Only parents of small children can fully understand what a great pleasure it is when your baby finally falls asleep after prolonged rocking - especially when they're teething or so on. And imagine that at this moment of supreme bliss, when you are already looking forward to some rest, something deafeningly falls in the next apartment and your baby wakes up!
But then everything depends only on the parent themselves, the degree of their indignation and entitlement... At least, the mom from this story, told by the user u/astralluvr in the AITA Reddit community, behaved... let's say, somewhat unconventionally. Okay, let's just read on to make up our own minds about this situation.
This story happened around two years ago when the author was a minor living with her parents
Image credits: Nenad Stojkovic (not the actual photo)
The family lived in an apartment building with quite thin walls and heard literally every loud sound from the neighbors
Image credits: u/astralluvr
There also lived a couple with the baby downstairs so the author always tried to behave quietly in order not to wake them
Image credits: Richard Masoner (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/astralluvr
But one day the author spilled water on the floor and then loudly fell after slipping on it
Image credits: Polina Tankilevitch (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/astralluvr
The mom called back and angrily demanded that the author buy her baby diapers, formula and a toy as 'a punishment' for waking him
So this story happened about two years ago, and at that time the Original Poster (OP) was a minor living with her parents. The family lived in an apartment buliding with fairly thin walls, so that people could hear quite well what was happening in the neighboring apartments. And then there lived a couple with a baby downstairs...
In fact, this is where the introductory information can end, because in such conditions, of course, you will hear the baby crying, and the baby will also hear any loud sounds from your side. However, we must give the OP and her parents their due - they always tried to behave as quietly as possible in order to make this mom’s life easier.
But one fine winter evening, when it was cold and snowing outside, and the original poster was at home, everything changed. According to the girl’s own words, she’s anemic and takes various medications, and the new medicine that the doctor had prescribed to her made her a bit dizzy. And so, at some point, she spilled water on the floor, stood up to wipe it up - and fell with a crash, slipping on the same spilled water.
It was loud - as loud as it hurt, and as the OP put bandages on her bruised elbow and knee, the phone in the house rang. The neighbor from downstairs called - and literally from the first words she started screaming, scolding the author for waking up the baby, as he had just fallen asleep. The girl politely apologized, trying to explain the situation, but the mom was already livid and didn’t want to hear anything.
It all ended with the neighbor’s ultimatum stating that in order to “atone for her guilt,” the author of the post was then obliged to go to the store right then and buy her son diapers, formula and a toy with her own money. The original poster was shocked by this request, so she politely but adamantly said no, and hung up in her face.
However, when the girl tried to find support from her own parents, their reaction also surprised her a lot - they said that the daughter should be more careful and not wake up the neighbor’s kid. The neighbor’s partner, with whom the author also tried to talk about this, said that they were too busy with work and were completely unaware of what was happening, so the only thing the OP could do was try to seek support online. Which is exactly what she did.
Image credits: Stephane Mignon (not the actual photo)
“Of course, it’s very unpleasant when a baby, whom you put to sleep with such efforts, suddenly wakes up again - and now it will be way more difficult to make them fall asleep again,” says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for a comment on this case.
“I was a mom myself and I understand perfectly well what this means. On the other hand, such demands for some kind of compensation, in my opinion, look completely inappropriate here. After all, this mother understood perfectly well that in such a building you will hear literally any loud sounds coming from neighboring apartments."
“Moreover, I’m almost sure that the child’s crying also woke up both this girl and her parents more than once at the most inopportune times. But I don’t think it occurred to them to demand any kind of compensation from the mom. Yes, this is an everyday situation. Yes, it’s very unpleasant, but this happens quite often, and it’s worth being tolerant of each other,” Irina presumes.
By the way, the author of the post herself confirms in the comments that the neighbor’s baby woke her up more than once or twice in the middle of the night or so. And the girl received such long-awaited support online, because commenters en masse took her side. People not only noted that the mom in this situation was being quite selfish and entitled, but also criticized the girl’s parents for their lack of sympathy.
Ultimately, parents should be more supportive in a difficult situation. “That’s absolutely ridiculous and shame on your parents for not being more concerned about you!” one of the commenters wrote quite angrily. And what do you, our dear readers, think about this story's characters’ behavior? Please let us know your points of view in the comments below this post.
The author said a flat-out no and got massive support from people online, unlike her own parents, by the way
