I’ll preface this by saying that I am a widower with 2 kids. I recently got back to work and since I work nightshifts, I had to get the kids a babysitter (they’re at school during the day and my sister stays with them) I was able to find a babysitter with the help of a co-worker and things have been going pretty well except for a few days ago.
The babysitter called me while I was at work to tell me that my 9-year-old daughter broke her glasses, I got home, heard both sides of the story and came to the conclusion that it was in fact an accident.
But the babysitter said my daughter broke them intentionally after she refused to let her outside late in the evening. I asked my 11-year-old daughter and she said the babysitter’s story is accurate but since she and her sister have always had a bad relationship, I figured she lied to set her sister up.
My 9 year old daughter cried and said she didn’t mean it and it was an accident. I apologized to the babysitter for the misunderstanding but she insisted there was no misunderstanding and then asked me to pay her for a pair of new glasses. I was taken aback by her request and told her I thought we talked this out and rolled it out as an accident but she insisted it wasn’t an accident.
I apologized but refused and said it was unfair to expect me to pay, especially since she didn’t pay attention to keeping her glasses safe regardless of whether it was an accident or not.
The babysitter argued with me then started crying swearing that my daughter broke them to get back at her. My 11-year-old daughter sided with her but my 9 year old said she is only siding with the babysitter for her own benefits.
The girls started fighting and I ended up telling the babysitter to leave. she got my co-worker involved and she said I should take responsibility and pay the babysitter for new glasses since she can not afford them being a broke uni student and in need of glasses. I apologized but refused to pay, my co-worker got upset and shamed me for condoning my younger daughter’s actions and treating the babysitter poorly when she’s the victim in this situation.
It’s been days and the babysitter is still wanting me to pay for new glasses but I feel like she’s trying to use the fact that I’m in dire need of help and is hoping to get extra money out of my pocket.