Loads of commenters here have made incredibly valid points - and I wholeheartedly agree. This mother seems wonderful, making sure her daughter is able to enjoy her childhood. However, I feel so sorry for the Mum because if there's another emergency she's not going to feel like she can trust her nearly adult daughter even. She has no-one. That's a really s****y position to be in

You are NTA but you definitely need to check your daughters attitude. Definitely make her get a job and if it was me I’d also say make her pay her own phone bill if she wants a phone. If she wants a car, make her pay for that too down the line. Teach her how to be grateful for the good stuff she has, she sounds entitled and spoiled to act that way.

Polly had something going on that couldn't be changed. It was more than going over to hang out with friends. Some event was planned for that time. But in what universe is the notion that "I want her to be a teenager, so that means not asking her to babysit" a sane one? There are two aspects to growth here: learning how to be responsible, and feeling the pride and value in doing something significant that actually matters. Asking a child to do something for you doesn't turn them into a slave; it turns them into a valued and important member of a family.

If I had pulled a stunt like that as a teenager especially at that age my parents would have grounded me for at least a year and that would have included extreme amounts of extra cleaning you took over everyone's chores when you were grounded. Sh she dropped her little sister off with an unknown man who could have raped or killed her or something!

At sixteen one is aware of the vulnerability of children, especially when they have younger siblings. This was a completely selfish, thoughtless move on Polly's part. She has many lessons to learn in this situation. Alas, most could very well be lost on her. Mom may not be innocent in all of this, and no doubt, a touch of teenaged angst because daddy left, but this is next level selfishness.

It’s been a few moons since I was a teenager, and when I was, I was a huge a*****e on many occasions. Never ever in my drunken stupors would I ever have let my little bro be put in an uncompromising situation. I grew up with a single mom with 3 kids and I knew never ever abandon my siblings. I’m wondering if this teen aged has something undiagnosed because this level of lacking compassion and selfishness is unreal!

Wait till that kid discovers motherhood. She won't be paid for that, for da*n sure. While nobody's an angel here, the teen is definitely out of line IMHO. She's not a sitter, she's a *sister*. If I can watch my second cousin's kid free? She can suck it up for her siblings or admit *she* needs to be babysat. Which is, unfortunately, how it seems. During an emergency even. For pity's sake.

She’s lucky the neighbor didn’t call the cops - I would have. Or wasn’t a psychopath.

August 1998, Lego Land in the UK 🇬🇧, my little sister was 3 years old and I was pushing her pram around with my mum afew feet infront of me. One moment of distraction (a bag of Haribos that I was holding, fell out of my hands). Stopped to pick up for what was like 3 seconds and that's how my sister was baby-napped at Lego Land. She was found eventually but I have never enjoyed Jelly Candy from then. I also learnt the hard way that you cannot ever leave family alone like that, unattended and uncared for.

If it had been me, I think I would have brought the 8 year old and the teen with me. I am a father of 6 girls and have had many situations just like this. I am not saying what you did was wrong but in bringing them all with you, you have them all in one place. All my girls thank me and their Mom all the time for making them do things as a family good and bad because it set them up as a good adults. Both of us worked, one at night and one at day. There have been tons of ER visits where we were all sitting in there for hours on end. Some of my daughters who have kids of their own read this and asked the same question I did, why did she not keep everyone together so one bad situation didn't turn into 3 bad situations. As a single parent it is of course harder, but that would seem to me to make the decision of having everyone together Paramount. The teen and the 8 year old missed the opportunity to see how a situation like this is handled. This is old parenting but still good.