We’ve all heard about the dangers of leaving kids in hot cars, and the tragedies that can unfold when parents have a lapse of concentration. So far this year alone in Australia, there have been 26 deaths reported of children left in cars. Furthermore, over 5,000 children every year are rescued from unattended vehicles.

One mum has recently taken to the internet to share a scare involving her 7-month-old who her mum was babysitting.

My mom (47f) has always babysat our kids while we work. My kids (7month m and 4f) adore her and she’s awesome with them. I (26f) and my husband (34m) both work full time jobs and our daughter is in preschool so my mom only watches our 7 month old son right now. She frequently runs errands and is out and about, and doing things for her sort of work from home job.

Tonight she had to run to the next town over to handle something for work. It was a warm 87 degree day.

That’s 30.5 °C to put it into perspective.

Evidently, she ran into the building for 20 minutes and when she returned she was mortified when she realized she left my sleeping son in the car. He was perfectly fine and still asleep. Never fussed and he was happy when he got home.

She was in tears when she dropped him off because she knows how horrificly she messed up. I told my husband when he got home and he checked over the baby again himself. My husband was furious and threatened to call the police on her and said she should never watch our kids again because she was negligent. I was able to talk him down some and he still said she should not ever leave the house with our son again.

I told him I know it could have been the worst thing in the world, but we got lucky and he’s okay. It’s a mistake either one of us could have made and I think he’s over reacting. Now he’s furious with me because he thinks I’m under reacting and don’t care about our baby’s well being. He says we have to do something about it.

So AITA for being okay with her still watching our son?

People did not hold back in the comment section.

I’m sorry but you’re lucky your kid isn’t dead. Now you want to roll the dice again? Your husband has every right to say no and that needs to be respected. This is your child’s life and what happened is traumatizing. I know your mom didn’t mean harm but you can’t go against your husband on this. (Full-Arugula-2548)

I think grandma should get points for actually confessing what had happened, but I would definitely never allow her to drive with the kids again. And it would be a very long time before I let her watch them, period. (CreativeMusic5121)

YTA

Childcare is something both parents need to be comfortable with. (TarzanKitty)

Whilst people had sympathy for the grandmother and acknowledged that it was a mistake that could happen to anyone, they still believed that the husband was right to protect his children and not allow her to continue to take care of them.

OP step back and really look at the situation. A vehicle can reach 117 degrees inside a vehicle when it’s 87 degrees outside depending on the situation. You are lucky beyond words that you have a baby that you can continue to love and touch and see every day.

YTA for not taking your husband’s concerns seriously. He’s right to be upset. I believe your mom was mortified but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened. There MAY be a compromise down the road in which IF your mom wants to continue watching him she 1000% must do it from home and never transport him in her car. I would absolutely not push that right now though. You may have to consider the possibility that your mother might not ever again be entrusted with your baby’s care.

I am really incredibly glad that your baby is okay op I hope you guys get through this and I’m just very grateful for you that just turned out the way it did. Jovon35)

Many people thought that the mum was indeed underreacting to what could have been a fatal mistake, and questioned whether she would feel differently if it was someone other than her mother involved.

How would you feel if the call came he was dead? Every summer someone spaces out and forgets their baby in a hot car just like she did but theirs die. So nothing happened this time…. what about next time? You’re willing to risk your son’s life on it not happening again? If she’s so remorseful then why didn’t she get him to medical attention? Or call you right away when it happened? You are severely under reacting because it’s your mom and not him or his mom. And being negligent yourself because you seem so nonchalant like it’s mom forgot a lunchbox in the car and not your baby. This is very serious and you’re not acting like it is. (craftycat1135)

1000000%. If this were HIS mom, a daycare worker, or a teacher – I bet OP would be livid. It’s only ok bc it’s HER mom. (ThisIsMyCircus40)

One person shared the personal experience of almost leaving a child in the car, and how easy it is to do especially of you are out of your usual routine. Others suggested helpful tricks people can use to make sure it doesn’t happen to them.

They make car alarms for this exact thing for parents who have young babies. People go on autopilot and will forget. I did something similar, going to lunch during the work day. This one particular day, I picked up my son from daycare and met a friend. I forgot to drive back to daycare because this one obligation wasn’t part of my lunch routine. As I parked at work, I sat a moment, thinking what am I forgetting? Then I turned around and saw my son and felt like an idiot!!! I drove him back immediately. So I didn’t leave him alone in the car, but I COULD have.

One thing parents can do is leave something next to the baby that you know you’ll need, like your left shoe, or the purse.

I would take a break and let some time pass so that your husband can calm down. He’s not going to change his mind so soon after the incident.

I would look for an alarm and put some safety guidelines in place to practice and if he can see how effective it is; then bring up the possibility of grandma being able to help out with the babysitting. So possibly it’s too soon. So soft YTA. (franglaisedbeignet)

Yes, you NEED some type of system so this never happens. It can happen to absolutely anyone. Everyone forgets things and everyone makes mistakes, so remove the possibility of human error and have a process that ensures that you cannot forget the child. I would put my purse back there but there are so many other ways to do it as you’ve mentioned. (Northerncoral)

What do you think? Was this an unfortunate accident that is unlikely to ever occur again, or is the children’s father right to refuse his mother-in-law care of the children in the future?