Babysitting is sometimes an easy gig, which is why we trust pretty young kids to do it for us for short outings.

The thing is, even an easy gig can turn into one that’s way above the paygrade of the 12-year-old down the street.

OP was responsible for two young kids while the parents went to a wedding.

I (23f) was asked to sit for a date night while the parents went to a wedding yesterday. I was supposed to have a baby boy, 13 weeks old, and his sister, 2 years old, from 5 to 11 p.m. This is not my first time watching either child.

Our evening went as smoothly as it could with a toddler and baby. I got them to bed by 7:30 and started putting the house back together.

At some point, they asked if she could stay an extra hour.

At 10:15 p.m., I got a text from the parents asking if I could stay until 12 p.m., and I told them that’s fine and to have fun.

They didn’t show up on time – or in the next five hours either – and OP was a nervous wreck.

12:15 rolls around, and I haven’t heard from the parents. I sent a text asking if they’re close and didn’t get a response. I can be pretty anxious, so my mind started thinking they got into an accident or something bad happened.

I didn’t hear from them after 5 minutes and then decided to call, but got no answer.

1 a.m. rolls around, and the baby has already woken up to feed again, and I’m just overly anxious at this point. It’s 1 a.m., and I have no one to call to calm me down.

I would never assume that a late parent is just a late parent at 1 a.m. So I am just on our city’s Twitter page, where they’ll let you know road conditions and accidents, seeing if something happened within the last hour and a half but nothing.

2 a.m. rolls around, and I kid you not, I have called around 15 times and received no answer from either parent. I wanted to call the police at that point but also didn’t want the kids woken up and taken out of the house at 2 a.m.

I was hoping that the parents would walk in, and although I’d be angry, at least they’re fine, but again, that didn’t happen.

She eventually called the police, who were still there when the parents arrived home.

At 5 a.m., I decided to call the police and report the parents missing, and I told them I couldn’t keep them after having them all night. The police showed up at 5:22 a.m. and took a statement from me.

I was asked for the parents numbers, and the police asked if I could stay with the kids until they could figure out what exactly they’re going to do.

At this point, the neighbors are outside, and the woman directly next door told me she could stay with them, but I didn’t know their relationship to her, so I told her I’d wait with the kids for a bit.

At 5:48am, they roll up and are greeted by the police. The mom ran into the house, thinking something had happened to the kids, and sighed when she saw they were there.

“Our phones died, and we didn’t know how to get home from the venue,” is what she said to me, and I was fuming! I called them irresponsible and the worst parents I’ve ever worked for.

They laid into her for calling the cops, but did OP do anything wrong?

I demanded she pay me on the spot, and I left. I got a super long message about how this is my job and I’m a huge jerk for disrespecting them and calling the police.

She felt like I could’ve left them with the neighbors or called the emergency contacts, not the police.

Emergency contacts are mom’s parents who are a 6 hour plane ride away, their pediatrician’s office, and 911 … I felt like 911 would be best in this case.

AITAH?

The top comment says OP did the right thing – and the parents’ story is fishy.

This person says there is no excuse for abandoning kids that young.

No one was feeling sorry for the parents at all.

They agree they’re not very good parents, in fact.

If they’d wanted to, they would have.

My heart hurts for this poor girl’s anxiety.

And also for that newborn baby wondering where his people went.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.