Leaving child unattended at party

[vraiblonde]

Screw that ####. I stay with my kids. Too many freaks. I have heard too many stories of kids getting sexually abused and these ####ers look at a busy party as an opportunity.

This thread is fascinating.

 

[cattitude]

This thread is fascinating.

Scary too.

 

[vraiblonde]

I'm amazed my children grew up to be adults.

You know that's what pisses them off most, right? That we terrible negligent Mommies who let our children go play with friends without our direct supervision never had anything bad happen. Kids socialized and learned some independence, and never got kidnapped or molested or anything.

 

[cattitude]

You know that's what pisses them off most, right? That we terrible negligent Mommies who let our children go play with friends without our direct supervision never had anything bad happen. Kids socialized and learned some independence, and never got kidnapped or molested or anything.

Well, not that they told us anyway.

 

[vraiblonde]

Well, not that they told us anyway.

You're probably right. I'm sure all sorts of terrible things happened to them that I never found out about. There was that one time Kyle went out to play and was gone for over a week. Maybe she was kidnapped?

:shrug:

Oh well. She's back now.

 

[FromTexas]

You're probably right. I'm sure all sorts of terrible things happened to them that I never found out about. There was that one time Kyle went out to play and was gone for over a week. Maybe she was kidnapped?

:shrug:

Oh well. She's back now.

It just seemed like a week because you were busy. It took me at least a month to return her...

 

[vraiblonde]

It just seemed like a week because you were busy. It took me at least a month to return her...

Dang. Time flies...

 

[Dymphna]

Once kids are in school and start having kid parties most of the parents don't need to hang out. Now, if they went to Chuck E Cheese, I'm not leaving...that place is a mad house. But the bowling alley or even Hyperspace, when it was an option, I would leave them.

The main deciding factor is did they invite my one child because ir was a kid from his class or did they invite the whole family. If the other children in the family weren't invited, then it's not appropriate to bring them, which usually means the parents won't be hanging out either.

The last party I held was in my house for a 7 year old. I told the parents they were welcome to stay or go as they pleased. The ones who stayed were either close friends of the family or friends of those friends and they all sat around the kitchen table eating the snacks while the kids were outside playing party games....if they weren't my friends, I'd have been pissed, but since they were my friends and were only there to socialize with each other, I didn't care.

 

[RareBreed]

It's interesting to hear both sides of the debate. If my child was invited to someone's party that I knew the parents, I have no problems leaving them. Unfortunately, the parties he's invited to are school friends who I don't know the child or the parent. When he is at home, he is normally at a neighbor's house unsupervised by me. Half the time, I'm not even sure which neighbor he's at. I walk the court and look for his bike. I trust my son completely when he's at a neighbor's house. I do not hover and he's over there for hours at a time sometimes. Parties are different because these people are strangers to me and the parties are in large crowded places where no one is probably paying attention to my child and he can either wander off or get taken. No I realize the possibility of an abduction is rare but if it happened, I'd never forgive myself.

 

[Christy]

No I realize the possibility of an abduction is rare but if it happened, I'd never forgive myself.

Kids have been abducted from their very own bedrooms. I've heard more stories about that. I don't ever recall hearing about any kid being abducted from a birthday party. :shrug:

 

[PrepH4U]

How old you would your child have to be before you left him/her alone at a birthday party? I don't want to leave mine. I had one left on me (but I didn't even know it until it was time for everyone to leave and her parents were no where to be found). She is 6 or 7 yrs old. Oldest had a party and at the end, as the kids and parents were leaving, the girl hands me a piece of paper with a phone # on it. I call and tell the mom that the party is over, come pick up your kid. Mom begins to yell at me because the party ended alittle earlier than I had marked on the invitation. I tell her that the party is over so come get your kid. Next, the dad calls and yells at me for the same reason. I tell him the same thing, come get your kid. He tells me to have her just wait for them somewhere and he'll come get her. I told him that's unacceptable and that I will stay with her until they arrive. They arrived about 45 minutes later (they live about 5-10 minutes away) and said they were in the middle of watching a movie on TV when I called.

What age do you think it's appropriate to leave a child, if at all, at a party? I'd be worried that an accident would occur at the party and I wasn't there. Maybe if the parents specifically said, you can leave and come back in two hours or something, I "might" go but I'd stay close by for sure.

How many kids were arriving at the same time that this little girl was dropped off? You must have had a very large B'day party not to notice that this little girl was there w/o her parents. It kinda sounds like this little girl was the victim of an unobservant party hostess and a set of uncaring parents. :shrug:

 

[Roberta]

:

I'm amazed my children grew up to be adults.

Me too. I guess we are just lucky.

 

[vraiblonde]

Kids have been abducted from their very own bedrooms. I've heard more stories about that.

Now you've done it!