People often assume babysitting is easy money, but anyone who’s actually done it knows chaos can strike fast.

One babysitter thought he had a solid gig with a family, but when the kids went rogue and broke his Nintendo Switch.

But when he decided to stop taking their mother’s calls, she flipped out and made matters even worse.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for not taking a babysitting job?

I, (M16), do babysitting for everyone around my neighborhood just for a little extra cash.

I only do it on weekends, or days where I don’t have school or anything to do after school. I get paid based on how much the parent gives me an hour, but I never ask for anything extreme like $50 an hour unless it’s an overnight thing.

He’s had a pretty consistent gig with one family.

Yesterday, my school closed due to the weather, and I was bored at home when I got a call from my neighbor, who I’ll name Ms. F for now.

Ms. F has 4 kids: 2 teens (my age), an 8-year-old, and a 3-year-old. Since I didn’t have school or any homework, she called asking if I could babysit her 8-year-old and her 3-year-old since she had to take her teenagers to the doctor.

The job is usually straightforward enough.

I accepted, since she said she’d only be out for 3 hours and would give me $100 when she was back.

Usually when I take care of an 8-year-old, I have snacks to give them, and sometimes I let them play on my Nintendo Switch.

But this time, things went off the rail fast.

The 3-year-old was the calmest, but the 8-year-old kept running around, crashing into things, and wouldn’t sit down for more than 3 minutes.

I basically had to keep my eye on him the whole time and couldn’t even use the bathroom without hearing crashes or screaming coming from him alone.

The mother was apologetic at first.

When Ms. F came to pick them up, she gave me the $100 and told me that her 8-year-old has never been anywhere without her and she’s sorry about anything he did. I understood — some children just like to be around their mothers — but the damage he did was a lot.

But then this babysitter realized the full scope of the damage.

I cleaned up, but when I got to the living room, I realized my Nintendo Switch was broken. It wouldn’t turn on, even on the charger, and when it finally did, it just glitched all over before shutting off again.

So when he said no to Ms. F’s next babysitting request, she went lethal.

Today, Ms. F asked me to take care of her 8-year-old again since she had to go out. I declined. I already had two 5-year-olds I was watching, who were much calmer and didn’t like a lot of noise.

I also expressed to her that her 8-year-old might have accidentally — giving the benefit of the doubt — broken my Nintendo Switch, and until I can get that fixed, I don’t want to babysit him.

She went mad and called my mom, screaming about how ungrateful I am.

AITA?

He has every right to stand up for his personal property — and his time.

What did Reddit make of all this?

There’s not really much to be grateful for here.

This babysitter wasn’t in the wrong, but the mom sure was.

Perhaps this mom should spend more of her time parenting her kids better.

This mom was likely just mad because this babysitter finally called out her kid’s bad behavior.

In the chaotic world of babysitting, accidents happen, but accountability matters too.

If this mom really wanted help, she should have showed a little more respect.

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