Raising a kid is hard.

It’s gotta be way, WAY harder when every move you make while doing so is being socially scrutinized in a hundred different directions.

Like, I don’t even know what to do with this story.

Check it out for yourself.

Was I the AITAH to leave my 5 month old with my-laws overnight due to an emergency?

My husband and I have a five month old adopted son.

We adopted him at birth.

When he was 3 months old we went back to work and he’s cared by other people while I work from home.

So she’s home, but still getting help.

My husband’s parents are divorced.

Both parents are remarried.

My mother in law and step father in law have been babysitting two days a week for the past two months.

I’m required to have childcare to maintain wfh employment.

My cousin babysits three days a week.

Then came the medical emergency.

My husband’s father has ALS and has been deteriorating for awhile.

Father in law and step mother in law live an hour away from us.

Last Friday morning we got a call from SMIL saying that my FIL’s breathing was becoming very difficult and he was going to undergo a tracheotomy surgery in order to be connected to a ventilator.

My husband and I made the decision to drive right away to the city where FIL lives so my husband can support his SMIL and see his dad in the hospital and help out.

My husband was very emotional that morning and was in no condition to drive.

My MIL was already here babysitting and we told her to take the baby for the night.

She texted and call us a few times to tell us how the baby was doing and she asked about FIL (they have maintained a good relationship over the years).

So far, sounds like one of those unfortunately common bad days you just have as an adult.

But then:

The next day, I drove back home by myself while my husband stayed with his step-mom and was visiting with his dad.

My brother in law drove my husband back on Sunday.

I meet up with 5 mom friends at a trivia night at a cafe on Tuesdays.

They all know that my father in law has ALS and is in poor health.

I told them about what happened with my FIL and how we drove to be with SMIL and how my son spent the night at my MIL and SFIL’s house.

Suddenly, everyone had a psychology PhD.

Three of the mom friends said that i shouldn’t have left my son with in-laws overnight because he’s under the age of 1 and can be traumatized by being away from me for a night.

Was i AITAH to leave him overnight with MIL and SFIL?

Here’s what the comments made of this:

This is indeed “over the top.”

Where are they getting this?

“Sanctimommy Mafia” is my new band name.

I looked around a bit to see if I could find this claim supported by science, and I found some tentative evidence that maybe a LOT of separation can cause attachment issues, which, honestly, I think we all knew already.

I’d be willing to bet the moms in this story half remembered some bad coverage of those studies and are now going around perpetuating a myth that a single night at grandma’s will ruin your infant’s life.

This is why you don’t get your science through memes, kids.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.