06/22/2025
When My Mother-in-Law Insisted on Babysitting Every Wednesday, I Thought It Was a Kind Favor... Until Things Got Strange 😳👀
I wish I could say I was just being paranoid. That it was just stress or exhaustion making me suspicious. But I wasn’t imagining it. And I would give anything to have been wrong.
My name is Martha. My husband Jason and I both work full-time, so our four-year-old daughter, Beverly, spends most of her weekdays at daycare. It’s not ideal, but she was happy, and we were managing.
One morning as we packed her lunch, I told Jason,
“I don’t want Bev to feel like we’re pushing her away.”
“She’s doing great, love,” he reassured me.
Then, about a month ago, Cheryl—my mother-in-law—offered to watch Beverly on Wednesdays.
“Give her a break from daycare and spend some time with Grandma,” she said over dinner.
She even offered to watch her at our place to keep Bev comfortable. It seemed like a kind gesture. Cheryl and I were never that close, but this felt sincere. It would also save us some daycare money, so I said yes.
At first, everything seemed perfectly normal.
But then Bev started acting differently.
Little things.
One evening at dinner, she said,
“I only want to eat with Daddy, Grandma, and her friend today,” while pushing away the food I made.
“Who’s Grandma’s friend, sweetheart?” I asked.
She just smiled and sipped her juice.
Soon, she started talking about this “friend” more and more. And then one night, as I tucked her in, she whispered,
“Mommy, why don’t you like our friend?”
“Who told you that?” I asked.
She paused, then said in a voice too grown-up for her age,
“Our friend is part of the family. You just don’t see it yet.”
I felt a chill in my stomach.
I asked Cheryl about it during breakfast that weekend.
“Has Bev made any new friends? She keeps mentioning someone.”
Without looking up from her coffee, she replied,
“Oh, you know how kids are. Probably just an imaginary friend.”
But something about her tone felt too smooth. Too practiced. My gut told me she was lying.
That night, I made a choice I never thought I would. I reinstalled an old hidden camera in our living room. It was one we had used when Bev was a baby and we had a night nanny.
The next Wednesday, I left for work like normal and checked the footage at lunch. My hands were shaking.
At first, everything seemed fine. Bev played on the floor while Cheryl read a book on the couch.
Then Cheryl looked at her watch.
“Bev, sweetheart, are you ready? Our friend will be here any minute.”
“Yes, Gran! I love her! Do you think she’ll play with my hair again?”
Her.
Then Cheryl said,
“You remember, right? About what we don’t tell Mommy?”
“Yes. Not a word to Mom,” Bev said sweetly.
My stomach dropped.
The doorbell rang.
Cheryl stood up and went to the door. I didn’t know what—or who—I was about to see… but I felt sick.
And then, I saw her...Read more in Comment or Most relevant -> All comments 👇
