13yo standing at bus stop by Sidwell asked by stranger to watch small boy & dog for a few minutes

[Anonymous]

OP, is it possible the 13 year old is wildly exaggerating this story? I have a trustworthy 14 year old but sometimes in his excitement about being independent--his stories can place him in an exaggerated favorable light, at times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the 13-year-old was very good and responsible. Sure he missed his bus, but I assume there was another one coming in 30 minutes. If he was truly uncomfortable with the situation but didn't speak up, he may want to practice being more assertive in the future.

The nanny's actions seem not particularly responsible, not because a random stranger *you* approach for help is likely to harm your child (probability of that? < 0.0001%) but because the person she approached was so young and clearly waiting for a bus. However, we don't know what kind of emergency lead her to take her chances like this. And clearly she picked the right guy.

If she was my nanny I would want to know if she made a habit of this, but a single incident, provided it involved a legitimate emergency, would not worry me at all.

Nope. I'd fire her. Right then, right there.

I can see maybe leaving a dog tied to a post or even with a stranger if I had to pop into a school real quick. But a child? No way. Why on earth couldn't the woman bring the child into the school with her. It just makes no sense. Sounds more like laziness than an emergency to me...

How could her actions be motivated by laziness? Bringing the child with her would be both easier and faster. There must have been some legitimate reason why she couldn't bring either boy or dog with her. If she explained this reason, and it made sense to me, and if I could be reasonably sure that this would not happen again, no I would not fire her. Again, this is not something I would be happy to find out, but if I can trust someone who starts out as a complete stranger to watch my child for 10 hours a day while I work, why is it unforgivable for her to trust him to someone else for five minutes?

Small children walk slowly, have to use the potty, can be loud and demanding - no it is not always easy to bring a child along on an errand, especially if you want to be *quick* about it. This woman obviously felt that she needed to ask someone to watch the dog for her (she couldn't bring the dog into the school, didn't want it to run off) and it sounds as though she just left the child with the dog and the guy at the bus stop....yikes.

Strange that you would even think to compare a licensed childcare provider/nanny with a random stranger at a bus stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, is it possible the 13 year old is wildly exaggerating this story? I have a trustworthy 14 year old but sometimes in his excitement about being independent--his stories can place him in an exaggerated favorable light, at times.

I was wondering that, too. Maybe he came up with/exaggerated this story because he was afraid that he would get into trouble for missing the bus?