AITA: Bathtub Accident Caused By Distraction

We've all been there; distraction has occurred, and accidents have happened.

It's life, we're all human, and most of us are reasonable enough to agree with this and learn from our mistakes! However, what do we do if the other parent to our children repeatedly becomes distracted around our children, resulting in scary accidents?

One dad took to the Reddit AITA (Am I The Asshole) board to ask if he's in the wrong for being furious at his wife, who didn't realise their young child had climbed into the bath tub (in the same room where she was using the toilet) until he started to choke on water as dad admits he had forgot to pull the plug out. He went on to explain that accidents caused by her distraction have happened in the past, too.

Read the full post below...

"Ok, so tonight was a typical night where I took my child upstairs for his bath. During this time my wife came upstairs, sat on the toilet and began working on her laptop. Bath time ended, and she remained sitting on the toilet. I changed my son, new diaper, and realized I didn’t have his binkie which was downstairs.

No problem, my child walks into the bathroom with the tub (I forgot to drain it) with my wife still in there. Our kid closes the door with them both in there. I head downstairs assuming my wife would pay attention, and she calls out for me as I go down. I grab the binkie and come upstairs, I head towards the bathroom to get our child and she starts yelling for me, I burst open the door seeing my wife still sitting on the toilet and my child facedown choking on water. I grab him, he seems OK.

This leads to us having a major blow out about how she should have been paying full attention to our child in the bathroom (or any room for that matter similar issues have happened as she plunged into the world of her work/laptop) and me being in the wrong for letting him wander in there and hang out with my wife (and accidentally forgetting to drain the tub) AITA here?"

Find the main post here on Reddit.

What was the general consensus?

The poster was voted NTA (Not The Asshole) by most readers, who defended his right to be angry and that his wife should have jumped up straight away, prioritising her child over her laptop. However, some comments did concede that dad is partially culpable for not pulling out the plug - others pointed out that this was an easy mistake to make as dad was doing everything for the kids whilst his wife was on her laptop.

The top voted comment was;

"NTA. Parenting, when both parents are involved, is an equal partnership and if she couldn't even get off her laptop to pick him up out of the water she has serious issues.

You aren't horrible for forgetting to drain the tub, it happens and it was an accident though it's definitely a big thing to make sure you remember from now on!

She was sitting there. There's no way she didn't know he was there and she just let him lay there in the water calling for you? What kind of parent does that?"

Our verdict...

Accidents happen, and as working parents we understand the struggle. However, we think that both parents need to learn some important lessons here; no becoming engrossed in electronics in rooms where there are hazards for children, and always check that the other parent knows you're not within reach if they're in the middle of a task rather than assuming that they know and are ready to take over responsibility for the safety of a child. It is worrying that mummy has become distracted by electronics leading to her children having accidents before, and think that it could be useful for her to have some help to address her work/life balance and working from home situation as it doesn't seem to be achieving a healthy or safe environment.

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