I have been babysitting these two kids for over 6 years. Their parents tell me all the time that they trust me 100% and they will take my side if there is any issue.

These kids, we'll call them Frank (11) and Bob (9). They each have a set of chores that they are expected to do daily. Frank is in charge of the kitchen (load/unload dishes, wipe counters and table, and sweep the floor). Bob is in charge of the living room (tidy up, wipe down tables, fold blankets, and vacuum).

The issue I'm having is their parents have far too high of expectations. They pretty much don't want their house to look lived in. They want it looking magazine ready 24/7 and expect two young boys to get it there. If things are not done to their satisfaction, the mom will start yelling as soon as she walks through the door. She hasn't always been this bad, but she has gotten worse over the past year, especially this past month.

Here are some examples:

1) This past Friday. I got to their house in the morning so she could leave for work. There were 4 piles of dirty laundry sorted on the living room floor (her laundry, towels, Bob's bedding, and Frank/Bob's laundry). She wanted them to get all of that done along with their usual chores. With their mom's laundry, once it's washed/dry they are too just lay it all flat in a pile on the couch (to prevent wrinkling) and then she will put it away. They did that. Frank folded and put away the towels, Bob put his bedding on his bed, and then they ran out of laundry detergent, so they weren't able to finish their load of laundry. I told them to just put it all in the washer, so it was out of the way, just don't start it yet. She came home and the first thing she said when she walked through the door was, "they only got one load of laundry done! I told them I wanted it all done before I came home!". Because all she saw was her load on the couch. I explained to her that they finished all of it, except for their load because there was not enough detergent. I told her towels were folded and put away and bedding was put on the bed. It was all done. So a few minutes later as I'm packing my stuff up to leave, Frank comes down because he hears his mom is home. She instantly starts yelling at him for only doing one load of laundry. I'm standing there in disbelief. Did she not hear a single word I just said?

2) On Monday, she had a bunch of her work stuff scattered all over the kitchen. Covering the island, table, and chairs. She told the kids not to touch any of it. So when Frank did the kitchen, he had to go around it all and just clean what he could. She came home and Frank instantly jumped up and ran over to her saying "Mommy! You're home! How was your day? How was work?". She ignored him and started yelling about the kitchen being a mess. I don't know about you, but I don't know many boys that age who act like that when their mom gets home, I thought it was kind of sweet. But no, she just starts bitching. The kitchen was clean, it was just all her stuff that made it look a mess. Another thing is whenever Frank asks her how work was (which he does frequently) she will respond with "why do you always ask me that?? Work was work!".

3) Yesterday was their first day back to school. Frank's first day of middle school. When I woke up yesterday morning, I baked a batch of brownies to bring with me. I thought since it was their first day, I would bring them a treat and cut them a little slack. Well I get to their house, and it is a disaster. The parents don't make the kids clean over the weekend, so it all falls on me on Monday to get them to do their chores. The dishes had piled up, their mom made dinner the night before and always makes a huge mess, just to leave for Frank to clean the next day. She refuses to clean as she cooks. She doesn't have him clean it when she is done. They just rely on me to make the kids do their chores every day. So I didn't press them to do their chores yesterday like I usually do because they were exhausted and I just wanted them to relax a bit when they got home. As soon as their mom comes home, she starts yelling because her boss has to stop by to grab something and the house is a mess and so on.

4) Today the kids get home from school and I tell them to make sure everything is done well so their mom will be happy when she gets home. Then Bob asks me if I will help him vacuum because his mom always says he doesn't do a good job. I asked him what she says he is doing wrong, because to me, as long as he runs the vacuum over the whole floor and picks everything up, it's good. He said she wants him to do it like his dad does. I asked him how his dad does it differently. He said his dad make a very specific type of vacuum lines. He explained it to me and it sounds like the kind of vacuum lines you see on an advertisement for a carpet cleaning company. You know what I'm talking about? I couldn't believe it. Just because a 9 year old does not leave professional looking vacuum lines, he's not doing a good job? Are you fucking kidding me? The house is all clean, as good as the kids will be able to get it, so we'll she what she has to say when she gets home. I'm sure she will find something to complain about.

I am so over this. I'm really starting to hate my job because of this, but I don't want to quit because I have been with these kids for over 6 years. I'm tempted to have a talk with her, but I don't know if it would do any good or what I would even say. I get it's their kids and their house, they decide how they want things done, but it's just getting ridiculous. My mom used to be the same way. No matter how well we did something, she would always yell at us and say it's not good enough. I hated my mom growing up for the way she treated us and I still hold on to some resentment because of it. I hate that one of my biggest memories from when I was a child is all the chores we had and how my mom never helped with them and constantly yelled at us. I hate that these kids are going to have the same memories because their parents are the exact same way.