Woman Leaves Kids With Friend For “Family Emergency,” Posts Music Festival Stories On Instagram

True friendship requires not just being there for the person but also calling them out when they mess up. And it’s not always easy to know where to draw that line.

Reddit user Unlucky_Lead3290 recently came to the platform’s ‘Am I the Jerk?’ community to ask where she fell on the spectrum after a particularly shocking weekend.

After her friend dropped her kids off at the woman’s apartment unannounced and went missing, she did some detective work and realized she was being used like a free babysitter. Concerned about the children’s safety, she contacted the authorities to ensure they were being looked after.

But when the friend returned, she went off the rails, accusing the woman of being selfish and lacking empathy for a mother who just needed a break.

Based on feedback from 3,000 American parents, the 13th annual Care.com Cost of Care Report once again reveals sky-high expenses impact household incomes and savings, stretching families to their limits as they lean on caregiving support.

“Parents aren’t struggling because they’re doing something wrong — the system is asking too much of them,” says Sean Lacey, general manager, child care, for Care.com.

“When care takes this large a share of household income, it directly shapes career decisions and long-term financial stability. Left unaddressed, the result is a workforce under real strain, and families forced into trade-offs that can be hard to undo.”

Child care is generally one of the largest lines in a family’s budget, and parents are dipping into a significant portion of their household income, as well as savings, to afford it. Although the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sets 7% of family income as the benchmark for affordable child care, the report finds that the average parent spends 20% of their household income on child care (and most families (78%) spend 10% or more of their household income on child care).

In other words, families are spending nearly triple what’s considered “affordable.”

Also, many find it hard to be honest about their issues.

Another survey of 2,000 parents from the United States with children aged 11 and under uncovered that they feel like a “bad” parent three times per week, on average, totaling 156 times per year.

Looking at the many sides of the job, respondents said their most overwhelming struggles have been financial pressures (42%), the lack of personal time or self-care (34%), and balancing work and family responsibilities (34%).

More than four in ten parents of young kids (41%) keep their frustrations about parenting all to themselves, and among those who have shared about their struggles in the past, many felt judged by their own parents (24%), partner (23%), and friends (15%) when opening up about their challenges.

Because of this, the majority (60%) of this group said the feeling of being judged has made them think twice about sharing again in the future.

So we can at least understand why the mom needed some time to recharge her batteries, and may have felt that telling someone she just wants to go to a festival wouldn’t be a good enough reason to get their help. But that doesn’t mean you can just abandon your kids for a few days and disappear.