u/justabridgetlol

Title kind of says it but I’ll elaborate anyway lol

Okay so, I (20f) have been babysitting these two girls, 8 & 6, for about two months now. It’s very on and off, I typically babysit them twice a week with times varying from 12-5 to 7:30/8-5 on weekdays. They are very fun, energetic, creative, and extroverted girls that are, usually, not that bad to deal with. The main issue lies in what they watch, which is just Youtube. They are aware of other shows like Bluey and Miraculous, but no matter how hard I try I cannot get them to watch anything else. They watch your typical brainrot. Family channels, content farms, Youtube shorts, you name it. It’s honestly pretty agonizing to sit through. But what’s worse is I think the way that the people behave in these youtube videos is starting to affect their real life behavior, especially the youngest. These videos don’t often have any sort of upstanding behavior that children should be learning about, like being respectful to your peers or listening to adults. In fact, several of the family channels they watch have many videos of the kids simply disobeying their parents and coming off as bratty in the process. Content farms aren’t any better, there‘s an entitlement to their language and overall messaging that the two kids copy even if they don’t realize it. Very often I’d ask them to do something for me more than once and they’d refuse to listen, taking several tries and reluctant texts to their parents. They can be very stubborn, negative, and overall dramatic and cynical to each other in ways I’m recognizing as the way the kids in family channels act, especially for the six year old. Sorry if I’m rambling, but I’m at a loss what to do here lol. Should I stay out of it and let the parents deal with it or should I say something?

Edit: Hey guys! Thanks for all your advice, it definitely does help and low-key eases my worries about the whole situation. But, I thought‘d I’d let everyone know as a kinda pseudo-update that I won’t be babysitting the kids anymore. The youngest, the 6 year old, recently threw a massive tantrum out in public over leaving a park that ended up resulting in her

Taking 30 minutes to even get to the car (with a lot of gentle coaxing the parents asked me to try with her)

Another babysitter having to HELP me (that was lowkey a little embarrassing)

Screaming and fighting me when I tried to get her buckle in, resulting in my phone being thrown onto the pavement when I went to text her Mom

Unbuckling her seatbelt while I was driving

and hitting her sister repeatedly until she started to cry

This kid has not listened to me before and has thrown 2 massive tantrums before this, both that were too difficult for me to calm her down and having to end with her parents coming during their lunch breaks to help. They told me that she “doesn’t respond well to firmness” and to “talk to her nicely” but that did not work even in the slightest. I was kind, then I was firm, I tried bargaining, I tried to compromise, nothing. These kids are kinda spoiled, so its clear to me that she isn’t used to not getting what she wants and not used to the consequences of her actions. So until her behavior is corrected by her parents, for the sake of my sanity I don’t think I can watch them anymore. I didn’t have any discussion with the parents about my concerns. The Dad kinda brushed me off before I could even say anything about her behavior at the park so it’s even more obvious they don’t see anything wrong. I plan on just telling them I have to prep for move-in for college and can’t babysit during the week. Mom is having a baby soon anyway, and I am not qualified enough to care for newborns. Kinda sucks but hey, no point getting worked up about kids that arent mine.