Mom Bans Mother-In-Law's Friend From Watching Her Children After She Says She's Their Real Mom

Nov 16, 2021 by apost team

Since so many parents have full-time jobs and need breaks to partake in their own activities, they typically hire babysitters or other caretakers. Finding the perfect babysitter can be hard because you want to make sure that your kids are safe and cared for when you’re gone during the day. It can also be incredibly expensive to keep up with the weekly or maybe even daily payments.

Fortunately, many friends and family members offer to help parents out every now and then to save them some cash and to allow them to do whatever they need to do. A mother of two felt pretty lucky when her mother-in-law explained that she had a friend who would be more than happy to help watch her kids during the day completely for free. The family wasn’t necessarily struggling with money, but it was nice to know that it was one less bill they had to take care of.

Unfortunately, the babysitter turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. At first, everything was going well; the babysitter always showed up on time and was great with the kids. A few months later, one of the children went to their mother with some shocking information. It turned out that the babysitter told the children that she was their real mother. It became so confusing for the children that they even started questioning who their real mom was.

This caused a huge issue between the mother, her mother-in-law and the babysitter, resulting in the mother taking to Reddit on Nov. 9, 2021, to ask users for advice.

In her Reddit post, the original poster (OP) explained that she and her husband have a 4-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son. They both have office jobs, so they need someone to watch their kids while they’re at work. They’ve hired a few babysitters over the past few months, but OP’s mother-in-law said that she had a friend who could watch them for free. “I told her it wasn’t necessary since we could afford a babysitter just fine, but she insisted,” OP said.

So, OP agreed. “Everything was perfect for the first few months, she was always on time and always fed my kids and put them to bed at the time I suggested,” she said. “My kids seemed to really like her, but about a few weeks ago my oldest came to me and asked me if I was their real mommy.”

OP continued, “Well turns out, MIL’s friend had been telling my kids that they were her babies, and when they protested saying they weren’t, she would yell at them saying that I was just their money maker and that she was their real mommy.” After OP told her husband what had happened, he immediately hired a different babysitter. Together they both called the mother-in-law to let her know that her friend was no longer welcome in their home.

Unfortunately, the mother-in-law didn’t take the news well. OP explained, “Over the phone she started screaming, saying that quote on quote ‘my friend doesn’t have any kids or grandchildren, so your kids are the closest things she’s had to it, and you’re going to take that away from her?!’” 

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OP and her husband tried to calm the older woman down, but they eventually just hung up. They later received a photo of the fired babysitter crying on the mother-in-law’s couch. “I feel horrible for making her upset, but I don’t like how she was telling my kids these things,” OP said. “I understand that she doesn’t have kids, but that doesn’t excuse her behavior.”

OP explained that she needed some “peace of mind” and asked Reddit users if they thought she was right or wrong in how she handled the situation. Fortunately, she found a lot of support, and the majority of Redditors were on her side as they called out the mother-in-law’s friend for her disruptive behavior. 

One user commented: “If anything you under-reacted. Would your MIL ever help (her) friend see them? To the point of taking the kids behind your back? I’d take them to a few sessions with a therapist. They were clearly confused and the damage this unhinged woman did can run deeper than you know right now. Kids internalize that kind of stuff.”

Others agreed. Another user said: “I would personally be telling MIL that I will not be allowing unsupervised time at her home since she not only finds this behavior acceptable, but she knew and is encouraging it. The behavior on MIL’s friend’s part is NOT NORMAL OR HEALTHY, it’s delusional and dangerous. I would change the locks, install cameras outside at the bare minimum and have a camera in the living room at all times when you’re not home.” 

What do you think about this babysitting situation? Would you react the same way the mother did? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your family members and friends, too.