Mother In law left my kids with a stranger

[Caro2322]

My mother in law left my 5 and 4 years old kids with a lady (mum who had a baby and another boy) who just met at the park to go for 10 mins back to her house to pick some water for them.
when she arrived at home without them I panicked when she told me she left them with this lady she just met. she told me they were ok and they were having fun.
i was in shock I put my shoes on and ran to see them.
i understand the mum could have been a very charming lady, however she still is a completely stranger and my kids were left alone with her.

when I tried to tell her respectfully to avoid to do that ever again she just ignored me and carry on walking like it was nothing.

am I being out of line here? I felt absolutely angry and shocked.

What did your Dh say Op?
I would be absolutely fuming and I wouldn’t be letting her have my dc on her own!

Very poor judgement on her part, what is her son's reaction to this?
I would never trust her with your children again

As others have said, don't leave your children with her unsupervised again.

this seems insane to most of us but it seems to be a generational thing? Some people are completely fine leaving their kids and belongings with strangers

She would never be allowed to have my children again

This would never happen in a school or in any organisation with child safety and protection policies. It would be a deal breaker and rightly so

No. People of all ages have said they wouldn't do this.

This is actually really bad. Even though the woman appears to be no danger herself what if the kids had ran off? What if another person had seen the kids be left behind and then took advantage of that situation? What if the kids had an accident on the swing / slide etc. What if the lady had to leave and the kids were completely unattended. It's great that they are unharmed and seemingly unaware but there are so many reasons why this is not okay and don't even get me started on MILs reaction to you having a problem with it. Her reaction is the biggest red flag of all.

She would never be left alone with my kids ever again.

Shocking. Both leaving the kids and not listening to you. I would NEVER leave them with her again whilst little.

That would be the last time she looked after them

Putting aside that she didn't know this person, so not appropriate to leave them with a stranger.
what if something had happened to her on the way home? Had she even considered that?

Absolutely unacceptable. Even if the lady was the best mother in the world, what was she supposed to do if your two children ran off in opposite directions and she also had her own children to look after? Totally reckless, I'd hit the roof.

I think it's partly a generational thing (like my parents still leave all their doors unlocked!) but I would be scared and angry if that was my kids. She needs to promise to never ever do it again, or I am sorry but she can't be left with them.

This is totally unacceptable, the woman could have just walked off and left them, or what if something had happened to them, what would she be able to do.
My mother used to leave my kids in the car, 3, 7, 8 and with the keys in as well, so one day I came home and drove the car away, when she ran down the road screaming I reversed back.
After the shouting I said, I've said before not to do it as anyone would take the car and not think about the children in the back, she never did it again.

It wasn't right and she should not have done this, but sit down and explain to her why it was not acceptable. Don't cause a family drama over it, just explain politely that she should not do it again.
She may well not realise how dangerous this could have been and there are ways of getting your point across without upsetting the family dynamics. She will be their grandmother and your mil for a long time. She is also your husband's mother.
She may, by now, have been mortified over what she did and realised, herself, she was wrong. If she's a loving grandmother, she will heed your words in future.

She shouldn't have left them but back in the day before peadofiles existed this would probably have been an acceptable thing to do so maybe she's just old fashioned!

Let's face it, so many harmful things viukd have happened from her kidnapping them, to decoding she needed to go home without them. Smh

This is my father

The one time I left my 3 children with him for about 20 minutes,he let them go off on their own in a very busy city centre,on a busy Saturday (that's known for having a massive river running through it)

I hit the roof when I got back-anything could have happened (they where 6 years,5 and 3 at the time)

His only rules where to 'stick together kids and be back at 1pm'

He turned on me,saying I was 'over protective' and 'I did it at their age-i didn't think twice at their ages' (he was born in 1950)

I never left them alone with family again (I'm now nc) as he went running back to them and I was the unreasonable one! (My neglectful narc mother and 3 childless brothers,who had no idea about child safety and couldnt see the problem)

The only person to have a go at him was a random neighbour and he still couldn't see the problem!

Never again,they are now adults and remember it well-they agree he was reckless

The 6% that chose you're being unreasonable, ARE YOU LOTS OK WITH YOUR EMPTY SKULLS?

Again, it's not generational. And it's not you, its her.

She just cannot be trusted to parent your children unsupervised ever again.

It was hardly an emergency. I doubt the kids needed water that desperately. Very irresponsible.

My PIL 's left my kids at 10 and 8 years in the cinema alone and went shopping This was around 2010 so a while ago and somewhat different times and here in Germany .I still think about it .

I'm not sure why you even posted this.
You are clearly unhappy with the situation so do something about it. You do not need other people to support you on this.
The fact you are unhappy about it is enough. Tell him it's not on and he has to stop this "friendship".
If you were to struck up a similar relationship with a man, I doubt he would be slow to put a stop to it. Trust your feelings.

You seriously think paedophilia is a recent perversion? That is a worry.