Woman Prioritizing Work Over Helping Crying Kid Waiting at Her Door Backed

A post about a dad who allegedly "barged" into the home of his son's friend to find the boy's stuffed animal has gone viral on Reddit, where it has received 14,300 upvotes.

In a post on Reddit's Am I the A****** subforum, user GottaHaveSleepyDumbo said his 4-year-old son started "freaking out" after a sleepover at the home of the child's friend "because he couldn't find sleepy Dumbo (his stuffed animal) and he cannot sleep without sleepy Dumbo."

Children can get extremely attached to certain objects and can prefer them over even "perfect duplicates," according to a January 2008 study in the peer-reviewed journal Cognition.

The study found that "young children were less likely to accept an identical replacement for an attachment object than for a favorite toy" and said that "young children develop attachments to individuals that are independent of any perceptible properties that the individuals possess."

When the dad in the Reddit post went to the home of his son's friend to look for the missing toy, there was no answer when he first knocked on the door. The wife of the couple who had earlier babysat his son opened the door at the second knock and reluctantly let the father in. She initially asked the poster to come back later because she was working and needed "to focus."

The dad and his son managed to retrieve the stuffed animal, but the wife was "glaring at me" as they left, the poster said.

Later, the woman texted the poster and his wife a message saying: "I really don't appreciate the way [the poster] barged into my house earlier today while I was working."

According to the poster, when there was no answer at the door initially, his son began "freaking out more because he is afraid something happened to sleepy Dumbo." He tried to reassure his son, but the child started crying.

The text message from the friend's mom said: "I know you both have a lot going on right now but the world doesn't revolve around you."

She said the couple "agreed to do you a favor but that doesn't mean you get to just walk all over us. In the future if you call and we don't answer, that means it isn't a good time to come over."

The poster said: "I am really grateful to them for agreeing to babysit for us, and I accept that I am to blame for forgetting sleepy Dumbo the first time. I don't know if asking to come in and get him is quite as big a deal as she's making it out though."

Life coach L.E. Wilson told Newsweek: "It's no surprise that parents want to protect their children from disappointment at all times. However, it's not realistically possible to do this because part of living is dealing with unfortunate events that are painful and upsetting."

Wilson said that "the opportunity to teach the child to find other self-soothing techniques was lost by trying to get back the Sleepy Dumbo at all costs."

Wilson also said that while it "would be nicer and ideal if the family that hosted the child was more flexible and easygoing," it's important to respect other people's boundaries.

"For whatever reason, that family made it clear that coming into the home to search for the toy was a burden to them. Their wishes should have been respected. A sincere apology and note of thanks for their help may go a long way to repairing the relationship," Wilson said.

Several users on Reddit sided with the woman and criticized the original poster for being "really rude" and "persisting" after she said she was "unavailable."

In a comment that got 27,400 upvotes, user descentbecomesafall wrote: "If someone doesn't answer calls, you show up anyway and they politely explain it's not a good time. It's really rude to insist. YTA [you're the a******]."

In a comment that got 900 upvotes, user Oat336 said: "He knocked and she didn't answer, then he kept knocking. She is sending lots of messages that she's unavailable and he keeps persisting. Also, he is also dropping in on her work, because she works from home."

Alternative-Ask2335 said: "People's houses are their safe place. You call before just showing up, otherwise it is just rude. And after you tried once and there is no answer, that's your sign that 1) they're not in, 2) they can't answer the door or 3) they don't want to answer the door."

User lark_song wrote: "Sleepy Dumbo is not more important than this person's job," while Agitated_Cheek4890 said: "Plus kids need to learn that they can't always get their own way. Yes, kid was very upset but parenting requires dealing with that sometimes."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment.

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