AITA: Sacked Babysitter Over Dog

Finding a babysitter we can trust with our children is a tricky process - for understandable reasons!

It's not unreasonable to have strict ground rules when it comes to babysitting, right? As parents, we know our children, we have our own fears and worries, and no one wants to go out and worry about their child the entire time. Would a parent be out of line for sacking a babysitter who does something that breaks our trust in them?

One mum took to the Reddit AITA (Am I The Asshole) board to ask, is she the asshole for sacking her babysitter for bringing a dog over without permission? Read the post below...

"This happened this past weekend. My (M33) wife (F33) and I have a 6 month old kid. My wife and I planned a date night and we hired our baby sitter we've used half a dozen times. The baby sitter (F20) is a college student that lived in our neighborhood and came recommended by some friends that had kids.

She came over to our house, we told her our sons schedule, then headed out. We were going to go out for dinner and then meet up with friends for drinks. We have 2 cameras in our house that we can access remotely to check in on our son. One is over his bed and the other is over his play area in the living room. The babysitter knows about both cameras, so it isn't like we were spying on her.

My wife gets a notification that there is motion in the play area, she pulls it up to check in. She sees a dog sniffing our son. We are both like WTF. We don't own any dogs and have no plans to ever own any dogs. We try calling, no answer, so we rush home. We go inside and the baby sitter is holding our son and there is a golden retriever just hanging out. Everyone is calm and fine.

The babysitter seems shocked we are already home. I ask the babysitter why there is a dog in our house. She says its her golden retriever and decided to bring it today. The babysitter assures us the dog is baby and kid friendly and is sweet and safe. I don't want my son around dogs at such a young age even if they are "sweet" and "safe".

I'm getting more and more angry. This was not something she was transparent about and if we knew the dog was going to be there, I would have never okayed it. I just firmly tell her to grab her dog and please leave. I inform her we won't be using her in the future and pay her half her rate we had agreed upon, mostly since we used her less than half the time we were going to be out. She asks for the full amount. I told her no, you put my kid in danger, and you should leave. She says she did nothing wrong, but I don't see it that way. So was i the asshole?"

Find the main post here on Reddit.

dog-and-baby

Dogs and babies can be adorable together - but parental permission is always a must when introducing them!

What was the general consensus?

The poster won the majority vote as 'NTA' (Not The Asshole)! Many parents chimed in to share how annoyed they would be if their babysitter brought over an animal to their home without asking first, mentioning potential allergies and phobias. The top rated comment pointed out something quite astute too;

"NTA, if she thought it was no big deal then why didn't you see the dog arrive when she did before you left?"

The poster responded to this, mentioning that the babysitter admitted to SNEAKING the dog in after arriving, showing that she clearly knew that it may not be ok for her dog to be present when babysitting. Someone else pointed out that, if she was able to sneak in a dog without mentioning to the mum, what else could she be doing without permission? Another great comment we spotted said;

"Yup. I love dogs, and I have two dogs who love kids, but I never let them approach other people's kids without permission, even in public. Sneaking a dog into someone else's house is bad enough, doing it when you're alone with their baby is a big nope! And I'm not alarmist about dogs and babies - I also have a baby and my dogs are allowed to sniff and kiss him sometimes (not as much as they'd like!). NTA."

Our verdict...

We're fully with the poster here - she's not wrong to be angry. There was a clear level of planning and deceit here on the part of the babysitter, and whilst we're not completely alarmist when it comes to dogs around children, being lovers of both, we would never find it acceptable to bring an animal to an environment they've never been in before, around a child they've never met - a small and vulnerable baby at that - without permission! If something horrendous beyond words had happened - and it does happen, far too often - then the babysitter would have been criminally responsible too. How many times has a dog owner claimed their dog is friendly only for a bite or worse to happen?

We're getting huge red flags and think that the babysitter is not a trustworthy person, although we would still pay them in full for their time. A bad review on social media and never using them again is sufficient in our eyes but at the same time, we can understand the poster being reluctant to pay in full.

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