In a viral TikTok video, a woman claims her babysitter fell asleep while watching her child, despite she and her husband only being gone for three hours.
“Am I overreacting?” the creator, Danielle Mitchell (@danimariemit), asks viewers at the beginning of the video.
@danimariemit First time parent problems, I know, but seriously, is this okay? #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #babysitter #firsttimeparent #amioverreacting #isthisok ♬ original sound – Danielle Mitchell
Mitchell says she left the babysitter watching her 10-month-old child while she and her husband went out for date night. She notes that because the babysitter was the first person to watch their son alone aside from them or their parents, she was considerably nervous.
Before the couple left, the TikToker notes that the babysitter rocked the baby to sleep. Within 15 minutes, the baby was fast asleep, so Mitchell and her husband left. She says her son stayed asleep for the rest of the night.
Around 9pm, Mitchell says she checked the cameras. Initially, she thought the babysitter might be listening to her audiobook, she says, because the babysitter said she’d bring one. However, after texting the sitter to bring the dog inside and seeing no movement, the TikToker says she realized she was asleep.
“We watched the cameras to see if she would move and she didn’t,” Mitchell says in the video.
This led her to panic, she says. Worried that the babysitter wouldn’t hear if the baby woke up and started crying, the couple decided to head home.
“Internally, I’m starting to freak out,” Mitchell says. “She’s watching our son, but she’s asleep. But he’s also asleep. But he’s only ten months, and I don’t know if she would hear him if he woke up and started crying.”
As soon as they arrived, Mitchell claims it took a moment for the sitter to wake up. She notes that she would have felt better if the babysitter had the sound monitor on, but Mitchell claims she didn’t.
“Now, I don’t know what to think. Is it normal for your babysitter to fall asleep when they’re watching your kids?” the mother asks in the video.
The TikToker also states that they weren’t out very late. “It wasn’t like we were back at 2am,” she says. “We were back by 9:30.”
The video received over 1.4 million views, and her question sparked debate in the comments. Some said that Mitchell should’ve told the babysitter that there were cameras.
“Whoaaa did you make her aware of the cameras before you left??” one user commented.
However, the TikToker notes in a follow-up video that the cameras are highly visible.
“In the open. Obvious. Everyone knows they are being watched,” the text overlay reads.
@danimariemit Reply to @queenofzilch ♬ BARELY BREATHING – Grant Averill
Another commenter countered, “You sleep when you are ‘watching’ your kiddos too, right?”
Though, Mitchelle argues in an additional video that the situation is different, considering the babysitter was being paid.
“I actually had to think about this one, but this is what I’d say to that,” Mitchell says in the video. “First of all, I am his mother, so I am a little more attuned to him than a random person. So, if he wakes up and starts crying, I am literally up in a split second. And second, I am not getting paid, but I am paying the babysitter.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Mitchell via TikTok comment.
Source: https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/babysitter-fell-asleep-debate/