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The original was posted on /r/twoxchromosomes by /u/NickolaBrinx on 2023-10-03 14:47:15.

This is a weird one and I’m not sure where else to post it but you’ve been such a great community in the past, so here goes.

A few years ago my mum out of the blue asked me about my old babysitter and if he’d ever done anything weird or uncouth. I could not understand why she asked me and she refused to tell me.

I was watching a show last night in which the kids went for doughnuts with dad and were told not to tell their mum and it occurred to me that asking a child to lie about something small is a good indication of whether they’ll be able to keep a secret.

Suddenly I remembered all the times my old babysitter used to take me to McDonald’s when my mother explicitly said no and he asked me to lie about it. I never lied about it and always told my mum if she asked or if I wanted to show her the Happy Meal toy. My babysitter would get mad and tell me we wouldn’t go next time if I didn’t lie. I suddenly thought this could have been a test and maybe that’s why nothing happened. (as far as I remember)

As an adult, I realise how weird this guy is. How he’s not been in a relationship for years. He’s always around kids and seems almost incapable of interacting with adults.

I’m not sure about anything as nothing bad happened to me. And maybe my general cynicism and contextualising of other bad events in my childhood are muddying things up.

Does anyone know if this is a thing? Do I have to unpack this in the therapy I don’t yet have? I’m just very confused about where my brain is/has taken me and don’t really know what to do.