timmerman, ‘21, had quite the experience when babysitting a 3-year-old girl who insisted on going outside in the freezing cold.

“I eventually gave in to her begging to go outside, and that was clearly a mistake,” Timmerman stated. As a result, Timmerman and the child were locked outside of the house for about an hour. Luckily, Timmerman’s mom came to the rescue.

Ava Graham, ‘22, also shared an experience that was quite messy. While babysitting, it can be difficult to give multiple kids constant attention, which Ava learned the hard way.
“I looked away for a second, and the next thing I know, the kids had spilled a whole bag of rice around the kitchen,” said Graham.

Karlie Welbes, ‘20, shared a similar experience that was rather traumatic. Karlie was babysitting a kid who had wanted to go ride his bike. Welbes told him to meet her at a certain spot, but time passed and when she went to meet him, he was nowhere to be found.

Karlie said, “I looked all over for him, and it turned out he had biked to Casey’s, which was about 2 miles away from where we were.”

Last but not least, Ashley Steele, ‘20, had the idea to take the kids to the River Museum for the day. Harmless, right?

Wrong.

“The little boy I was watching was leaning over the stingray tank and fell right in,” Steele said. Luckily, the stingrays didn’t have their stingers, and everyone was okay.

At the end of the day, babysitting is an experience that gives babysitters opportunities for lessons to be learned. For some, the experiences may be more scarring than humorous, but ultimately there are many skills that can be developed through babysitting children.