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I was exhausted.
Not just tired in the normal way—but the kind of exhausted that comes from repeating the same problem over and over again with no explanation.
Every babysitter I hired quit after the first day.
No warning.
No real explanation.
Just polite messages like “Sorry, I don’t think this is a good fit” or “Something came up,” followed by complete silence. At first, I thought it was coincidence. Maybe I had bad luck. Maybe my expectations were too high. But after the third one left within 24 hours, it stopped feeling like bad luck.
It started feeling like something was wrong.
And I couldn’t figure out what.
I asked my kids—2 and 5 years old—but of course they couldn’t give me clear answers. They just shrugged or talked about snacks and cartoons like nothing unusual had happened. But I knew something was off. You don’t lose every babysitter for no reason.
I couldn’t afford to keep starting over.
I needed help.
I needed answers.
So I decided to do something I never thought I would do.
I set up a nanny cam.
It was an old one I used when my youngest was a baby. I placed it carefully in the living room where it wouldn’t be obvious. Then I arranged for another babysitter—this time trying to act completely normal, like nothing was different.
That evening, she arrived.
She seemed perfect on paper. Friendly. Calm. Experienced. She smiled at my kids, asked the right questions, and immediately started engaging with them in a gentle, patient way. For the first time in weeks, I felt a bit of hope.
Before leaving, I pretended to head out like usual.
But instead of driving away, I sat in my car just down the street.