Trying to find a babysitter isn't as easy as one would think. Many child care centers are full and have no capacity for taking on extra children, and when we need someone last minute, those centers don't usually work. Instead, some turn to in-home day care, and when they're in a bind, reach out to those they know to find out who they trust to care for their kids. That's what one mom did when she needed last-minute child care, but the experience ended in an emergency room visit.
A mom posted to Reddit's AITA community to ask advice on a situation she had with her babysitter.
The anonymous mom took to the forum to share a situation that happened about a week ago. "I had a last minute job interview and no one to look after my son (2 years old), so, I phoned my sister to ask if she could take him," she said. According to her post, her sister wasn't able to watch her son, but she gave her the name of a childminder (cm) that she's used before.
"I'd never met her before but she was a registered cm and my sister used her so I thought all would be fine," she said, after the childminder told her she could watch her son.
Before heading to the interview, the mom dropped her son off with enough food to last the day and gave the babysitter some details on her boy.
"So I drop him off at her house with a lunch box and tell her that we're a vegan family and that he's got enough food in there for the whole day," she explained. Everything seemed OK and OP left to head to her job interview.
But soon after leaving, she gets a call from the child care provider. "Not even 20 minutes later I get a panicked call from the cm saying that my son looks very unwell and had thrown up and that I needed to pick him up immediately," she explained.
The mom didn't even make it to her job interview. Instead, she had to call and explain the situation, then rush to pick up her son. "Around 5 minutes later she phoned me back again saying that he's now got a rash all up his back, freaking out even more, I tell her I'll be there as fast as I can," she added.
When she arrived, her son didn't look good --- but she recognized the rash.
"So I get there and he's now sobbing and had a rash all over his face, his older brother (who was at his dad's at the time) had a dairy allergy and all the symptoms matched," the OP wrote. "I ask the cm if he's eaten anything yet and she says no. I was kind of suspicious but believed her."
Mom rushed her son to the emergency room, where the doctors confirmed that her son's symptoms were consistent with an allergy. Trying to find out exactly what happened, she called the babysitter back to find out if she had given him anything that wasn't in his packed lunch.
"I phoned up the cm and asked if she was sure she'd not given him anything (honestly not as nicely as I could have) to which she goes on a rant saying 'kids shouldn't be vegan its bad for them, they need nutrients and calcium to grow and you're depriving him of it,'" mom said.
She added, "long story short, SHE'D GIVEN HIM A GLASS OF MILK BECAUSE SHE THOUGHT HE NEEDED THE NUTRIENTS."
As she explained in her post, her son had never consumed animal products before.
The mom was obviously upset -- her son had a severe reaction, she had to rush him to the ER, and she missed her job interview.
But the woman became more upset when she received an invoice from the babysitter.
"The next say she sent me a money request for the payment we'd agreed on, I couldn't believe that she had the cheek to send it but also was trying to charge me for the whole day when he'd been there maybe 40 minutes at most!" she said.
"Obviously I refuse. I then post on a local fb group everything that happened and now she's threatening to take me to small claims court (can she even do this?? I feel like I should be the one suing her!) and has now told my sister until I pay and remove the post she's no longer going to watch her kids either," OP explained.
Now her sister is upset with her because she's not able to have her kids watched. So the mom asked the Reddit community, "AITA? Am I going crazy? I feel like I'm the only one who thinks that this is a big deal." Adding, "just to be clear we did not know that my youngest had any allergies before this happened."
The Reddit community chimed in with opinions on the situation.
"NTA," on person wrote. "This childminder is not geared for her job if she's never experienced a milk allergy or is unable or unwilling to speak when a child's life is in danger. I'd go beyond a facebook post and talk to the people responsible for her 'registration'."
"NTA," another person confirmed. "She put your child's health at risk by exposing him to something you asked her not to expose him to. She made a decision about your child's health against your wishes and could have seriously harmed him."
"NTA, it was 100% wrong of her to give your kid food outside their diet, especially as you had provided everything yourself," another Reddit community member commented. "To then send you a bill when she DELIBERATELY ignored the diet, resulting in a trip to hospital is unfathomable. You posting about it on social media is not the way to get this person to change their ways. Surely there is a state authority you can report to."
"She shouldn't have given your son a dairy product to respect your values," another user responded. "She also shouldn't get any pay at all because it was her fault that he had to go to get medical care. NTA, it's insane she would consider taking you to court when she didn't even do her job for an hour."
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