Being a parent is a demanding, full-time job. Parents deserve some time where they can relax, let loose, and just be adults without also having to parent simultaneously. Finding time to connect with friends sans kids is crucial, especially for moms, who are often isolated due to caregiving responsibilities. Even though us moms deserve to have some time to let our hair down and have a good time with our friends, that good time can't come at the expense of our kids and their safety.
Someone recently posted in a popular Reddit community asking for guidance after they found out that a mom left her young children home alone to go to a bar. Naturally, people had a lot of strong feelings.
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The OP isn't a close friend of the mom.
In a post on the popular subreddit AITA, a person posed the question, "AITAH for calling CPS after finding out this woman left her children at home to go to the bar?"
"I have a mutual friend who has two children (3,5 years old) last night my friend invited her out for drinks but she said that she couldn't until her children were asleep," the person wrote.
"So, around midnight, girl comes into the the bar and starts drinking. I ask her if she got a babysitter, and she said no but it's not a big worry because she has cameras and monitors around the house in case anything happens. She lives about 3-4 minutes away across town."
The mom was at the bar for quite some time.
The OP gave some more details. "She stayed for almost two hours, left once and returned again. She drank like 5 margaritas," she explained. "It seemed as I was the only one who thought this was a big deal. She acted like she does this all the time. I know her daughters and the one literally just turned 3 and is a terror. It f—ing sickens me to know that mom is out getting drunk off her a– while her babies are at home- cameras or not."
She asked, "Wanna call CPS but will they do anything?"
The OP believes the mom is 'unfit.'
One person wrote: "NTA she did it to herself. They probably won’t take them away but it will hopefully scare her into not doing it again," and the OP replied "I feel like she’ll do it again… she’s an unfit mom."
"A little girl in my town died because her mother left her alone to go the bar for a few hours," another person commented. "CPS might scare her straight. You should call CPS. I think your friend do this all the time since she's so confident that nothing is gonna happen to her kids. I hope the children will be okay."
One person made an interesting point.
"NTA," Another person wrote. "I heard many years ago 'it's not what could happen at home while you're home, it's what could happen to you in public while you're gone'. That always stuck with me…. The house is probably not going to spontaneously combust. A masked man will probably not break in and rob the place. A sink hole will probably not open up and swallow the house… But it's far more likely for you to get in a car accident on the way to wherever you're going, the car could break down, leaving you stranded for hours, a big bar flight and everyone's hospitalized, arrested or making police reports for hours…
"The far more likely possibility, she could get arrested for DUI… Leaving the bar and coming back after multiple margaritas?!?
"These kids are not old enough to process what to do if they wake up and nobody is home. They can panic or decide now it's the time to stuff the pillow in the toilet and poke at the toaster with a screw driver. They have no ability to call for help or probably even recognize a situation in which they'd need help in. Call the police and CPS every single time you know this is happening."
Many people admonished the OP for asking the question instead of reporting the incident immediately.
"YTA for not calling when it happened," one person criticized.
"YTA for leaving infants in danger and coming to reddit instead of acting instantly and calling the police on the emergency line," another person wrote. "No time for people who know what should be done but hem and haw until it isn't their responsibility and they don't have to."
Someone else wrote: "If you don't call CPS you're condoning what she did. NTA."
"Call it in," another comment reads. "That is criminal. If you know about it and DON'T call it in, you are also at fault."
