05 January 2024 , 13:18
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Babysitting your grandchildren can be one of the most wonderful experiences, but not all parents are comfortable with leaving their children with others.
One woman has decided not to let her parents babysit her five-year-old daughter because of a 'terrifying' mistake they made years ago, when they were caring for her brother's three boys, who were then aged 11, nine and six. The grandparents were asked to take care of the boys for a weekend, and they decided to take them out to eat on the Saturday afternoon.
According to the mum, when they got back from the restaurant, the grandad parked the car in the garage, closed it, and went back in the house - so far, so normal - or so they thought. Taking to Reddit to explain the situation, the anonymous woman wrote: "About 40 minutes later, they hear someone outside honking the car horn repetitively, but they couldn't find any cars outside. They later realised that the honking was coming from the garage, and that it was the six-year-old, that had fallen asleep and had awoken, and was frantically trying to get their attention because he was terrified."
Because they live in Florida in the US, where it gets incredibly hot during the summer, the upset woman said "something tragic could've happened" - but luckily her nephew wasn't hurt. She continued: "We are all thankful that he is ok and that he woke up and alerted everyone".
Despite it being an accident, it was her own mum's reaction that "infuriated" her. Thinking back to the incident, she explained: "The 11-year-old quickly called his mum (he is given his own phone anytime he is away from home) to let her know what happened and my mum was so annoyed and upset at him for that. She also blamed him for 'forgetting' his little brother in the car."
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Since the incident, the woman has "lost all trust" in her parents with handling children. She added: "For the last five years my mum has told me that she wishes to watch my daughter, but my husband and I don't feel comfortable with this."
She now doesn't "care much if her feelings are hurt", because she doesn't feel like her daughter will be "safe with her", adding: "If something bad happens, I know she will not come forward about it and will try to hide it or downplay it." On the flipside, her mum has told her that they are "being unreasonable by not letting her grandma spend quality time" with their daughter.
The woman received a lot of support online, saying she was not being unreasonable. One person wrote: "Blaming their screw-up on another young child? That's just refusing to take any responsibility for their mistakes. And if you don't feel they've shown sufficient change and insight into their prior mistakes since then, that's a decision you are allowed to make."
Another added: "I wouldn't trust them either. There's nothing wrong in refusing their request after they proved to be neglectful parents."