Helping your neighbor when they really need is something a lot of people are happy to do. However, sometimes, the ask is too much and some people are not willing to go the extra mile.
Keep reading this story to know what this neighbor drew the line on…
For many people, especially those who are parents already, going into labor can be a stressful experience. If the labor comes suddenly without having prepared for it, organizing childcare can be a hassle.
Some people have a plan in place, but at times, the sudden onset of labor can really throw all your plans out the window. This mother, however, had not thought about who would care for her older children as she rushed to the hospital when she went into labor.
She posted her story on Reddit to see what people thought.
“I (f26) live in a block of new build apartments, everyone moved in a year ago so we’re all getting familiar with our neighbours.
There’s quite a few families on my landing and we have a shared courtyard where the kids play in the summer so we can get chatting while the kids are playing.
We’ve done favours for each other in the past like formula milk and normally kids stuff. Mainly me giving it out tbh.
But I try not to get too friendly. I have two kids myself, a 2 yr old and 11 month old. I’m currently solo parenting as my husbands gone away for a few days to spend time with his family and friends.
There’s a mum groupchat of the mums in the building who swap kids around and baby sit each others kids for a few hrs and they rotate. I’m just a silent watcher tbh and don’t participate and it’s not something I’m comfortable with and my kids can’t even communicate properly.
Last night around 3am I get a knock on the door, me and my kids are fast asleep. I tried to ignore it as 1 I’m home alone, 2 I wasn’t expecting company and 3, it’s 3am in the morning.
Anyways after they wouldn’t stop and my kids were starting to wake up I look through the peephole and notice it’s my neighbour.
I open the door, and it’s her and her boyfriend and 2 kids, she’s 9 months pregnant, clearly in labour, they’ve got their hospital bags. They told me if I could take the kids till her sister gets here in a hour.
I said I’m sorry but no. I don’t want to be liable if anything were to happen to her kids under my care and I don’t want to risk waking mine up.
I feel like this is something u need to plan ahead and not start knocking on doors hoping someone takes ur kids in. I’ve already got my hands full with my 2 there’s no way I’m having another 2 running around my house at 3 in the morning.
They are 1 and 4 and I know they aren’t just going to sit and watch tv quietly.
They call me evil and rude and the bf got onto me saying what kind of mother watches another struggle. I feel like if my husband was around he wouldn’t t speak to me like that.
AITA?”
Many Reddit users agreed with her.
One person pointed out that the parents did not plan ahead and seemed to be in this mess of a situation because of their poor planning. User Schezzi wrote that the parents had 9 months to plan and “left their kids’ safety and wellbeing until their literal last minute.”
Meanwhile, other users were not as kind and thought this was unacceptable behavior.
BrinaGu3 wrote that it seemed unacceptable to help someone in a time of emergency.
The original poster later came back and mentioned to everyone that the neighbor who had eventually agreed to take the children in told her that the aunt had not arrived till 8 in the morning. The children did not sleep the entire night, and she woke up her children as well. They had also left a mess in her house. She mentioned all of this as a way to show everyone that she had been right about not taking the children.
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