The scariest place where I babysat as a teenager: A home where the family kept a massive, almost reptilian parrot on a perch in their living room. Thing was a pterodactyl. The entire time I was at their house, the bird stared at me. It flapped it’s wings and screeched. I thought it was going to eat me. I never went back.

The second scariest place where I babysat as a teenager: Another home with a rogue pet. This time, it was a cat that kept hiding under furniture, leaping out and attacking my feet as I walked by.

My most embarrassing babysitting moment: I heard a noise in a family’s chimney. I thought I would investigate, so I opened the flue and out flew a brown bird, into the living room. The kids went nuts with glee and wonder. I spent the next three hours working with the kids to corral the bird. We failed. When the parents came home, I had to tell them there was a bird trapped under their kitchen counters. A loud, screeching, scratching bird. Bye.

I wrote about babysitting at Mile High Mamas. When did you start? Any good stories?