It’s been said that every kid deserves a parent, but not every parent deserves a kid. This is especially true of parents who put their own needs ahead of their children and are happy to hand them off to sometimes inadequate babysitters.
One guy who was reluctant to babysit his roommate's 2-year-old daughter was horrified after the kid escaped her crib and fell down some stairs. He rushed her to hospital, but now his roommate is threatening to go to court over the bill.
More info: Reddit
Some parents don’t deserve kids, as this guy unfortunately found out the hard way
Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)
He was always reluctant to look after his roommate’s 2-year-old daughter, but once again let the dad get away with leaving for an hour or two
Image credits: The Yuri Arcurs Collection / Freepik (not the actual photo)
After he put the kid to bed in her crib, forgetting to close the baby gate while he was at it, he ended up falling asleep on the couch
Image credits: Jomkwan / Freepik (not the actual photo)
He woke up to the sound of the kid screaming, and rushed to find she had fallen down some stairs and her dad was nowhere to be found
Image credits: curious-user-
He took the injured kid to the hospital, but now the dad is talking about going to court over the bill, and he’s wondering if he’s a jerk, but is lawyering up anyway
Living with a single parent can come with surprises - but this one went way too far. OP shared his chaotic experience when his roommate started leaving his toddler daughter in his care, despite repeated refusals. What began as occasional short favors escalated into a nightmare nobody saw coming.
The dad, who works two jobs, gradually pushed more child-watching duties onto OP who, feeling sympathetic, agreed to keep an eye on the two-year-old during one long shift. However, things spiraled when exhaustion kicked in. He dozed off, and the child managed to escape her crib and tumble down the stairs.
The toddler suffered a broken finger and bruises, prompting a frantic hospital visit and credit card debt. The roommate, however, refused to answer his phone. Turns out, both parents were out together and unreachable, while their child was being rushed to the ER by someone who never agreed to babysit all night in the first place.
The most shocking twist? Instead of taking accountability, the roommate and his ex filed a complaint against OP with the landlord, accusing him of negligence. They're even threatening legal action to avoid the medical bill. Now, OP is lawyering up but still wondering if he’s the jerk in the whole situation. After all, he’s not the kid’s parent.
From what OP tells us in his post, he’s slipped into a situation where his roommate has continually taken advantage of his kindness and foisted parental duties on him despite his protests. So, how can he handle the blurred boundaries and deal with his entitled roommate? We went looking for answers.
Image credits: TriangleProd / Freepik (not the actual photo)
In an article for WebMD, the authors write that entitlement mentality is defined as a sense of deservingness or being owed a favor when little, or even nothing, has been done to deserve special treatment. It’s basically a “you owe me” attitude.
Entitlement is a narcissistic personality trait. While it’s not known exactly how this mentality develops, it could be due to social factors like the environment you grew up in, the way your parents treated you, or whether adults solved problems for you.
In her article for Quick and Dirty Tips, Jade Wu (Ph.D.) suggests five ways to deal with entitled people, including using wish fulfillment to set limits, treating everyone equally, feeling a little compassion for the entitled person, being inclusive (even of entitled people), and remembering there’s only so much you can do.
Unless OP wants to move out altogether, we’d say it’s time he set some hard limits on what he will and won’t be responsible for when it comes to his roommate’s kid. Anything less and he’s just going to be a sucker time and time again - and who knows what happens next?
What would you do if you found yourself in OP’s shoes? Do you think he should be held responsible for the kid injuring herself, or is the absent dad the real jerk in the situation? Let us know your opinion in the comments!
In the comments, readers seemed to agree the guy wasn’t the jerk in the situation and slammed the dad for lying about the real reason he was going out
