Parenting

Mom Drops 7-Year-Old on Aunt's Doorstep Then Lashes Out About the Girl Being Left Unsupervised

ParentingPublished Aug 7, 2020
By Maressa Brown
child aloneiStock.com/kupicoo

It's safe to say this year has fried just about everyone's nerves, so it's no wonder people are losing their cool in situations that would typically be seen as benign. Take what happened with a Redditor who is being accused by their aunt of being a jerk for leaving their 7-year-old cousin unattended -- for five or six minutes. The woman took to the Am I the A--hole subreddit to run the story by others and see if they did happen to make an egregious mistake.

These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.

The OP explained that they are hard of hearing, and is studying, working, and getting wacky sleep these days.

They then proceeded to explain that a few days ago, their aunt asked if she could leave her 7-year-old daughter with the OP's mom while she catches up with friends at a restaurant. The OP's mom said sure, but she had planned on running some errands that afternoon, so they agreed on 3:30 p.m. as a drop-off time.

The OP wrote that their aunt agreed. While the OP's mom was out, the OP was home, and at 2 p.m., decided to take a nap.

"So, I'm in my room, asleep, the door is shut," wrote the OP. "My aunt comes by at 2:30pm, knocks on the door, and leaves her daughter under the assumption that my mother's home, and if not, I'll be there and I'll open the door. That doesn't happen. I'm asleep, and my mother got held up for a few minutes."

The OP's mom arrived "5-6 minutes later." She saw her niece, alone, figured out what happened, let her in, and woke the OP up.

She then called her sister and told her that she made "a wildly irresponsible move." 

The OP recalled, "My aunt is furious, both at my mother for giving a deadline that she didn’t meet (being home at 2:30 p.m.) and at me for not taking her daughter in. (I literally would have never heard the door.) My mum isn't mad at me, because she maintains that the arranged meeting was at 3:30 p.m., so it's literally on my aunt (also who TF leaves a child unsupervised? At least check if we're here?)."

The OP noted that family members have butted in since, guilting the OP's mom and the OP for leaving the child unsupervised.

They even accused them of risking the girl's life. That said, the OP turned it over to the community, asking if they were in the wrong.

The majority of commenters reassured the OP that they were not to blame.

One commenter wrote: "Are you telling me she left her daughter on your doorstep without confirming that anyone was actually home to receive her? If that's the case, say no more, not the [expletive].  ... I swear I mean no incivility by asking this: Is your aunt completely mentally sound? Because this is not the behavior of someone who is. I would be concerned about her child caring abilities on the whole if she thought it was OK to doordash her 7-year-old daughter?"

Another noted, "Contact-free delivery is for meals and groceries, not for children."

A third pointed out, "Sounds like your aunt is telling family an edited version of the story. Because there is absolutely no one who would agree with knocking and leaving a child at a front door without checking to see if anyone answered the door."

Later in the thread, the OP noted that their aunt's "time keeping is atrocious."

"She expects people to be free for her a lot," the OP shared. "It just never reached the point of leaving a child unsupervised."

They also clarified that it wasn't so much a miscommunication as the fact that the aunt wanted to meet her friends earlier so assumed that the OP and/or her mom would be home an hour earlier than agreed upon.

Ultimately, it sounds like the aunt attempted to cover up for her bad behavior by offering up a false narrative to extended family members. The OP edited the original post to thank Redditors for noting that might be the case, asserting that they're going to do some digging and set the record straight.

Cafemom Logo
This is motherhood #nofilter

AboutTermsContactPrivacyPRIVACY SETTINGSSUBMIT A STORY
© 2024 WILD SKY MEDIA.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PART OF WILD SKY MEDIA
| FAMILY & PARENTING
CAFEMOMMAMÁSLATINAS
LITTLETHINGSMOM.COM
This site is owned and operated by Bright Mountain Media, Inc., a publicly owned company trading with the symbol: BMTM.