If you don't like children, why did you have four of them?!?! Okay, this is just me ranting but the situation is lowkey upsetting.
I have a new neighbor, single mom of four, three of them are noticeably ND, one of them diagnosed as in the spectrum. And I understand that trying to wrangle that many children would run you ragged but tell me WHY, as soon as I went to introduce myself and offer help she pretty much dumped the kids on me. A complete stranger. She doesn't know what kind of person I am, nor who my partner is, she could be handing them to a pervert in a silver plate!!
I don't have children, don't want children and lowkey dislike them. I politely told her I am not able to babysit, and after apologizing she took them back, but she lets them free-range in the backyard with zero supervision all day. The youngest (she's four) learned how to climb over the fence and into my backyard. They've veen here for about a week and I've caught her thrice. She's also learned how to open the back door from outside. She's smart, I'll give ger that. But turning around and finding a toddler in my hallway was shocking, to say the least.
The biggest issue is that, due to my job and hobbies, I have a lot of shit on display, within easy access (bc adhd) that looks all interesting and whimsical but is very much NOT CHILD SAFE. Solvents, resins, cutting tools, woodworking equipment, toxic paints, harsh chemicals in colorful and fun jars bc I like the aesthetic. It's like a Ghibli room of cancer and chemical burns! yay!
So, a good chunk of my day is wasted chasing a kid away from the many things in my house that could harm her.
The thing is... the more I observe, the worse I feel for her. Her siblings treat her really harshly, and their mom... I don't think I've ever heard her speak to them in a calm and patient way (again, I get it, four is a lot of human larvae and moving is exhausting, but, they're kids, they are going to be nosy and noisy and need everything explained to them, it's not their fault), and the fact that I have to be the one bringing her back home every time and Mom is always like "oh, oops!" and not in hysterics over a missing child, tells me little Amy (fake name) is often overlooked.
Idk, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. She NEVER SHUTS UP and will insert random roblox noises in the middle of sentences. She is obnoxious af. But she is curious, resourceful and intelligent. And she seems to have imprinted onto me, she beelines to me as soon as she breaks in, and will attach to my knee like a lamprey and follow me around all day.
I have no idea what to do. I don't want to childproof my house for a kid that isn't mine. I fear that her mom will see this as a green light to send the other kids too and leave them here all day, which FUCK NO. That would be too much for something I never even offered.
For now, she has a designated corner in my dinning table where I let her use my cheaper paints and colors and all the reciclable paper I have (it was a lot more than I expected). The mess is barely noticeable considering the normal state of the room. She has found out my berry stash. I was saving those for pies but what's done is done. She wants me to teach her how to write, no idea how to do that, so for now she's copying her name. I did not sign up for this shit.
At least she tires my new dog out, which has greatly reduced her destructive chewing. But aaaaahhhh.
My only hope is that the school year will start in a few weeks. Until then I'll have to just survive this.
