A woman has spoken online about the time she was babysitting for a two-year-old boy and took him on a week holiday without informing his parents.
The extraordinary story came down to a mix up in communication where the woman was supposed to drop the child off at his parents house before she went on holiday. However, she thought the boy's mum had asked if she could take him away with her.
Taking to TikTok to recall what she described as "the worst mistake of my life," @seenasyouasked said that the mishap occurred in 1991 and she didn't have her neighbour's number, so during the week away she sent postcards back home detailing how great a time she was having with the two-year-old, as the Irish Mirror reports.
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She explained: "I was 20 and newly married. I lived next door to a family with a toddler. He was two. I used to look after him and sometimes babysit for a couple of hours to help his mum out."
One day, the parent asked: "Could you look after my son and would you mind having him overnight because I'm going away for the evening?"
The babysitter replied: "Yeah, no problem, we know each other really well, that would be great. The problem is I'm actually going on holiday on Tuesday for a week."
However, the duo "did not communicate properly", which left the woman with a shocking tale to tell. It turns out the boy's mother had expected to come back and pick him up before the woman went on holiday, not a week later when they returned.
She explained: "Monday comes along and she drops off this sweet little boy - he's really lovely, he stayed overnight.
"Early Tuesday morning, we all packed up the car, I popped him in his car seat, we drove off to London - we lived in Birmingham - stayed in a hotel, I got the hotel to give us a little cot.
"He was so lovely, I got him food and bought some extra nappies as she hadn't sent enough nappies for the week and I just went through the week with this little lad.
"During the day, I took him to the zoo and walked around Hyde Park - we had a blast! He loved it, he slept really well, didn't cry at night, and everything was great."
After saying she didn't actually have the mother's mobile phone number, she explained: "I didn't even know the woman's phone number. She'd been my next door neighbour, so I'd only ever gone over to talk to her.
"I don't have a phone with me, and I don't have her number, so I bought postcards and I wrote a postcard and posted it to her address just so she knew everything was ok and that the kid was fine."
Once the week had come to an end and the babysitter arrived home with the child, the parent greeted her little one with smiles.
The mum told the babysitter: "So lovely of you - really wonderful. I do have to say something though... When I said 'that's fine', I meant I'll come back Tuesday morning and go get him. I didn't actually mean for you to take him on holiday the whole week."
The woman was absolutely livid when she realised the panic she had caused by a complete break down in communication and said she even sent postcards saying how much fun they were having.
However, the mum replied: "No, I had a great time, I had a lovely break for the week!"
Whilst the ordeal was undeniably shocking for both parties involved, TikTokers were keen to make light heart of the situation.
One person joked: "I would have reacted the same as mum. 'Huh, kid's gone for the week with someone happy to take him? That's a win!'"
"Omg that's awesome," a second added. "I thought you were going to come home to a frantic mum or the police because she didn't get the cards in time."
A third penned: "I love how you just took a kid on holidays with no questions - glad it worked out on all parts though!"
"Thanks god she was so chilled," a fourth wrote.
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