To think that this is a dreadful way to treat my son

[ThespianTendencies]

I am currently in rehearsals so my schedule is quite hectic as the show goes up this week. I left my son (12) with my niece (36) for the evening and was due to collect hm at 1030pm latest. When I arrived - 10:15pm he was sitting alone downstairs in lamplight while my niece and her two sons had all gone up to bed. I think this is an appalling way to treat my son almost as if she was demonstrating how much they did not want him there. He was fine(ish) but I was disgusted. I regularly look after her two boys and never would I leave one of them downstairs while my children and me went up to bed! I texted her to say that it was not very nice and her response was "He's 12, what did you want me to do, sing him a lullabye.' I am really disgusted and angered by it and don't know what to do.

I wouldn’t leave my mum downstairs either. She’d call me a moody cow and ask why I was ignoring her, “have I outstayed my welcome then? Lovely way to treat someone who has come to see you!”

Do you lock up? Turn all the lights out? Leave your guest to lock up and post the keys back to you? How very odd. Why have someone over in the first place?

why on earth would you need to babysit your mum? If your mum is staying over, you wait for her to go to bed? Really? That's funny.

This thread is not about guests coming for diner, it's about babysitting a 12 year old, more than old enough to be in a room without supervision. It's more than safe enough to be together in the same house.

I don’t need to babysit my mum. My response is to a PP who said she’d leave her mum downstairs. My Mum doesn’t come over to sit in a dark and awkward house, she could do that at her own house. She comes over for company, which she’s not getting if I’ve gone to bed.

All these people who have people over just to ignore them... what?

This is about a difference of opinion. My mum gets upset if I try to treat her as a guest. She is family. Guests you do not go to bed and leave them downstairs, that is very rude. Family is different. You treat them as you would the people who actually live in your house, if they are very close family.

I can understand that some people do nothavethisdistinction and think everyone should be treated as a guest. This is where the difference opinion comes in.

So was the 12 year old to let himself out, lock up, turn all the lights out etc? That’s even worse.

amandacarnet Why does your mum come over to sit on her own in someone else’s house

*Why was she in bed at 10.15pm?

Don’t think I have ever gone to bed at 10.15pm since I was about 12.*

I go to bed before this a lot! I would always stay up in these circumstances though especially as she knew he'd be picked up by 10.30.
It's not the crime of the century though and probably better than him being home alone as she would be there to wake in the unlikely event of an emergency.