Part of being a parent is pitching in and helping out your friends and your neighbors with their kiddos when they need a hand.

Well, at least in theory…

Because there’s only so much that a person can do without neglecting their own responsibilities as a mom or a dad.

In today’s story, a dad explained why his neighbor got upset with him when he didn’t drop everything (including his own kiddos) to take care of his son…who wasn’t being supervised.

Yowza!

Check out what he had to say.

AITA for NOT leaving my kids behind to watch my neighbor’s kid?

“I’m a 24 year old man who has two kids (2 years old and a 6 months old). Almost every day we go to the playground that’s in front of the apartment building we live in.

We have nice neighbors that have kids who also hang out in the playground almost every day. One family that lives nearby is very nice to us and we have built a great relationship with the parents.

They have three kids and one of them, let’s call him Leo, is almost 4 years old now and my older daughter loves to play with him.

Hmmm, okay…

One day we texted the parents if they wanted to come outside with us since it was a warm and sunny day.

The father answered that he was watching a hockey game but he will send his kid outside, alone, to come play.

For context, where we live, this is a common thing, but something that I would never do to my own child. Sure, I am an adult and I will be watching after Leo because I care, but I didn’t sign up for it and the father knows that I’m not that comfortable with this set up.

So, the actual reason why I’m writing this is that Leo and my daughter were playing at the park for a while and at some point Leo said that he wanted to go home. So I texted he’s dad that Leo was on his way home.

He’s clearly doing his best in this situation…

I said to Leo that we would walk with him but he just ran off the on his own. I couldn’t run after him, because I didn’t want to leave my kids behind, so I put my youngest child in the stroller and picked up my daughter and then I headed to where Leo went.

I called his father and asked if Leo came home, because I didn’t see him anymore and the father said no.

Long story short, after 10 minutes of searching, we found Leo at another playground that was also pretty close, but the father was angry at me.

It’s not like he signed up to be a babysitter.

He said that I should have paid more attention to his son and it was my fault he went missing.

I was so shocked at his reaction that I actually couldn’t even respond to him at the time.

Later that day Leos mom texted and she sided with me, that it wasn’t my fault, it was the fathers fault, but she still insisted that I should apologize to the father.

So… should I? I really think I shouldn’t apologize because I still did try to follow him and yell after him to wait for me.”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a homeowner who responded to an HOA violation letter by investigating the bylaws and having the whole board removed.

Reddit users spoke up.

This person weighed in.

Another reader shared their thoughts.

This Reddit user said he’s NTA.

And another individual spoke up.

Is this guy’s neighbor on the wrong track here, or what?

I sure think he is!

He must have a screw loose if he thinks it’s someone else’s responsibility to look after his son.

Jeez!

It sounds like this dad didn’t do anything wrong!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a young woman who struggles with her new reality after learning her adoption story was a lie.