A lot of kids complain a lot or don’t communicate what is really bothering them.

So it can be hard to know how to interpret things.

This nanny may have gotten it wrong this time.

See what happened.

AITA for how I responded to my nanny kid’s camp calling

I’m a nanny to a 6 year old boy and 2 year old girl.

The job has gotten more complicated over the past year due to the parents divorcing.

I work for the mom on her weeks and I occasionally help the dad out when his mom can’t watch the kids.

The job is pretty great though. The mom and I have become good friends and I love the kids.

Yet things are not plain sailing.

The 6 year old got out of school 2 weeks ago and is in camp now. The thing with camp is, he tends to be over it by 2-3ish so I get a lot of calls like “He has a stomach ache,” “His head hurts” and “He’s not feeling well,” where he acts sick until we go home. Then he’s bouncing off the walls and jumping on the couch.

We’ve talked multiple times about it. There’s no problem with any staff or other kids. He’s just over it.

I was on vacation all week. Yesterday I got a call from the camp and when I answered the kid started telling me that he hit his lip on a table that morning and a mosquito bit him on the playground so now his arm hurts and he wants to go home.

I talked to him about his day for a minute, reminded him that I was on vacation and wouldn’t be able to hop on a plane to pick him up, then talked to the counselor to make sure there weren’t any serious issues. Hung up, texted the mom to let her know about the call, and went about my day.

That wasn’t the end of the incident.

Then last night the dad started texting me furious that I dismissed his “injury,” reminded me about his (extremely mild) mosquito allergy (The counselor already said someone at camp gave him his Zyrtec so he’s absolutely fine), and thinks I should’ve contacted him, his mom, or asked the kids mom to get him after the camp called me.

The mom told me not to worry about it but I know the kid already does have anxiety issues so I’m wondering if I did something wrong by telling him he’d have to tough it out until his parents could get him and not contacting someone to pick him up.

Here is what people are saying.

The boy who cried wolf maybe.

Definitely. This is bizarre.

That’s a bit harsh. The kid probably isn’t getting enough attention from his parents.

Absolutely. A huge red flag when clients do this kind of thing.

Definitely. You can’t let entitled jerks push you around.

I hope the little guy is a happier person soon.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.