Abusive babysitter

A re-enactment of what happened to Chris and his duck.

The abusive babysitter was a babysitter in Chris's neighborhood by the last name of Roach who watched Chris when he was 18 months old. According to Cole, Roach was "unfit" as a babysitter, yet Barbara and Bob left Chris alone with her every day for years anyway while they went out drinking. She allegedly locked him in a room filled with toys while she babysat him, because of her feelings of anger towards him. Chris was so traumatized by this incident that he didn't talk for six years.

Chris has blamed this event for his autism, although evidence suggests that it is a hereditary disorder rather than a disorder induced by emotional trauma like post-traumatic stress disorder. Generally speaking, the age at which Chris was allegedly abused is around the same time that symptoms of autism begin to manifest themselves anyway. Once, in the Mailbag, Chris shyed away from this explanation for his condition, possibly referring to the popular myth that links autism to childhood vaccinations instead.

While sparring with Clyde Cash in Mumble 3, Chris said that he holds no ill will towards his parents for leaving him with the babysitter: "They did not know better."

The irony of it all is that now Chris locks himself in a room filled with toys, and for days on end instead of merely hours. This irony has not yet been addressed by the man himself, but we can be sure that if trolls bring it up in the future, it will be duly ignored.

References by Chris

The earliest reference to the abusive babysitter is in the Song of Christian videos from 1998. There, Chris explains the basics of the story and pegs her as the cause of his autism.

“	I had a babysitter, but, uh, she was kinda've mean babysitter. Anyway, ah, one day she was on her phone and, uh, I came up t—I came up to her, I came up with her, and said something and, uh, she was kinda angry at me, 'cause I interrupted her phone call, AND she locked me in a room fulla noth—n—fulla nothing but toys, and, uh, she just locked me in there, and, uh, I was very lonely, so I just sat there and cried, and... uh that's how my autism began. Thanks to an evil babysitter.	”
Chris, Song of Christian Part 1

He later mentioned her in passing in Chris Chan's Public Announcement, the initial response to his Encyclopedia Dramatica page in the fall of 2007, although in that instance he didn't directly link the babysitter to his mental handicap.

In an IRC chat from October 2008, a troll pumped Chris for information about the babysitter, but Chris didn't offer anything new. When asked for details on what she did that he considered abusive, Chris replied, "only locked me in a room, alone by myself; no one else around in the room."

Chris's Wikipedia user page from the spring of 2009 tells much the same story as the Song of Christian video, albeit in not so many words. In that case, though, he referred to her by name.

“	While being babysat by a woman in my neighborhood, whose last name was Roach, she was angry for some reason, so she locked me in a room, all by my lonesome, and it was then at 1 1/2 Years of age, I stopped talking.	”
Chris, on Wikipedia, 01 May 2009

See also

• Heather Iglesias

    People