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That makes no sense that if they are unhappy with some of the things you've been doing with their child that they would now decide to offer you money and become more involved in a business arrangement with you. IMHO they need to be looking elsewhere for childcare, preferably choosing a person who is trained and experienced in working with young children and who would be respectful of the parents' wishes regarding what the child may or may not do.

I wholeheartedly agree.
 
Is all of this stuff about showing the little girl videos and things of which her parents would not approve a rather passive-aggressive way of trying to let them know that you don’t want to be their kid’s babysitter? Wouldn’t a simple, “no, I’m sorry, I can’t look after [insert child’s name] today (or tomorrow, whatever is being requested)” be more appropriate?
 
I would suggest just not babysitting for that child again, if the situations described have been even partly factual. Not sure who's playing games here but a real child does deserve better than she's getting from any adults whose behavior has been described in these scenarios, whether they are fictional or otherwise. The parents as described would seem financially capable of springing for professional daycare or a properly vetted live-in nanny.
 
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Hi everyone,

So I know I forgot to update everyone on this so here it is.

The parents are cool with me continuing to babysit their daughter but have kindly requested I limit all television. Whether because it’s what I decide to put on, or because they just don’t want their toddler in front of a tv screen, I can’t say for sure. But I respectfully agreeed and took it as an opportunity to spend time outside so now the little one and I go to the park or the local church that has a water slide and has a bunch of other kids there.

That dinner that was promised, the folks wanted to pay me $100 a week regardless of how many times I babysat. I said no to the payment but agreed on them reimbursing me for anything spent on food for her, which admittedly have been the occasional chicken tenders and fries at a restaurant. The real reason for all this are the receipts and there are copies of our history of where we go. So far I’ve babysit 3 days a week at most. And only for the afternoons and occasional evenings.

The parents understand I’m ‘wacky’ (their words not mine) and are fine with it because they say they trust me well over any random daycare sitter.

With all that being said, both parents are going out of town for 6 days next week and this morning they asked me if I could look after her for those six days. They said they’ll provide all the snacks and food and even movies from the library.

However, they have suggested I provide them with a background check. Presumably from an online background check service. They said this is really mainly just to have something on file and so they can rest easy I’ve never had any sort of negative or violent history with kids or been arrested or stuff like that.

I told them I would be very happy to Provide this for them so now started a thread here in the Community Discussion section of MacRumors asking for the best online service for me to get said background check.

The folks didn’t specify how deep of a check they want me to do but in all sincerity if I was asking someone else for the same I would want It to be thorough so am hoping anyone can link me to a good service. I’m willing to go as far as giving them a background check with my credit score and mortgages I’ve applied for in the past 10 years and even court documents and all that stuff. I’ve known these folks for going on a decade now so I trust them completely.
 
Do they realize that if you're the one to give them the results of your background check, that it could be filtered or entirely fabricated?

I'm not suggesting you'd actually do this (but who knows, you could be an Evil Genius in disguise (and believe me, I know about disguises)), but the logic of you providing them background check results, and them going "Yup, well I guess it's all OK" seems like they've missed a crucial point.

For example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you're_a_dog

but substitute "Evil Genius" for "dog".
 
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So I would prefer if they did the background check themselves and have no issue giving them my SSN. However they brushed it off over dinner and said I could provide it myself and send them a PDF.

However ideally I would prefer either a service that can send them the results directly to their inbox, or have them conduct the background check themselves.

Then was when they recommended I use MyLife but I’ve never heard of them till they mentioned it so don’t know if it’s a reputable and thorough service. Whatever the service is I’d rather have them do use the service (I’ll pay the fee) and that’ll be that.

As of right now I’m going for them to conduct the search themselves but we still need a recommended service to use. Otherwise I won’t know what service is actually good and what just flat out is sketchy.
 
Edit: just read the ‘no one knows on the Internet you’re a dog’ link. Makes sense. Re read it again with the ‘evil genius’ titled as well. Good food for thought.
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Here's the Wikipedia entry on MyLife:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyLife

Of course, that entry also suffers from the "untrustworthy agent" problem, i.e. how can you trust the Wikipedia entry without knowing how the information was gathered, filtered, and presented.

So what I’ve gathered from that MyLife WiKi link is to not trust them and it’s not really a deep background check. Thank you!
 
An odd thread.

And an odder - and somewhat disingenuous - thread title which has little to do with the topic of the thread.

Most of the replies have focussed on the fact that the OP seems to have disregarded the wishes of the parents in how he passes the time with the kid, (by showing her TV) but this, to me, is not the major issue, although it is of some concern.

Of greater concern to me is the fact that the parents appear willing (if not desperate) to offload their child on someone else several times a week. Wacky or not, I call that taking advantage of someone else while being grossly irresponsible about raising and supervising your own children.

If you don't want kids to engage with the modern world, or know about it, or watch TV, it is on you to ensure that you are around to enforce it, rather than asking someone to mind your kids three or more times a week.

In this instance, the father strikes me as someone who does not want the actual responsibility for raising the children (because, raising children is difficult, demanding, sometimes tedious - especially without TV - and occasionally tiresome) but wishes outsource the actual childminding to others - setting rules - without being prepared to take the time and trouble to do so himself.

Asking anyone else to mind your kids three times a week is an imposition; it is something to be asked as a favour occasionally, not a right you can demand - when you must attend a function somewhere else, or a hospital appointment, or a play; not a nightly occurrence.

And I will admit that I am surprised that the issue of payment has not come up before now, given that the time asked, or demanded, or requested of the OP has been quite excessive.

To my mind, it is not just the OP who may be viewed as "wacky" (which is what he said his neighbours called him - what does that say about them, that they are prepared to give their child, for days and nights on end, to someone they openly describe as "wacky"?), but also, very much the parents of this chid, especially the God-loving father.
 
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