Adventures in Babysitting: all nannies and babysitters leave their summer job with a Venmo notification or a few twenties, but many also leave with a variety of stories

As senior Georgia Wikoff finished her bar routine, she turned and gave a hesitant salute to the panel of four judges, awaiting her score. This wasn’t just any gymnastics meet. Her rival, senior and friend Kennedy Smith, had just performed. This would be a close call. 

Not to mention, her judges consisted of the four most picky people alive — children between the ages of four and ten years old.

Smith and Wikoff have been begging for sleepovers and sharing popcorn at Royals games since grade school. 

Naturally, with their new summer nannying jobs located within five minutes of each other, they passed their shenanigans onto the next generation of family friends, taking trips to the zoo and their local pool.

At eight years old, one of Smith’s nanny kids had started gymnastics. Regretfully, she didn’t have Simone Biles’s on speed dial and couldn’t persuade her to appear in this competition. With no gold medalist in sight, the girl took it upon herself to create the Olympics in her basement.

The young gymnast gave the rookies skills and routines to memorize. A backbend into a cartwheel, and some rhythmic gymnastics on occasion. The nannies rehearsed each movement to win bragging rights among the children.

“Kennedy and I would get in trouble whenever we didn’t do it correctly,” Wikoff said.

After training Kennedy and Georgia on how to perfect handstands, she lined up the three other kids while they scored the two clumsy nannies on their routines.

“I usually won,” Smith said proudly.

Almost every Monday evening, senior Kate Rose would go over to her neighbor’s house to babysit their two kids — a two-year-old and four-year-old. They cooked a pot of Kraft Mac and Cheese and watched Bluey episodes comfortably on the couch.

One night while Rose was babysitting, she decided to take the kids to her house to play with her cat — a routine activity for the trio.

When they arrived, the kids were dead-set on finding the best toy to entertain Lou, her cat. But inevitably, the four-year-old grew disinterested.

If there’s one thing the boy enjoys more than bothering his neighbor’s cat, it’s his favorite show — otherwise known as the source of all his toddler adoration.

The pair continued playing with the cat, rattling toys and handing treats to him, until suddenly, a panic washed over Kate when she realized the 2-year-old was the only one playing with Lou.

“He was nowhere to be found,” Rose said.

Living every babysitter’s biggest nightmare, Kate rushed upstairs and out the front door, quickly looking around her yard and the surrounding area. 

The child was nowhere in sight.

Rose’s stomach dropped as she dashed across her yard, hoping to find the boy playing in the cul-de-sac. Rose ran into her neighbor’s living room, where she found the four-year-old sitting quietly and watching Bluey — of course.

Rose walked out of that job with a sigh of relief, knowing if it weren’t for Bluey, she would have needed a larger explanation for her neighbors.

Senior Grace Demetriou would never have been able to anticipate the ending to a one-night babysitting job for four kids of varying ages, a baby and a pregnant dog. 

Like the advanced babysitter she was, Demetriou had asked to bring her friend with her, understanding that five children would be too much for one teenager. 

Before walking out the door, the parents had one piece of parting wisdom for the babysitter duo.

“The dog is pregnant and may give birth soon, so if it behaves oddly, text us.”

Any worries of the dog disappeared as the girls divided and conquered — taking turns holding the crying baby and wrestling the other four kids into their beds. 

Later, as Demetriou attempted to change the baby’s diaper before bed, a toddler ran into the room frantically with a landline in hand, dialing 911 despite an obvious lack of emergency.

Between terminating the call and convincing the kids to sleep, the dog’s odd behavior went unnoticed — until it came time for them to feed it, when they found it digging into the floors. 

After what seemed like a lifetime of bedtime-avoiding excuses, diapers and tears the kids were asleep and the parents dismissed the exhausted babysitters.

The next morning, they woke up to a text from the parents explaining that after they left, the dog had gone into labor and had all her puppies.

Although in the moment, Demetriou was panicked and overwhelmed, she can now look back at it and laugh, knowing she ultimately gained vital lessons.

“Patience is key,” Demetriou said. “Just take a deep breath and reassess the situation.”