Sigh. Alright 43. The mother clearly wasn't watching the child then. Neither was the babysitter. In both cases you presented, the child would still be unsupervised.

A 5 year old should be allowed to have a little play time in their room where they are not being watched every single second, right? Oh and a mother does have to shower and use the restroom at some point right? Children are fast, it doesn't take them long to get into trouble or break things.

I don't leave children alone, considering they could hurt theirselves... I don't know about you... Usually mothers, (the ones I know about) bring their child in their room with them and don't necessary carry writing utensils with them.

They bring their 5 year old into the bathroom or while they are changing... trying to traumatize a child much? You are obviously NOT a mother yet, so their for your opinions on how you should care for one are null and void.

Now, no one said anything about constantly watching them, but checking up? Yeah, that sound good to do.

I did not say in the bathroom in my statement. I said room. In modern day society, some houses contain a bedroom with a bathroom attached, which I was making reference too. I made a point, don't argue with me.

therefore* Anyway, I did mention they should be allowed to have a "little" time to themselves in their room. Not all day alone and yes anyone knows they need to check on their child. But in between check ins anything can happen, it only takes a minute.

Parents do bathe with their children though.. I know I was one of those children and I am not traumatized. I took enough courses about children and their development thank you.

You are 17 and taking child development courses? If so, good for you. But at some point the child and parent bath routine must end and especially so If it is Father - Daughter or Mother - son. And actually in many psychology books and children books the recommended age is 4 - 5.

Well thank you. Also, that was the disclosed age we were discussing and I guess we just both have different views! Nothing wrong with that, haha.

Hilarious how you stopped lashing at them the moment they pointed out that you're just 17... I wonder about those "child development classes", haha.

No. I got tired of going back and forth on my iPod to check what her responses were. It has nothing to do with my age. As for your comment on my child development classes.. clearly, there was no need for the quotation marks and I'm not going to sit around and argue with her. Her view on how children are raised are not changing and vice versa. So, your comment was unecessary.

My main question though, as I pointed out to someone else, is why does the OP deserve it? If the person watching the child screwed up, how is that the OP's fault? That is the question no one answered.

Oh, I agree with you there Chi. It's not the Op's fault. He clearly was not there when it happened.

The answer is that it's not OP's fault. Kids are going to do these irrationally mischievous things that drive adults just to the brink of losing it. As Louis C.K. states during one of his bits- Kids are ******* assholes. At 5 years old you hope they've got a good start on their decision making processes- understanding right, wrong, and consequences but sometimes it takes longer. So OP gets to admire the artful ruin of his walls, explain to the little sprite why art belongs elsewhere while together they clean it up, and invest in age appropriate art supplies.

LOL have fun with that, not sure who's gonna want to come to your house...

I'll ignore the rest of the comment and just make one point: Not every parent is a homeowner. Try explaining "nurturing self-expression" to a landlord; all he's going to hear is "uncontrolled kid" and "declining property value."

Once again, Why do you assume they were alone at home? They were most likely with their mother, babysitter, or possibly an older sibling. If they were unsupervised then it is the fault of whoever was supposed to be watching the child for the parent who had to work.

Exactly. And get her a bunch of coloring books or big paper.