Trying to find a night off as a parent can be challenging.
As anyone who has children or younger siblings knows, little kids require almost constant attention. Although their curiosity helps them learn quickly and be engaged with the world, it also means that they can easily get themselves into trouble. As a result, parents who have children may find that raising them is a full job—a job that leaves little room for personal time. All of that pressure can leave parents worn out, and everyone needs a break from time to time. In those cases, it’s important to take a night off. To do that, though, you still need to find someone to watch your kids for you while you and your partner go out for a night on the town. And of course, it’s hard to find someone reliable who you can trust in that situation.
One father named Christopher Soares found out just how difficult firsthand.
The story began when Soares and his wife hired a babysitter named Sarah to take care of his three and four-year-old children.
Sarah was 35 years old and seemed like a worthy and experienced babysitter. Presumably, Soares had Sarah babysit his kids for a while without any problems. Still, everything changed when Soares realized that he had left some important papers at his house and had to return home early. As he pulled in his driveway, parked the car and walked in the door, he didn’t expect to see anything unusual. All he thought was that Sarah would be there playing with his kids—or at least watching them.
Instead, Soares caught Sarah asleep on the couch.
Needless to say, Soares was shocked and infuriated.
While any parent would be upset to find their babysitter sleeping on the job, he managed to keep himself incredibly composed. Fortunately, his children were safe even though they weren’t being watched. After thinking for a moment, he decided what to do. First, Soares took out his phone and started filming everything that was happening. After that, he took his kids and packed them away in the car. He waited around for a half hour for Sarah to wake up, though she never did. Finally, Soares decided to take drastic action.
Without waking up Sarah, Soares took both of his kids with him and didn’t tell her.
Eventually, Sarah woke up to find a completely empty house.
We can only imagine the kind of panic that Sarah must’ve felt upon waking up to see the children gone. While nobody can say what action she took immediately upon waking up, she was either asleep for two more hours or searched the premises for two hours before contacting Soares. Eventually, she called his phone again and again—and he didn’t answer. Instead, he kept up the ruse that he had no idea what was going on to make Sarah more and more nervous.
And things only got worse after that.
After a few more texts, Soares finally revealed to Sarah that he had taken the kids himself.
Sarah was shocked but things didn’t stop there. Soares went on to say that he had called the police and would likely be pressing charges. Shortly after, Soares put a lengthy post on Facebook warning everyone he knew about what Sarah had done and not to hire her for any reason.
In response, Sarah was furious that she’d been tricked and tried to file harassment charges against Soares for his prank and his ongoing Facebook posts about the incident. The entire event stirred up plenty of controversy online. Needless to say, Soares never hired Sarah to watch his children again.
While the entire situation was emotional, the incident was not without controversy.
Without a doubt Sarah’s behavior was negligent and potentially dangerous. Still, Soares’ response was drastic and a little bit unusual—after all, he could have easily woken Sarah up then and there and forced a confrontation with her rather than dragging the situation out. Could the same lesson have been achieved by simply firing Sarah and posting about it online? Would you have taken revenge in the same way that Soares did? Let us know in the comments below.
Above all, be careful when hiring a babysitter to take care of your kids!
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