Roommate Leaves For Work Without Warning, Expects Others To Watch His Girlfriend’s Kids

Every parent wants a break from their kids every once in a while. Recent research found that one in three parents in the U.S. expect this summer to be particularly stressful and don’t expect to have one anxiety-free day. Parents deserve a break, but some may seek childcare in outrageously inappropriate or even neglectful ways.

This mother just decided to leave her kids with her sort-of boyfriend’s roommate without asking or telling her anything. The roommate shared the story online, highlighting how some parents really don’t seem to know the difference between babysitting and straight-up neglectful parenting.

A woman, her BF, and his kids were hanging out together when her roommate brought his crush and her kids home

Woman holding roommate’s hands at a wooden table, expressing emotions about babysitting GF’s kids and doing the parent thing

Image credits: Kateryna Hliznitsova / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

After some time, the woman noticed that both of them had split and left the kids for her to look after

Text excerpt showing a woman upset about babysitting her roommate’s girlfriend’s kids and urging him to do the parent thing.

Text excerpt describing a woman dealing with roommate’s girlfriend’s kids, highlighting babysitting and parenting issues.

Close-up of a red dragon game piece and a warrior figurine on a board, illustrating intense fantasy gameplay and strategy.

Image credits: Clint Bustrillos / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Text excerpt about woman confronting roommate for leaving her with girlfriend’s kids to babysit and urging him to do the parent thing.

Woman rips roommate after he leaves her with girlfriend’s kids to babysit, demanding he do the parent thing.

Frustrated woman sitting on couch upset after being left to babysit girlfriend’s kids by roommate not doing parent thing

Image credits: user25451090 / Freepik (not the actual photo)

ALT text: Woman confronts roommate about babysitting girlfriend’s kids and urges him to do the parent thing at work.

Text excerpt showing a woman upset with her roommate for leaving her and her boyfriend to babysit his girlfriend’s kids.

Text image showing a person questioning if their roommate’s girlfriend’s kids are their responsibility, highlighting babysitting conflicts.

Image credits: Lumina_Arcaidus

The majority of adults in the U.S. live with some kind of housemate

In an ideal world, we’d all live by ourselves, unbothered by housemates, their girlfriends, and their problems. But the reality is very different. In 2017, 31.9% of U.S. adults said they lived in a shared household. And although most young adults are moving back in with their parents, 18% live with a housemate or a roommate.

According to a 2024 survey by ApartmentAdvisor, most people prefer to actually be friendly with their roommates. 64.1% of the respondents claimed they would like a roommate or housemate with whom they hang out at least a few times a week at home. And 49.2% would want to regularly go out on the town with their roomies.

When asked whether they would prefer to be just acquaintances rather than friends, the majority of respondents disagreed. Only 9% admitted they’d rather not be close friends with the people they live with.

Unfortunately, where there’s roommates, there’s most always problems. Unwanted guests, noises, disagreements about chores – it can drive even the most patient roommates mad. However, even if living alone is easier, it doesn’t mean that it is more beneficial for us.

Although roommates can give us a headache, they still give us a sense of community

Yes, roommates can be annoying. Sometimes, like in this story, their behavior is straight-up inappropriate and annoying. But group living still trumps living alone in terms of benefits to our mental well-being.

Research has shown that college students who have roommates report better mental health and adjust to college life more easily. Another study shows that students who live with roommates from different ethnic backgrounds tend to be more tolerant of other cultures, and that it increases the students’ positive sense of self, and allows them to navigate diverse settings better in the future.

Writer and author of the memoir Group Living and Other Recipes Lola Milholland shares her three personal reasons why group living is superior:

• It helps us battle isolation, alienation, loneliness, and apathy;
• It’s cheaper and more sustainable to the planet (sharing a car, appliances, etc.);
• It encourages dividing domestic activities usually disproportionately done by women.

Having roommates isn’t that bad. It’s just about what kind of people you choose or happen to end up living with.

People were confused about how this whole messy situationship works

Screenshot of a Reddit conversation where a woman criticizes her roommate for leaving her to babysit his girlfriend’s kids.

Commenter warns roommate about dangers of babysitting girlfriend’s kids and questions parental responsibility.

Reddit discussion about a woman confronting roommate who left her with girlfriend’s kids to babysit.

Screenshot of online discussion where user criticizes roommate for failing to babysit girlfriend’s kids and not doing the parent thing.

Reddit conversation where woman calls out roommate for leaving girlfriend’s kids to babysit, demanding he do the parent thing.

“Call the police and the CPS for child abandonment,” commenters recommended

Screenshot of a Reddit comment advising to call police for child abandonment after roommate leaves woman babysitting girlfriend’s kids.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing a woman upset after her roommate left her to babysit his girlfriend’s kids.

Screenshot of a forum comment where a user says roommates owe nothing after being left to babysit girlfriend’s kids.

Screenshot of a forum comment discussing a woman ripping roommate over leaving her with girlfriend’s kids to babysit.

Text comment about a woman confronting her roommate for leaving her with girlfriend’s kids to babysit, urging him to do the parent thing.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing responsibility and babysitting issues between a woman and her roommate.

Comment criticizing roommate for leaving woman to babysit girlfriend’s kids urging him to do the parent thing responsibly.

Reddit comment discussing a woman upset with her roommate for leaving her with girlfriend's kids to babysit.

Screenshot of a social media comment criticizing a roommate for leaving woman babysitting girlfriend’s kids, urging him to parent.

Comment criticizing roommate for leaving woman to babysit girlfriend’s kids, highlighting lack of parenting responsibility.

Screenshot of a woman criticizing her roommate for leaving her to babysit his girlfriend’s kids, urging him to do the parent thing

Screenshot of an online comment where a user tells someone they need a new roommate after being left to babysit girlfriend’s kids.

Screenshot of a social media comment warning about child abandonment after roommate left kids unattended.

Screenshot of a forum comment discussing a woman confronting her roommate for leaving her to babysit girlfriend’s kids.

Text conversation screenshot discussing a woman criticizing her roommate for leaving her to babysit his girlfriend’s kids.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment criticizing a roommate for leaving woman with girlfriend’s kids to babysit, urging to do the parent thing.

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