Mom Says There's 'No Point' In Hiring A Babysitter & Leaves Her Kids Home Alone With Just A Baby Monitor 'All The Time'
Her decision has sparked controversy with many people viewing it as dangerous and potentially harmful to the child's safety.
Monkey Business Images / New Africa / Shutterstock Many parents of young children rely on baby monitors, electronic devices designed to help parents keep an eye and ear on their infants while they are sleeping or playing in another room.
These devices can often be connected to cell phones and even record video and audio feeds for parents to view when they are in a separate area of the house from their little ones, allowing them to monitor their sounds and movements, and respond quickly if there is any issue.
While baby monitors can be a useful tool for parents, can they substitute for a babysitter? Some people believe so.
One mother claims that there is ‘no point’ in hiring a babysitter when she has a baby monitor to watch her kids.
Last fall, a 31-year-old mother and her husband embarked on their first getaway since the birth of their one-year-old son. The family traveled to their Outer Banks rental, and when the parents decided to take a walk down to the beach, they left opted to leave their infant alone in the apartment.
The mother, using the pseudonym “Nicole,” told the New York Post that this was not the first time the parents had done this and revealed that she was not too worried since they left their Owlet Cam baby monitor in the room with their son. As they sat on the beach, which was approximately a five-minute walk from the rental apartment, they were able to keep track of their son via the monitor, which has a built-in app that pings Nicole’s phone with notifications when it picks up any movement or sound.
The mother claims that the monitor serves as their babysitter. “We do it all the time,” she admits. “There’s no point in having a babysitter. We frequently go back and check in on him too.”
Nicole is not the only parent who depends on baby monitors to look after her children while she and her partner sneak out of the house. More and more parents are turning to high-tech devices to save money on hiring a sitter, and the decision is met with a variety of reactions. While some parents deem it to be totally safe, others believe that it is reckless behavior and child endangerment.
A mother admitted to leaving her baby alone in a hotel room in a crib while on vacation so that she and her husband could go on excursions.
The Milan-based social media influencer shared how she vacations with her little one by asking her hotel to place a crib in her room before arrival. She then props a baby monitor camera that is linked to her cell phone onto the side of the crib so that after the baby falls asleep, she and her husband can go out and enjoy a nice dinner together.
“We use a WiFi camera and go out nearby in the evenings after his bedtime,” she explained. The mother has since deleted her original video and made her TikTok account private, but not before other platforms got ahold of her controversial footage. Internet users did not hold back on sharing their disapproval.
“So what happens if the housekeeper steals the baby and you’re in the middle of a zipline? A Lifetime movie is waiting to happen,” one Instagram user commented. “What if the place caught on fire? How are you going to explain your one-year-old is on the ninth floor and you were watching him on a camera?” another pointed out.
Although others did not see the issue. “I don’t disagree with this only if you’re going down to the pool to swim while the baby sleeps or explore the resort,” one user believed. “It is actually a common practice to do this here in the U.K.,” another user noted.
Even if some parents believe that they are being responsible for utilizing their baby monitors to watch their children while they are away from them in a different space, the law may not always see it that way.
A mother of two was arrested after leaving her two children alone in a hotel room with a baby monitor while she and her husband went out to dinner.
37-year-old Dax Tejera and his wife Veronica left their two daughters, who were only two years old and five months old, back at their New York City hotel room while they went out to dine with friends. Sadly, Dax collapsed suddenly and died of a heart attack.
His wife informed police that the children were sleeping back at the hotel at the time and that she was monitoring them using a remote video system connected to Dax’s phone. The mother was arrested and charged with two counts of “acting in a manner injurious to a child.” She later admitted that leaving her babies with nothing but the baby monitor camera was a “poor decision.”
A pediatrician explained why there may be a sudden increase in parents leaving their children alone under the surveillance of baby monitors.
Speaking with Fox 5 Washington D.C., Dr. Harver Karp, a pediatrician and the author of the book, “The Happiest Baby on the Block,” believes that many parents are “under a lot of stress” and “struggling” since they do not have as much help with childcare as they used to. They resort to using baby monitors when they desperately need some time away from the children and want to leave the house.
However, Karp does not condone these actions. “This is not an excuse,” he says. “You can never leave your child alone with a monitor watching them and go out to dinner.” He explains that when parents have a baby, they sign an “unwritten contract” ensuring that they will do whatever it takes to love and protect them, and that includes making sure that if they cannot be present for any reason, they will have another trusted adult looking after their babies.
Karp also points out that children are unpredictable, and they must never be left unattended. “The child could fall out of the crib, the two-year-old could get a skull fracture, the two-year-old could have fallen out of the crib and been okay, but then could have pulled the television down on top of herself,” he says. All of these can happen in a matter of seconds.
“Monitors can be fine, they can certainly help when your child is in a different room…but you can’t go to work and leave your baby attended by a monitor. It’s just a step too far.”
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.