Some favors start out sounding completely harmless until you realize how much trust and responsibility they quietly carry. My husband and I have a lake house that we enjoy sharing with friends and family, so when a friend of my husband asked if her children could go there to fish, we had no reason to think it would become a problem. We assumed, quite reasonably, that she would come along with them and supervise them herself. Instead, she dropped the children off and left, including one of her son’s friends, a child we had never even met. The kids then forgot their own fishing equipment, used my husband’s rods and gear without permission, and apparently decided to take our kayak out onto the lake.
What happened next was far more serious than a few broken rules. They went into the middle of the lake, flipped the kayak, nearly drowned, and lost my husband’s fishing equipment in the process. Thankfully, our neighbors were nearby and rescued them before something truly tragic happened. By the time I learned what had happened, I was furious, not only because our property had been damaged, but because children had been placed in a dangerous situation without our knowledge or permission.
What Was Supposed To Be A Simple Fishing Trip Quickly Turned Into A Nightmare Nobody Saw Coming
Once They Were Alone, The Kids Started Using Our Property And Equipment Without Permission
The Only Reason Those Children Made It Safely Back To Shore Was That Our Neighbors Happened To Be There To Rescue Them
Now She’s Acting Like My Reaction Is Completely Irrational Even Though Her Children Nearly Drowned And My Husband Lost His Fishing Gear
Now it’s Reddit’s turn to weigh in on this mess.
Looking back, the lost fishing equipment is honestly the least important part of this entire situation. Things can be replaced, and I don’t blame the children for making a series of bad decisions when they were left without an adult to supervise them. What terrifies me is how easily this could have ended with a child drowning. A lake, a kayak, unfamiliar equipment, and several children without an adult present is a dangerous combination, regardless of how responsible someone believes their own child is. Instead of acknowledging that she left her children somewhere expecting supervision that was never actually agreed upon, their mother has apparently decided to blame her son’s friend because she “knows her son.” That response is what pushed me over the edge.
I don’t want to punish children for being children, but I also don’t feel comfortable allowing people who disregard our boundaries to continue using our property. I asked for reimbursement for the equipment that was lost and banned the family from the lake house, including the adults, children, and pets. Maybe that sounds extreme to some people, but to me this isn’t about being possessive over fishing rods or a kayak. It’s about trust, responsibility, property, and the fact that someone’s children nearly drowned on our property while we weren’t even aware they had been left there. If anything, I feel incredibly lucky that this story ended with an angry phone call instead of a tragedy.
