Single mom of 5 faces jail time for leaving her teen to babysit

If you’re a parent then the chances are high that you’ll be no stranger to stress, nor to cutting corners in a bid to make ends meet.

A lot of stress is around childcare. As a parent you must always make sure there is someone available for babysitting or entertaining the kids when you are not there.

No mother or father is perfect. We all make mistakes along the way – put simply, that’s part of the process that is parenthood.

And yet one single mother of five from Georgia is apparently facing jail time for doing something that I’m fairly certain others are guilty of. Unsurprisingly, her case is diving opinion online, with many of the opinion that she’s being treated harshly.

According to reports, Melissa Henderson is a busy mom who tries to make ends meet by working to provide for her children.

Of course, playing the role of family provider while also being the sole carer for five kids is no easy feat. Usually, her youngest son, Thaddeus, attends day care, but when said day care was closed down due to a COVID-19 outbreak, Melissa was forced to look for someone who could mind him.

Unfortunately, after exhausting her options, the hardworking mom was left with no choice but to ask her oldest daughter, 14, if she could babysit Thaddeus while she went to work. The teen agreed to do the babysitting.

At some point during the day, Thaddeus is said to have slipped outside while his older sister was doing schoolwork. He played for around 15 minutes before the 14-year-old realized that he had gone and went outside to bring him in.

No harm was done, but a neighbor had spotted the boy playing alone and, concerned for his well being, called 911.

Two weeks later, the police showed up at Melissa’s home and placed her under arrest for criminal reckless conduct.

Speaking to Inside Edition, Melissa confessed: “It was the most embarrassing and humiliating day, honestly, of my life.”

Credit – Melissa Henderson/Facebook
As per Little Things, the police report focused on what might have happened to Thaddeus while he was outside alone, including being “kidnapped, run over or bitten by a venomous snake.”

If convicted of the crime she’s charged with, mom Melissa could face one year in jail and $1,000 in fines.

I don’t know about you, but I think this is a bit of an overreaction on the part of the authorities.

Sure, it’s not good to have a 4-year-old potentially placed in harm’s way by being outside alone, but I don’t see how Melissa did anything majorly wrong in trusting her teenage daughter to look after Thaddeus.