By hello to you too - 30/08/2018 12:30 - United States - New York

Today, I met my new 7ft tall and heavily muscular neighbor. Before I could say anything, he greeted me in his really deep voice with, "Excuse me, but is this yours?" He was holding my muddy 3-year-old son, who he'd found in his backyard, by his jumpers like a stuffed cat. FML
I agree, your life sucks 2 958
You deserved it 920

Same thing different taste

Top comments

I am not a parent and I don't know much about kids, but how did your son get out of the house and outside? What if he'd gone into the road? I genuinely don't know the protocol with three year olds though, is it ok to leave them unsupervised if they are in the other room or something?

tarabella 7

Excuse me but i don't understand where the FML is in this. You were a careless parent, obviously not paying attention to what your 3 year old son was doing and your neighbour was returning him to you. Would you rather have liked it if your toddler toddled into traffic or any other dangerous situation? And you were a careless parent, if your kid had time to go to the neighbours garden and get muddy he must have been unsupervised for quite a while.

Comments

I am not a parent and I don't know much about kids, but how did your son get out of the house and outside? What if he'd gone into the road? I genuinely don't know the protocol with three year olds though, is it ok to leave them unsupervised if they are in the other room or something?

Exactly what I thought. How did a three-year-old get into the neighbours backyard?

julfunky 29

My nephew, 3, is often left alone in the next room as my sister-in-law puts my niece down for a nap. However, there are baby gates in place to ensure he doesn’t walk out the front door or down the steps.

TxKitten79 10

One time I was napping while my son was taking his nap. He'd woken up, scooted a chair up to the door, and unlocked the dead bolt, then went outside. The next day I installed a sliding lock way up high that he couldn't reach. Kids are smart, and some are escape artists. And when you have kids you'll see that they will come to with things you never even thought about. I'm sure OP had the same thoughts and worries that you just brought up. without knowing the full story, it's not fair to judge.

My coworker has recently discovered that her 1 year old daughter has been getting out of her crib by piling her teddy bears. Guess she's been learning a lot from her gymnastics classes too.

Looks like Jack didn't need to plant the magic beans in order to meet the giant.

tarabella 7

Excuse me but i don't understand where the FML is in this. You were a careless parent, obviously not paying attention to what your 3 year old son was doing and your neighbour was returning him to you. Would you rather have liked it if your toddler toddled into traffic or any other dangerous situation? And you were a careless parent, if your kid had time to go to the neighbours garden and get muddy he must have been unsupervised for quite a while.

i think the fml was that her son got out and pissed off the mountain next door. i wouldnt just jump to call her careless, people literally cant watch their child every second of every day. she might have had to look away or go into the other room for a second. there was many times i managed to get out when i was little so i know how easy it is to get that door open starting at 1 1/2 years old :P

bl3ur0z3 17

For everybody judging the OP, kids slip away. We rely on the rest of the household sometimes. It happens and we're so grateful when it's not the disaster it could be. That being said, the FML is how the neighbor was handling the child and that this seems to be a rare interaction.........I remember being awakened from a nap once to somebody in my livingroom shouting "is anybody here? Do these belong to you?" I came out and a woman I'd never met and have never seen since was standing in my livingroom with my 2yo and 4yo. Apparently my husband went to the store and the kids took it upon themselves to go to the park across the (very quiet) street. My husband thought my teen had them, my teen thought I had them and I thought somebody awake who wasn't sick had them. Being the only one there, I got to be the bad parent. But I didn't beat myself up. While I don't like that she welcomed herself into my home, I do appreciate that my children were returned safely and I made them take naps with me. It also would have been about 5 minutes later that their absence would have been noticed as my mother was there and my teen was also at the park.

People don't understand how crafty toddlers can be

gavanator127 8

Sounds like the start of a romance novel tbh

Well on the bright side at least you know your neighbour is a muscular giant who's kind enough to return your little cuddles who's probably messing up their backyard.. well he didn't eat your honeybunch.