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The pregnant mum says she frequently left her five year old son home alone…until she got caught!

A soon to be mum-of-two has shared a controversial post on Reddit, admitting that she has no issue leaving her five year old son home alone while she goes food shopping. The mum said that she finds it difficult to get her son organised to go out, especially while pregnant, and has taken to leaving him by himself for up to an hour at a time.

Our Little Secret

The mum admitted that she didn’t tell her fiance that she was leaving their son alone.

“I usually leave him home behind my fiance’s back (no judgment please!)” she wrote.

On the particular day in question, the mum admits she wanted to stop by the shops to buy lunch at her favourite cafe.

“Since I’m pregnant I was craving this specific place in the mall,” she said. “My son’s lunch was in the oven and I figured that by the time it was ready, I’d be home…My son is potty trained and just plays games on his iPad/watches TV.”

While she was out, her fiance returned home early from work to discover their son alone in the house with the oven on, prompting him to send her a strongly worded text…

A Difference Of Opinion

After receiving a string of angry messages from her fiance, the mum said she believed he was overreacting.

“I feel degraded and belittled over nothing,” she said. “A 5 year old is perfectly capable of fending for himself for an hour. I’m honestly about to pack my bags and never let my son see his father again as well as when this baby is born. I would rather be single than spoken to this way.”

We’re pretty sure the wrong parent is playing the victim here – we’d be absolutely furious if we discovered that our other half had left a five-year-old at home while they went to pick up lunch!

Pregnancy isn’t easy, and finding time to get everything done with children in tow is always a challenge, but leaving your child at home alone with the oven on is completely unacceptable! This mum needs to sort out her priorities…

What age do you think children can be left home alone? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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  • This woman is a nasty piece of work. She did wrong but instead plays victim and shes is out for vengence when she says she will leave and never let her husband see his kids again. I hope that the Dad is taking note of these things. He should be writing down dates and times and what occured so that if in the future they part ways he can apply for custody as this woman can not be trusted. The fact that she was doing it behind her partners back tells me that she knew it was wrong.

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  • I had a neighbour who used to do this… he would lock the gate to the yard and leave the kid in the house alone! if there was an emergency it would have been hard to help the poor kid. I reported them several times….nothing seemed to happen.

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  • She doesn’t deserve kids!

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  • Yeah I definately don’t think it’s ok his 5, sorry but seriously what are you thinking there’s a million things that could go wrong or happen to a child in minutes….. Also ATM I’m 7 months pregnant, 14 month old, 7, 9, 10 and 12 yr old children alone as a single mum and we cope it’s very difficult at times but Safety, Security and love are the most important things to be a parent. This is my view on the situation, thankyou

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  • I feel guilty enoigh leaving my younger child downstairs by them self for 15 minutes while I get the baby down for a nap! My anxiety levels are high and I worry about them getting into something they shouldn’t despite the house being childproofed. There is
    No way I would leave them home alone.

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  • This comment is one to many. Please plan ahead if you have to go out and if you ,have to go wait until you can take your child with you or children.

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  • As much as I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave a 5 year old home alone for even an hour, I also understand that sometimes as mums we do what we need to do to get through the day. 5 year olds can be massive assholes! I have twin 5 year olds! I get it! I’ve cried at he thought of having to take them to the shop with me when I have needed something because one of them can be so difficult in public. He struggles a lot. And a mum knows their kids, I’m sure she would have thought a lot about it and prepared her son.
    I haven’t done it but my gosh I’ve seriously contemplated it before!! I’ve thought about chucking a movie on and ducking out for 20minutes opposed to it being a 2 hour process to take them!
    Maybe rather than putting her down, her husband should have talked to her about what is the main issue she has taking him and what he can do to help support her.
    Maybe she can online order and he can pickup on the way home? Or maybe he can cook dinner that night and she can go alone to do the shopping when he gets home from work. Sounds like mum really needs some alone stress free time and a helping hand

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  • As a grandmother of 8 I think you have been selfish, irresponsible and just plain silly, 5 years old is way too young to be left at home. Why could he not have gone with you?

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  • Everyone is different

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  • I really hope this doesn’t happen with the new stage 4 in Melbourne. Fingers crossed we keep our kiddies safe and protected

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  • I always feel a little bit anxious leaving my 6 and 3 year old with somebody else let alone leaving them on their own. Especially leaving the oven on as well. That mother was being so selfish as I know it would be easier to do things alone but would never leave my kids alone to do it. I think a child would have to be around 12 years old before they could be left alone for short periods.

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  • Very irresponsible to leave a 5 year old alone.

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  • This is not OK what if something happened this mum would never forgive herself

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  • Wow, just reading the title made me panic. Thank goodness nothing happened.
    Regarding the age to leave a child at home alone, I would say 13, but it depends on the child

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  • I’ve only got a little one so not yet even thinking about that but reading this made my stomach tighten and my whole body start to feel anxious. Thank heaven nothing happened!

    Reply

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