As a babysitter, you think the hardest thing about your job is going to be caring for the kiddos, right? But what happens if it’s the parents who do something sketchy? Something SO sketchy that you need to call the police on them?

It happens! In a recent Reddit thread, former babysitters shared their wildest story about the time they had to call the police on the parents of the kids they babysat for. Check out the craziest ones below!

1. When They Discovered a Meth Pipe

   “She had baby formula next to a meth pipe on the counter. I was young and couldn’t get the baby to stop crying so I called her and she sent some random girl over. The random girl revealed that there was a toddler asleep in the back that I didn’t know about. I told my mom and she called CPS and the cops. Turns out the woman had like two or three more kids that she wasn’t allowed to see.”

2. When a “Stranger” Walked In

   “I didn’t call the police, but I came very close! There was a little boy that I babysat for as a teenager, every Friday of every other week, as no one could handle him. His grandma once showed up at a restaurant and gave him back to his parents when she watched him. He was always pretty good for me, mainly because I would let him marathon Bob the Builder. Anyway, one night I’m making him macaroni and cheese and he’s playing in the living room. His parents had been gone a couple hours and it had just gotten dark out. I had put the water on the stove top and Andy was narrating his game for me from the living room when suddenly a door in the kitchen opened and a man I had never seen before walked out of the basement and into the kitchen! He was dirty, scraggly hair, and freaky skinny. I immediately screamed and threw the not yet hot water at him. He started screaming and yelled that he was Andy’s uncle and he lived in the basement. He stormed back into the basement and I called the boys parents who told me that the man was in fact, the dads brother, who had just been released from prison and was living in the basement. They hadn’t felt comfortable leaving him alone with their 3 year old as he had been convicted of violent crimes. So they thought it would be better if I, a skinny 15 year old girl was there as an intermediary. I called my dad, who came and spent the next five hours with me until they got home. I’m not sure the conversation they had while I was waiting in the car, but I didn’t babysit for them again for a long time.”

3. When There Were Cigarette Burns on a Camper

   “I used to work at a summer camp when I was a teenager. About once a week we would all walk down the street to the community outdoor pool. There were two girls, 5 and 8, who were very shy and stuck to themselves a lot. One day when we were getting ready to go to the pool I was helping some of the younger kids put sun screen on their backs. I remember asking the younger girl if I could help her and she nodded. When I lifted up the back of her shirt to get her shoulders she was absolutely covered in bruises and what I guess were cigarette burns. Every inch of her back. It was the most horrifying thing I’d seen at that point in my life. I was 16 myself, so I went to my boss and showed her the girls back. Her older sister was exactly the same. We ended up calling the police and they came and got the girls that afternoon. The shape of the bruises almost looked like whip marks, like they were whipped with a belt until it left insane bruises. It was so sad. Never saw those girls again.”

4. When The Dad Came in With the Punches

   “I was babysitting a 5 year old. I let him download an app and said if your parents say to take it off you have to listen. I went to the bathroom when the parents came home once i got out of the bathroom I saw his dad punch him in the stomach about 13 times yelling “I told you not to download apps” I called the cops, they came, I didn’t babysit that family again.”

5. When the Parents Fled an Accident

   “Parents got into an accident and fled the scene, police caught up to them in their driveway. The cops came to the door and told me to keep the kids in the back of the house so they wouldn’t have to see the lights or the parents getting arrested. I agreed to stay until the grandparents got to the house.”

6. When The Sister Said Something Insanely Shocking

   “The child (4) was running around naked and I was trying to clothe him and his sister (6) said “it’s funny when he comes naked to the table daddy sticks his pee pee in his mouth” I asked her to elaborate and her twin sister elbowed her and said ‘we aren’t supposed to talk about that.’”

7. When the Parents Drunk Drove Home

   “It was probably my third time babysitting this couple when they decided to have me babysit and go to local beer festival, they had two kids probably around 7 and 4 and were amazing the entire night and were very respectful, around 11 pm I hear the parents pull up into the driveway and the car doors slam pretty loudly I then began to hear shouting and the sound of someone screaming I go to look out the window by the door and the parents were screaming and throwing rocks from the driveway at each other, at this point I’m freaking out because they are both clearly drunk and getting closer to each other at one point the mom got so close and began taking swings at the dad and at this point I decided to call the police, police arrived and arrested both of them for drunk driving and assaulting each other, the kids had woken up at this point and were sobbing and I had to give statements to police and child protection services had to be called and I didn’t even get paid for babysitting. I was later told the parents had gotten into a fight because the wife found out her husband had been cheating on her and met the side chick at the beer festival, they’re divorced now and no longer have custody of the children and apparently the side chick and husband are getting married next year.”

8. When She Couldn’t Wake the Kid

   “I used to work overnights at a 24-hour daycare center, and we had to implement a rule that parents couldn’t drop off sleeping kids. We used to allow it, because a kid might be asleep when a parent needs to go into work for a swing or 3rd shift. But we had a toddler almost die in our care because he was dropped off “sleeping”, when in reality, he had been unconscious since earlier that day when his mother shoved him, he fell back and hit his head on the floor. When doing checks on the kids, we noticed the lump/gash on his head, and when we couldn’t wake him, called the police and ambulance. It was absolutely horrifying.”

9. When the Dad Forgot About His Kid

   “I am a babysitter and used to work at a daycare. The assistant director and I had to call the police once because a child was left behind over an hour after closing time. We were afraid her mom had been in an accident or something. Turns out there was a miscommunication between mom and dad regarding pickup. I really just think the dad forgot about her, as the mom was always the one picking up. It makes me sad to think that her dad forgot her.”

10. When Abuse Was Witnessed

    “So this isn’t exactly babysitting (but I mean it was kind of free babysitting) but when I was 12 I was at the park and I met a girl my age and her and I were on the swings when this little 5 or so year old asked if she could play with us. Her dad was also there watching her. We wanted to be nice to her so we played with her for a little while, pushed her on the swings that kind of stuff. Well when her dad said it was time to go home the girl made a fuss and started crying. Her dad had to basically drag her home. They were walking across the field (still in our sight) to their house when the dad picked up a large stick and hit her with it. He then carried the stick back to their home and tossed it in the garbage can when he got there. At the time I didn’t own a phone but the other girl I had met had one. I told her to call the police but she refused. I asked if I could borrow their phone and I would call the police. She agreed and I called then and told them what happened. About 10 minutes later they showed up to the house. I saw them look in the garbage bag and pull out the stick, then they knocked on the door. IDK what ever became of that.”

11. When They Asked a Horrifying Question

    “This isn’t personal experience but this was told by my friend. So, we have FM= friends mum and C= child. So FM was a babysitter. She had constantly looked after one kid as their parents had al lot of work to do. One time, the C asked what consent was. And then FM explains it all and everything. And at the end, FM said it’s always okay to say no to sex. I think we can see where this is going but just incase you don’t, the child then said ‘Even to family?’”

12. When the Mom Abandoned the Kids

    “Not the cops, but my mom called CPS. I was 14-16 and a neighbour had asked if I could babysit her 3 kids overnight. Being young, and it being a school night my mom said no. They talked a while and ended up with a compromise. She would go out early and be home by 9. She never left a number to call as she didn’t have a cellphone, as it was a low income neighborhood (just above community housing), and most families around didnt have any. Watching the kids was fine, as I knew them well, and i did some dishes and basic cleaning around the house. 9 p.m. came around and no sign of her. 10 p.m. nothing. Around 11:30 I decided to call my mom. I was tired, and unsure of what to do. My mom came to the house and sent me home and filled me in the next day. Apparently around 4 in the morning my mom was fed up and called CPS for abandoning her kids with a babysitter. She showed up at 9 the next morning with a random guy (she was a single mother; no boyfriend). My mom just told her to never ask any of us to watch her kids again, and the lady just gave her $20 as my mom left. $20 for about 19 hours of babysitting.”

13. When Dad Kicked Down a Door

    “We were neighbors, the parents were going out to the bar. the baby sister was 13. Their kids were a few months and 14. The baby got sick and the kids didn’t know what to do so they came to our house for help. We couldn’t do anything to help so we called an ambulance. Baby was fine, everyone happy, parents still at the bar. Few hours later parents come back drunk and find out what happened, the dad kicks down our front door, goes straight to the master bedroom and kicks that one down when he got hit in the face with 25lb. Dumbbell (kicking a door down is loud and tends to wake ya up pretty quick) huge fight breaks out, holes all over the walls, blood everywhere. Dad ended up have to get his face surgically repaired. Learned to be grateful when someone helps your baby.”

Can you believe some of these stories? Did you ever have to call the cops on the parents of the child you were babysitting?