To tattle or not

[mamaof4]

My neighbor and friend had a new sitter today. We were outside and she brought the neighbor girls out front. Then she went back in the house for about 45 minutes- the kids were still outside. She did not ask me to keep an eye on them (to be fair- I do not know if she was looking out the window). When I had to go inside I sent the neighbor girls in their house- now they are outside alone again.

When my neighbor gets home should I say something??

[playfelt]

How old are the girls? Have you ever seen the mother let the girls play outside alone while she watches from in the house? If the answer is no then I probably would say something to the mom. She also needs to know because of what the sitter might have been doing inside the house that she didn't want the girls to see. Maybe nothing, maybe even doing housework but maybe something else too. You might want to use that as your reason for bringing it up in case the parent had said it was ok for them to be outside as it is a way of telling her without bringing her judgement into play if she said it was ok. I am assuming the age of the girls makes it borderline for playing alone which is why you are concerned but all families have different ideas on what age is ok.

[mamaof4]

the oldest is 6 the youngest is 4, but we live on a fairly busy street.

[Sandbox Sally]

Wow. I would ABSOLUTELY tell the mother. This is a huge safety issue. If the care provider is willing to do this while you're sitting right there, what is she doing when nobody is watching? She is being paid to care for the children, not to throw them outside unsupervised.

Just my two cents.

[giraffe]

I would casually mention it. If it were my children I would want to know.