A woman has turned to the internet for advice after her and her mother had a big argument about her mother leaving her sleeping toddler at the front of their house strapped in the pram.
The woman had her baby just eight weeks ago and so her mum came to stay with them to help out after their birth, and to help out with her 20-month-old toddler. The woman said she was so grateful for her mother's support during this time.
In the post she said: "My mother has been taking my toddler son out for a walk and came back to 'charge her phone and drink a coffee.' She wanted to leave again afterwards, taking him for another walk, so she left him outside in the pushchair sleeping." You can get more stories like this by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Read more: Wife turns to MumsNet for advice after partner asks for three-month trial separation
The mum said she was left shocked as to why her mother would leave the sleeping child unattended outside the house. She said: "I was sick the whole night, I have had a vomiting bug for the last few days, was settling my crying baby and was still walking around in my underpants in the house. So I couldn't really go to the front door to stay with my son." A mum was left furious after a friend said her child's name was 'associated with badly behaved boys' - read more here.
The woman, who lives in Birmingham, said it was a nice area but as with any city it had both good and bad, but regardless of this her main concern iwas that someone would snatch the toddler while no-one was watching. The pair then got into a big argument where the woman's mum called her "paranoid" and said she watched too many crime programmes, to which the woman replied: "If she takes my toddler out, she has responsibility for him."
She added that her mum did eventually take her coffee outside next to the toddler. The woman sought the advice from other mothers to see if they thought she was being unreasonable, adding: "I am just wondering, is she right? Am I paranoid?
In the comments one person said: "This is a generational thing - in 1970 people happily left their babies in prams outside shops etc, just as these days you might leave a dog outside. Times change, however, and these days it’s not generally seen as safe. Whether that’s because it’s genuinely more dangerous now or because we have a different attitude to risk, who knows? But as it’s 2022 and not 1970, you are not being unreasonable."
While another added: "There's not a chance in hell I would leave a toddler unsupervised outside the front of the house. That's neglect, plain and simple."
