Mom Quietly Leaves While Her Kid Is With The Tutor, Comes Home To The Police And Social Services

Working with kids tends to be a bit more complicated, so most nannies, babysitters and tutors take the time to set up some rules with the parents. Unfortunately, immaturity, entitlement and just absentmindedness are not exclusive to children, as so many people have discovered from clients, customers and just random people who show up at their jobs.

A tutor turned to the internet for advice after they called the police on a mom who left them alone with her kids after being explicitly asked not to do that. We reached out to the netizen who shared the story via private message and will update the article when they get back to us.

There is not a lot of leeway when it comes to safety issues and children

Image credits: LightFieldStudios (not the actual photo)

So one tutor was surprised a mother was so angry when they called the cops after she left them alone with a kid

Mom Quietly Leaves While Her Kid Is With The Tutor, Comes Home To The Police And Social Services

Image credits: bialasiewicz (not the actual photo)

Mom Quietly Leaves While Her Kid Is With The Tutor, Comes Home To The Police And Social Services

Image credits: BlowMonday

Tutoring and babysitting are very different jobs, no matter what this mom may have believed

Mom Quietly Leaves While Her Kid Is With The Tutor, Comes Home To The Police And Social Services

Image credits: Julia M Cameron / pexels (not the actual photo)

In the 21st century, we are so used to written agreements (which are a very good thing) that anything “lesser,” say, a verbal agreement, tends to sometimes get forgotten. This story is a classic case of that. The tutor and the mother had an agreement, the mom either forgot about it, wasn’t really listening in the first place or perhaps she simply did not care.

The real question isn’t “was she wrong to leave the tutor alone,” it’s “was the tutor wrong to immediately call the police?” This is perhaps what caused such a heated debate in the comments section, as some folks thought this was overkill. Others saw the tutor’s position, since this situation opened them up to a whole new slew of liabilities.

It’s also a very clear-cut case of “not being paid enough for this.” Tutoring is by no means easy, but at least there is the understanding that the tutor won’t also double as a babysitter. In most cases, babysitters will call the police when the parents are late, so this isn’t that far from the norm.

Some netizens might argue that the tutor will lose a client, but it’s worth considering if it’s worth working for someone who will readily ignore your agreements. Today it was leaving the tutor alone, so why not late payments tomorrow? It’s good to have limits, as not all money is worth the hassle.

The mom put herself in a bad position

Mom Quietly Leaves While Her Kid Is With The Tutor, Comes Home To The Police And Social Services

Image credits: MART PRODUCTION / pexels (not the actual photo)

As for the mom, it’s telling that her main complaint was that she would look bad, because that is precisely what happened. She agreed to something, then broke that agreement, with her child caught in the “crossfire.” The tutor understood that they can’t just leave a kid alone, but the mother is of no help as she caused this situation in the first place.

Similarly, if she isn’t actually abusing the child, then an investigation from the cops or child protective services shouldn’t actually be an issue. If there are some underlying problems, then this tutor, on accident, may have helped the kid. The underlying issue is that this mom feels like she can do whatever she wants, just like many of the toxic bosses some people have to deal with in the workplace.

Some folks have the attitude that, if they paid some money, they should be entitled to various rights and extras, never mind the agreement. Just like a manager who asks for extra hours even when your job contract says one thing, entitlement is just an unavoidable part of life. However, that doesn’t mean that one should do nothing, as this netizen demonstrated.

A few folks wanted more details

Mom Quietly Leaves While Her Kid Is With The Tutor, Comes Home To The Police And Social Services

Most thought the tutor did the right thing

Mom Quietly Leaves While Her Kid Is With The Tutor, Comes Home To The Police And Social Services

But some thought it was too much

Mom Quietly Leaves While Her Kid Is With The Tutor, Comes Home To The Police And Social Services

Poll Question

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I am a writer at Bored Panda. Despite being born in the US, I ended up spending most of my life in Europe, from Latvia, Austria, and Georgia to finally settling in Lithuania. At Bored Panda, you’ll find me covering topics ranging from the cat meme of the day to red flags in the workplace and really anything else. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, beating other people at board games, cooking, good books, and bad films.

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I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job? Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art.

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What do you think ?

POST

similarly 2 weeks ago

NTA (and to the last YTA commenter in the article, I AM a parent). You have rules. You are a business, a tutoring service, not a childcare service. You have other appointments for which you are being paid and to which you are expected to attend. Your credibility as a businessperson depends on your reputation and reliability, and by disregarding your rules and guidelines, the parent put your financial needs and business responsibilities at a disadvantage. The tutor did not abandon the child. The parent did.

71points

Ms.GB 2 weeks ago (edited)

Yeah, the mom left her child without childcare AND no way to get ahold of her. This is entirely on the parent.

19points

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LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 weeks ago

For the YTAs (and any of my fellow Pandas who feel the same way) that are just demanding that OP "just stay" with the kid - OP is running a BUSINESS with set appointment times. As a comparison, would you demand your plumber stay in your house to wait for a package you have to sign for, because you have to run around the corner really quick? No, because that's not the plumber's JOB, and they have other appointments to get to after yours. Why is it even remotely reasonable for OP to stay longer at one appointment and fúck over their next clients/appointments? Would YOU be happy if you were the next appointment and OP called and said "Sorry, I have to stay longer at this appointment because the kid's mom left, sorry, too bad, but I can't tutor your kid today"? No, you'd be pissed, both at OP and at the mom who bailed on her kid and left the kid with OP. We get angry if the DOCTOR is late to see us when we have a set appt time, even if it was because the previous patient kept them longer.

46points

Mike F 2 weeks ago

And apparently the YTA didn't thoroughly read the post. The OP stated that they waited 15 minutes then called the police non emergency number. After the dispatcher got everything sorted it was (quite probably) another 10-15 minutes before the arrival of the police which would put mom's little foray at least 30 minutes. Add in the fact that the mom wasn't returning messages so what's the OP to think? Obviously the YTA crowd is accustomed to dumping their kid(s) on unsuspecting people as a matter of course.

55points

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Scott Rackley 2 weeks ago

Parent leaves, kid does a header off the staircase and cracks his/her skull. Wonder who the police are going to look at?

32points

Ash 2 weeks ago (edited)

Not to mention, you have to have certain legal certifications to be left alone with children. Even churches have started making people get FBI background checks/fingerprinted in order to be Sunday School or VBS teachers, because that's what the law requires in so many places. If OP didn't have those certifications, it was literally not legal for her to be at the house alone with the child.

10points

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