July 23, 2026 at 8:45 pm

She Paid Her Friend to Watch Her Kids—Then Came Home and Decided Not to Pay

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Having a babysitter whom you trust is really important for all parents.

What would you do if you had a set routine for your kids, but when one of them wouldn’t go to sleep, your babysitter broke from that routine and made the child sleep in a different room?

That is what happened to the mom in this story, so she fired the babysitter and is refusing to pay her for that night. Her friends, however, say that she is out of line for not paying her, and even firing her may be an overreaction.

Personally, I do think that she is overreacting, and I am guessing that the babysitter is right that the kids are spoiled. Read the full story below, and see what you think.

AITA for firing my babysitter

I’m a single mom to 3 girls, (Sophie (2), Addie (4), and Evie (8). Their dad was in the military and passed when I was pregnant with Sophie.

I just got a new job that mostly aligns with the kids school/daycare schedule but I work late on Wednesday nights.

A friend of mine is going through a divorce and her ex husband is being difficult about child support so I asked her to babysit on Wednesday nights.

A set routine can make things like this easy.

In my opinion, the job is pretty simple.

She gets there at 6, dinner is at 6:30 (always mac and cheese. I make the sauce before she gets there so she just has to boil the pasta and add the sauce), after dinner they get to play until 7-7:15, they each get a melatonin gummy, they watch bluey until 7:30-7:45, then everyone uses the bathroom, brushes their teeth, and goes to bed.

All of the girls share a room, their pajamas and comfort items are laid out for them, and I have a stack of books out for bedtime stories.

Everyone gets tucked in then sitter reads 3-4 stories until everyone’s asleep.

Everything is ready to go for the babysitter.

Evie occasionally has a hard time falling asleep so I told the sitter if she’s not asleep by the 4th story sitting on her bed and rubbing her back tends to get her to sleep within a few minutes.

Sitter turns off the lights, turns on the night light and sound machine, and gets to hang out on the couch until I get home.

I can see why this works best for this family.

I have all 3 girls sharing a room for a reason. Evie has anxiety and is scared to sleep alone. My younger two feel safer when their big sister is sleeping next to them.

Putting the three of them together is the best way to get everyone to sleep.

She knows she can get her own room whenever she wants but it’s not something I will force on her.

She shouldn’t do that, but it isn’t a big deal.

Last Wednesday I guess Evie wasn’t sleeping and kept insisting on more stories.

My friend told her to lay down quietly or sleep in the guest room and Evie started to cry.

My friend picked her up, put her in the guest room, and stayed in front of the door to the girls room to prevent her from going back to bed.

It is fine to fire her for this (even if it is a bit extreme), but you do have to pay her for her time.

When I got home close to midnight Evie was still awake and was crying her eyes out.

I didn’t find out what happened until the next morning.

When my friend confirmed what happened and called it discipline I told her she wasn’t getting paid for that night and would no longer be taking care of my kids.

Honestly, I don’t think that they are wrong.

Now she’s saying I’m overreacting and my kids are spoiled and have behavior problems.

I have mutual friends saying I’m screwing her over over a temper tantrum and saying the money I pay her is her entire grocery budget.

Now I’m wondering if not paying her for Wednesday and firing her was an overreaction.

AITA?

Maybe the babysitter shouldn’t do this, but when a kid won’t go to bed, you have to try something. Regardless, it wasn’t abusive or neglectful, so she really should be paid for that day. Even firing her seems extreme.

Read on to see what the people in the comments on Reddit have to say about this story.

I agree with this commenter.

She has to pay for that evening.

Is this a bad idea?

She really should pay her for that evening.

Just pay her for the night.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a disabled driver who gets revenge on a woman who took a handicapped spot.

At the very least, she should pay her for the evening of babysitting. If she was a good babysitter other than this one thing, I would give her a second chance after discussing my expectations with her.

You can’t just not pay someone for work they did just because they didn’t do it exactly how you want. That isn’t fair, and in many cases, isn’t even legal.