Woman babysitting her sister’s kids discovers her sister wasn’t actually working while out: ‘She got angry and said I don’t understand how exhausting motherhood is and that I should want to spend time with my nephews anyway’

Does what you do while somebody babysits your children really matter?

In this story, I honestly empathise with the mother. I know it’s not ok to lie, and I know she should’ve been upfront about where she was going, but does where she goes really matter?

I think she wasn’t honest because she knew how her babysitter would react.  And she reacted just as expected, getting mad at her. She is still getting paid for the job.

This entire issue could be reversed if the two had a really honest conversation. Of course, that wouldn’t fix the trust issues that came with the lying, but I think it would help. Mothers are exhausted; we know it because our friends with kids tell us. After all, there’s constant internet discourse about it, and if we had kids ourselves, we would know it too.

Motherhood being exhausting used to be taboo and not talked about. Luckily, now that’s beginning to change, but some mothers still carry a bit of guilt and are afraid to come clean to their babysitters. Apparently, mothers are paying them only to have a few hours for themselves; is that so crazy?

Maybe the lying could be fixed with extra money, compensating for the plans the babysitter had to cancel, thinking the mother was going to have trouble at work. That way, issues would be repaired, I think. And they could rebuild their relationship without taboos.

The mother would be able to have a babysitter while she runs free, and the babysitter would get extra money and time with her nephews; is that so bad? After all, if it isn’t her, the mother can hire another one who doesn’t need to know exactly where she goes when she is not home.

What do you think? Was this really so terrible?