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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Paige Freshwater

'Neighbour expects me to babysit her kids after her husband walked out'

Raising a child isn't easy - and to lessen the load, a mum-of-two has been trying to 'outsource' her parenting to her neighbour.

But this idea didn't go down too well with the neighbour in question.

Taking to Reddit, the woman explained how her neighbour expects her to watch her two children before and after school because she 'can't do it all herself'. While she sympathises with the woman, she doesn't want the extra work, especially when she's trying to raise her own six-year-old.

She said: "My husband and I have lived next to Jack and Jill* for two years. We have a son who's six years old, and they have two kids who are a similar age, but a little bit older. All the kids go to the same elementary school and I used to see Jack in the car rider line.

She doesn't want the extra work (stock photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

"Our neighbourhood is relatively close to the school so the school bus does not pick up here, we have to walk or drive our kids to school.

"Jack and Jill constantly have loud fights ever since they moved here - and by fights I mostly mean Jill would scream at Jack and kick him out the house on a weekly basis.

"Normally he would sleep in his car and come back inside in the morning after she leaves for work.

"Jill works as a CNA (certified nursing assistant) at a nearby hospital, the 6am-6pm shift. Jack worked from home, like I do, which lets him take the kids to school."

The woman went on to explain how Jack packed his bags and moved back to his mum's house after a particularly colourful argument, leaving Jill to bring up their children alone.

"Jill recently came to me saying that she has no one to watch her kids from roughly 5am to 7pm," she added.

"She asked if she could send them over in the morning, have me watch them and feed them breakfast and then take them to school.

She has her own child to worry about (stock photo) (Getty Images/Tetra images RF)

"Then, later pick them up and feed them dinner and watch them till she gets off work.

"I explained to her that being expected to be a second parent basically to two kids is not something I'm really interested in."

Despite her lack of interest, she asked how much she'd be willing to pay for the babysitting - but was shocked by her response.

The woman said: "She expected me to do it for free since she has no friends and no one else to ask.

"She also asked if I would watch them on the weekends so she could pick up extra shifts, otherwise she won't be able to pay the rent.

"I told her absolutely not, and that she's insane basically to think I'd agree to something so unreasonable when we aren't even friends and our kids aren't friends either.

"My husband thinks I was an a***hole, and that we could offer to at least help sometimes for the kids' sake.

"My stance is that we both know she wouldn't do the same for us if the roles were reversed, since Jill isn't really a nice person."

Wanting to know whether she's in the wrong for not stepping up to help, she has asked Reddit users what they'd do in this situation.

In response, one user said: "Do not budge. The husband needs to come back and step up. Tell your husband to look after the kids."

Another user added: "Your husband needs to back off. You are not responsible for watching Jill's children.

"She needs to arrange for a family member or get a nanny to watch her kids. This is her problem, not yours."

A third user said: "This is way too big of an ask and is not even a fix for her. If she can't afford rent absent Jack's income, she needs to start looking for a new place now, meaning you won't be her neighbour for long."

*The woman changed her neighbour's names to Jack and Jill to protect her privacy

Do you have a story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.

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