Babysitter Asks If She Was Wrong For Calling Cops On Mom Who Was Too 'Hungover' To Collect Her Child
The boy's mother says she was "hungover."
Sharomka / Shutterstock When a boy’s mother didn’t show up on time to pick him up, his babysitter called the police. Now the babysitter is asking if she made the right choice.
The woman and her boyfriend agreed to babysit his ex's son for the night.
In a Reddit post, the woman explained that she and her boyfriend volunteered to look after her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend’s two-year-old son for the night after the boy’s father canceled.
“She had plans with her friends for the night and we weren’t busy so we took him overnight when the baby daddy bailed on her,” the woman shared.
However, they made it clear that she and her boyfriend had plans the next day and could only keep the boy for the morning.
“We told her we had brunch reservations the next morning at 11 and while we were happy to help, she needed to pick him up by 9 AM. She knew this and agreed when she dropped him off,” the woman wrote.
When the time came the next morning to pick up her son, the boy’s mother was nowhere to be found.
The woman and her boyfriend attempted to call and text her but did not receive a response. One hour later, they tried again. This time, she answered.
“She picks up in a very groggy voice and tells us she’s got the worst hangover and she won’t be picking him up until 2 pm,” the woman shared. “We remind her of our brunch reservations and she tells us to take him with us!”
The woman emphasized the difficulties of taking a small child out to a restaurant and her boyfriend had no choice but to cancel their reservations until the boy’s mother showed up to get him, adding that she was “furious” because the boy wasn’t hers or her boyfriend’s child. She ultimately decided to call the boy’s mother and tell her that if she did not show up by noon to collect her son, she would be calling the police to pick up the boy.
“I waited an hour and there was 0 sign of her,” the woman wrote.
She added that her boyfriend nor she could drop the boy off themselves since his mother lived in an apartment complex to which they did not have access to get into.
The woman eventually called the police and told them that she didn’t know where the boy’s parents were.
Photo: benjamin lehman / Unsplash
After explaining to the police that he was supposed to be picked up two hours before they arrived, the police took the boy down to the station.
At 3 PM, the boy’s mother finally showed up, becoming “belligerent” after learning that the police were called to pick up her son.
“She calls me all sorts of wonderful names and storms down to the police station,” the woman wrote.
The woman followed up her post to add that her boyfriend and she were unaware if the boy’s mother even made it home the previous night and were unable to contact the boy’s father since they had no information on him. She added that this wasn’t the first incident where the boy’s mother had been neglectful.
“She’d maybe change his diaper twice throughout the whole day (on a good day) and multiple times I’d seen her refill a bottle that hadn’t been cleaned in days with actual rotten milk inside,” the woman wrote.
Many people came to the babysitter's defense.
"I’m very glad you called, because this woman very much needs CPS to be keeping an eye on the health and safety of her child,” one user wrote.
Others were horrified over his mother’s treatment of him and urged the woman to call CPS.
“You're aware of the horrible situation he's in," one person wrote. "Taking care of him is not your responsibility but you do have a responsibility to not be a bystander. Make a report to CPS.”
Ultimately, the role of a babysitter is to keep children safe in their parents' absence. While etiquette suggests contacting the authorities should be a last-ditch effort, it appears this woman did everything in her power to contact the mother of the child before doing so.
The child's safety should always be the top priority.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.