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Raising a young child is no walk in the park. You’re constantly on high alert—making sure they don’t get into trouble, keeping them fed and happy, cleaning up their endless messes, and somehow surviving on little to no rest. It’s a whirlwind that never seems to slow down.
For one Redditor’s sister, parenting her two-year-old had her feeling overwhelmed. She would sometimes retreat to the bathroom for a breather and ask her teenage brother to watch her daughter in the meantime. But after one too many “quick favors,” her brother had enough. He left the toddler alone and walked out of the house.
The bold move sparked a wave of mixed reactions online. Read on for the full story.
The woman asked her teen brother to watch her 2-year-old daughter while she took a quick bathroom break
Image credits: Roberta Sant’Anna/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
But with plans of his own, he couldn’t wait for her to return and chose to leave the child by herself
Image credits: Kateryna Hliznitsova/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image creidts: AdVaanced77
Children aged 0-3 should never be left alone, according to NSPCC
No matter the intention behind OP’s actions, leaving a young child unattended comes with serious risks. According to the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), children aged 0-3 should never be left home alone, not even for 15 minutes.
The NSPCC also advises that children under 12 should not be left home alone, especially for long periods. This aligns with findings from a 2019 study that surveyed members of the National Association of Social Workers in the US, asking them what age they considered child neglect if kids were left home alone for four hours.
“Every child is different, of course, and every situation may be different,” study author Dr. Charles Jennissen, a clinical professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City, told NBC News. “But overall these social workers say that kids really shouldn’t be home alone under the age of at least 12.”
In the US, most states don’t have specific laws or guidelines about when children can be left alone. However, in scenarios where no laws were broken and no harm occurred, the majority of social workers still considered it neglect to leave children under a certain age alone:
- 6-year-olds: 100% viewed it as neglect
- 8-year-olds: 83% considered it neglect
- 10-year-olds: 51% considered it neglect
By comparison, only 11% of social workers thought leaving 12-year-olds alone was neglect, and just 1% said the same about 14-year-olds.
Experts believe that much depends on the child’s maturity, developmental stage, and preparedness for being unsupervised. “I certainly agree that 12 years of age and up for the most part, depending on how they are developmentally, is probably OK, but there also are 12-year-olds who are not able to handle it,” said Dr. Suzanne Haney, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. “So it’s really hard to give a safe age because of all the factors that play into it. We have lots of kids who have learning disabilities or cognitive disabilities or behavioral issues and they may be 14 and they’re not safe.”
Dr. Haney suggested that parents consult with their pediatrician about whether a child is ready to be left home alone and for how long.
“A lot of it is going to be a maturity and a risk determination, so things like—do the children know what to do if somebody comes to the door, do they know how to call 911, do they know how to respond to a fire or to somebody breaking into the home?” she explained. “Clearly a child under 6 is going to have a lot of difficulty dialing a phone, let alone determining if somebody at the door is reasonable.”
In the replies, the teen clarified that his sister used the bathroom to spend time on her phone
Some readers argued that it wasn’t his responsibility to watch the child
Others, however, felt that his decision to leave wasn’t worth the potential danger it caused
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