Mom Says Her Husband Made a ‘Big Mistake’ Leaving Their 10-Month-Old Son Unattended, but Dad Thinks It’s Not a ‘Big Deal’

A mom is looking for outside perspective after a disagreement with her husband about what counts as “safe enough” with their baby.

In a post on the parenting subreddit, the original poster (OP) said her husband took their “very active” 10-month-old son along while walking the dogs. That part didn’t bother her — until she noticed something during the outing that made her uncomfortable.

“Today my husband walked outside with the baby in the stroller and then about halfway down our driveway stopped, locked the stroller wheels and left to go back inside for somewhere between 15 to 30 seconds, while he got something,” she wrote. She added that they live in a quiet, safe suburban neighborhood in Northern California, that the driveway had a slight incline, and that it was still daylight.

Her husband, she explained, didn’t see the brief moment as a major issue, especially since the baby was strapped in and the stroller wheels were locked. But OP felt it was a serious lapse.

“I, on the other hand, think it was a big mistake to leave our son out in his stroller on our driveway for any amount of time,” she wrote. Her concerns included the stroller lock not fully engaging and the stroller potentially rolling toward the street. She also worried their baby could become upset and thrash around if he realized he was alone.

“Maybe I’m paranoid, but no one ever expects anything bad to happen and it only takes seconds to get your child swiped off the sidewalk or concussed from a fall,” she continued, adding that she felt it would have been easy to bring the stroller back inside.

She ended her post asking the Reddit community for advice and perspective.

What commenters said

Many users weighed in with a range of reactions. One person said they might have rolled the stroller closer to the front door — but admitted they’ve also stepped inside briefly while their kids stayed outside.

“I probably would have brought it closer to the front door. But I’m like your husband (as a mom to two now teens) and have totally left kids out for a ‘second or two’ while I ran inside to get something,” they wrote. They added that the level of risk depends heavily on the setting, noting that a quiet neighborhood feels different than a busy street or major city.

Another commenter framed it as a matter of personal comfort with risk rather than a clear right-or-wrong situation.

“This just feels like a risk tolerance thing, not an absolute right or wrong. Some people are going to be ok with it, and some people aren’t, and both are ok,” they wrote. They also suggested that if one parent feels strongly, it’s reasonable to adjust habits to keep both partners comfortable.

A third user emphasized that parenting often involves trade-offs — including decisions made in the name of sanity and maintaining harmony at home.

“I think that as a parent it is a series of choices on how to save your sanity and your marriage,” they wrote. While they personally said they’d likely be fine with “15 – 30 seconds,” they added that if it truly upset OP, it’s worth asking her husband not to do it again — not necessarily because it’s objectively dangerous, but because it causes her stress.