We asked my in laws to babysit my 17 month old toddler over the weekend for about 5 hours. They started at 11am, I told them he should be put in for a nap by 11:30am because that’s what we do every day. He usually naps for a little over 2 hours so I assumed he’d nap from 11:30am-1:30/2pm. Then they’d only have to entertain him until 5pm when we got back.

They know we don’t want him to watch tv unless absolutely necessary, or eat extra sugar, or have his pacifier anywhere but in his crib when he naps. We also prepared his lunch and said to give him his bottle of milk with it. It’s what works for him.

When we got home they told us they put him in for a nap an hour late because he ‘didn’t seem tired’ (he doesn’t until you put him in the crib and then he passes out), they lectured me about why I shouldn’t give him milk with his meal (they don’t drink any liquid with meals bc they’re on a diet), they gave him cake with sugar in it, and he had 3 pacifiers in his mouth and hands in the picture they showed us. My FIL also had him next to an open fire and asked us why he doesn’t like to get close to the fire (??) and said he tried to get him to walk up to it. So even if I leave detailed instructions, they don’t follow them and then lecture me about why I’m parenting wrong after we get back

The day after this, he was a complete mess, crying almost all afternoon which is completely not normal for him.

My husband wants them to babysit again this weekend so we can go on a date for our anniversary. We don’t have any other babysitter option since we just moved and know nobody. Would you trust them to babysit again? Am I being overly cautious?