Some families love hosting their children’s friends, or at least don’t mind it. But most feel like you still have to draw a line somewhere. One family recently found themselves in a difficult situation during their 12-year-old son’s birthday party. In addition to having a 12-year-old, the husband and wife are parents to a 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old twins. Needless to say, they’re used to a fairly “rambunctious” house, especially with their kids’ friends coming over. They don’t normally mind at all.
The day of the birthday party was different, though, because the mom and twins were all sick. Naturally, they didn’t want to have any other kids spend the night at their house, but some parents couldn’t seem to accept that.
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Normally, the family loves having people over.
In a Reddit post, the dad, 45, explained that they’re used to “friends coming over, ride shares, and over nights.” Usually, the family doesn’t mind this at all — they “actually love the extra company.” At the same time, in light of recent events, the dad has started to wonder if some other parents are taking advantage of them.
Another couple asked if their son could spend the night … again.
The night before the 12-year-old’s birthday party, one of his friends spent the night at the family’s house. During the birthday party, which was at another location, that friend’s parents asked if their son could spend the night once again. The parents had never asked about this prior to the birthday party, the dad explained.
Additionally, his wife woke up with a fever that morning, and their twins were puking. Obviously, having another child at the house didn’t seem like a good idea to the dad, so he told the parents that there would be no sleepover that night.
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They never responded to his text.
“I responded immediately no, and explained the situation with people being sick,” the dad explained. Although he could see that the parents read his text, they didn’t respond to it. After the party, the dad tried to drop that friend off at his house, but his parents weren’t home and he was locked out.
He texted the parents again.
“I bring him to our house texting the parents they need to come get their kid,” the dad explained. Once again, he could see that the parents read the text, but they did not respond to it. At the time of writing the post on Reddit, two hours had passed. On Facebook, he saw that the child’s parents were at a brewery. Although the dad felt sorry for the child, he was “livid.”
He felt like the parents were treating him like a free babysitter. “I feel bad because he’s a good kid and friends with my son, but if a sick wife and unpredictable puking twins ain’t a line in the sand, I don’t know what is,” the dad wrote.
Many people sided with the dad.
Redditors were horrified by the parents who left their kid with another family, even after learning that he couldn’t spend the night that night. One person called the parents “incredibly irresponsible,” and another Redditor told the dad that the other parents are clearly “taking advantage” of his family.
“They are treating you like a babysitter,” a third Redditor wrote. “If you see the brewery name on facebook, take the child to his parents.”
But some Redditors thought the dad should let the child spend the night again.
“If the kid doesn’t bother anyone I’d just let him stay,” one person advised. “It doesn’t sound like his parents care much about him so he could benefit from being part of your family.”
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.
