Leaving your partner with the kids shouldn't be a risky endeavor. After all, parents aren't babysitters. But one woman has learned that she can't even trust that her husband when he's alone with her children, who are toddlers, after discovering that he frequently gets drunk while watching their kids.
The fed-up mom explained that problems started when she got a new job.
The mom's schedule has been "all over the place" she admitted in a post on r/Parenting. "I usually work either first shift or second shift." Her husband is a teacher and is off until September.
They have two kids, 2 and 3 years old, she wrote in a comment later in the thread. "Our 2-year-old just figured out how to open doors. What if he left the front door unlocked and she left the house? That's my biggest fear."
Having her husband home saves them a bunch on child care.
But on the other hand, she's been noticing some "disturbing behavior." The night before, she came home to find him "blackout" drunk on their couch.
"He didn’t even stir when I told him over and over again to get up," she recalled.
When he finally woke up, he started ranting about things he had misplaced while he was drunk.
"Keys? Lost em'.
His new iPhone 11? [Expletive] gone.
Vape pen? Missing.
Is it a coincidence that he loses all of these important items when he’s super drunk? Nah."
Then he had the audacity to get on her case for coming home late.
He even called her a certain word that starts with a B and rhymes with witch and told her that she had an "attitude" for being annoyed that he lost his things.
"I just worked a nine hour shift. I shouldn’t have to clean up the house AND look for his stupid [expletive] vape pen at midnight," she wrote.
His tantrum continued the next day.
He was stomping around, throwing things, and slamming doors because he couldn't find his vape.
"Luckily, I found his iPhone and keys," she continued. "You’re SO [expletive] welcome."
What really bothers her is that he acts this way in front of their kids.
This isn't the first time she's come home to find him blackout drunk either.
"He doesn't drink all of the time, but when he does, d–n," she wrote. "It bothers me that he's alone with the kids while getting [expletive] up."
Is she overreacting?
"We save a lot of money by him watching them, but at what cost?"
Other people agreed: This was dangerous behavior.
"Making a no drinking rule won’t help," one commenter wrote. "If someone has a true problem, they will anyway. They will hide it. He needs professional help."
"Yep. Remove the part where it's her husband for a second. If it was your parent or a babysitter watching the baby and you came home to them blackout drunk? You'd fire them immediately and never let them be alone with the child again," someone else agreed.
A third person had this say: "Nope, not overreacting. If he's that [expletive] up, how the hell is he going to keep your kids safe? How is he going to make sure that they don't get his vape pen, or his drink, or something else they shouldn't, and wind up in the hospital or worse?"
It definitely is not OK that her husband is drunk and aggressive around their kids, especially if she's not there to make sure there is a sober parent in the house in case of emergency. She needs to arrange for different child care while she's working and have a long talk with her husband about his drinking — soon, before things get worse.
