Babysitting for a friend is a massive favor that usually earns you a solid thank you and maybe a free dinner. You are giving up your precious day off to entertain someone else’s children. The absolute last thing you expect at the end of a long day is a lecture about your culinary choices. But one guy on Reddit recently found himself under fire for refusing to act like a personal fast food delivery driver for a ten year old.
The Original Poster is a good friend who had the day off from work. His buddy Ryan was stuck working and desperately needed childcare for his two kids who were out of school for the week. Since ten year old Andy and seven year old Mary are generally well behaved kids, the friend happily agreed to step up and watch them for the day.
Before dropping the kids off, Ryan gave his friend a very specific warning about Andy’s dietary habits. The ten year old is an incredibly picky eater with a highly exclusive menu. According to his dad, Andy will only consume chicken tenders, mac and cheese, hot dogs, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Armed with this knowledge, the babysitter planned a solid day of indoor entertainment. They watched movies and played video games all morning. When lunch time rolled around, the babysitter generously decided to treat both kids to a meal at a nice local restaurant. But Andy immediately started making demands. He explicitly told his babysitter that they needed to go to McDonald’s to get his specific tenders.
The babysitter calmly and logically declined the fast food detour. He explained that the restaurant they were heading to actually serves really fantastic chicken tenders. Furthermore, he correctly pointed out that bringing a greasy bag of outside fast food into a sit down restaurant is a massive social faux pas that nobody wants to deal with.
They arrived at the restaurant and Andy fully committed to his boycott. While his seven year old sister Mary happily devoured an entire burger, Andy refused to even look at his food. The babysitter ordered him a plate of perfectly good restaurant chicken tenders, but the ten year old flat out refused to try a single bite. Refusing to waste good food, the babysitter boxed up the leftovers to hand over to Ryan later.
The real drama started when Ryan arrived to pick up his kids. Andy immediately played the ultimate victim card. He looked his dad in the eye and complained that he was starving because he had not eaten a real meal since before lunch. Ryan instantly turned on his free babysitter and demanded an explanation for why he supposedly starved his child.
The babysitter explained the completely rational sequence of events. He took the kids out to eat, Mary had a great lunch, and Andy threw a hunger strike because the chicken tenders did not come in a cardboard box. Instead of parenting his child, Ryan scolded his friend. He argued that the babysitter should have just caved and bought the McDonald’s instead of forcing his kid to starve.
Let us pause for a massive reality check. You cannot expect a free babysitter to drive all over town to appease a demanding preteen. If your child is so aggressively picky that he will only consume one singular brand of fast food chicken, you need to pack him a lunchbox before dropping him off for the day.
Some internet detectives naturally jumped into the comments to ask why the babysitter did not just make the kid a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the house. The babysitter provided a hilarious update to clarify the absolute ridiculousness of the pantry situation. He actually offered to make a sandwich earlier in the day. But the ten year old food critic only eats grape jelly, and the babysitter only had strawberry.
To top it all off, the babysitter is lactose intolerant, meaning there was zero chance of whipping up a quick pot of mac and cheese. The internet unanimously sided with the babysitter on this entire saga. He is absolutely not the bad guy for refusing to bow down to a fast food ultimatum. If Ryan wants his son to eat exclusively at the golden arches, he can leave a gift card and delivery instructions next time he expects free childcare.