Man Leaves BBQ and Is Berated by Parents Who Say He Left Their Kids Unsupervised
There are certain situations that happen on a frequent basis, but it seems as if many turn a blind eye to them. This seems to happen with parents, who automatically assume that others are watching their children.
A man recently went on Reddit to complain about just such a situation of ‘parental blindness.’ He said he was at a cookout with some friends and coworkers when the situation happened.
Since this was a ‘family-friendly event,’ some people had brought their children. Those children were having a good time in the backyard while the parents were enjoying themselves on a nearby deck.
He Wasn’t Happy With The Parents
The backyard was not fenced and led to a forest, so there was some concern over the safety of the children. At the same time, however, many parents were going in and out of the home and not paying attention to their own kids.
The OP went on to complain about how this seems to be a thing with parents, and he was annoyed with it. It got even worse, however, when he went to leave the party.
During the evening, the man was on the back deck enjoying a beer. When he finished with his one drink, he got into his car to leave.
A Parent Confronts Him
That is when one of the parents ‘freaked out’ and came over to the car to give him an ear full. They were wondering why he had left the backyard because they were counting on him to watch the kids.
The OP told her it wasn’t his job to watch her children, but he did say he probably would have stuck around if he was asked to do so.
During the evening, he had also been going in and out like everyone else and wasn’t really paying attention to the children. He wasn’t sure why he was singled out as having that responsibility.
After posting this, many people came on to express their opinion. The majority of them said that he was not in the wrong, because he was not a babysitter and shouldn’t have been put in the position to watch the children.
Others told stories about similar situations, mostly what had happened when they were younger and how they were chastised by their parents for not watching their younger siblings.
This one seemed like a clear-cut case, and most people agreed that the OP was not to blame. Perhaps it can just be billed as a lesson learned to watch your own children and not to pawn the responsibility off on others, especially without consulting them first.
