MIL could have killed my son!

[lowie]

let me start by saying that my son is a sweet kid, never talks back, is smart and polite. and that's not me boasting, i'm just very lucky!

well, last night he was with MIL while i went to a work meeting. he was sitting at her kitchen counter drawing with a black pen.

later she notices that there is black ink all over the guest room carpet. so she freaks out on my son, yelling at him for writing on her carpet. then she grabs her stupid little 'how to get out any stain book' and it tells her to pour rubbing alcohol on it! so she pretty much douses the entire room with rubbing alcohol, puts my son to sleep in the bed IN THE ROOM, and leaves to go buy more rubbing alcohol (fil was home).

i get there, and seriously, the fumes in the room were so strong that it made me feel sick after being in the room for seconds.

1. there is no way that my son would ever in a million years draw on her carpet.
2. rubbing alcohol fumes can be lethal, especially to a small child!

and there my idiot in-laws are, wondering why i didn't want him to spend the rest of the night there!!
poor boy is very upset this morning, he's so sad that he made grandma mad, even after he apologized for something he didn't do.

 

[MushyMushy]

Holy cow, I'd be mad too!

But first of all, why was he left unsupervised for so long? I mean, I know you think he didn't do it, but there's a very good chance he did get ink on the floor, although not intentionally. He might have been drawing ON the paper ON the floor and it bled through to the carpet. How can anybody know if he did or didn't if nobody was watching?

 

[Minnesota!]

Have to agree with PP - how do you know that he didn't do it? She should have put him to bed somewhere else, I agree, but I would be ticked if I were her, too. Pen vs. carpet. Not fun

 

[Sherri]

let me start by saying that my son is a sweet kid, never talks back, is smart and polite. and that's not me boasting, i'm just very lucky!

well, last night he was with MIL while i went to a work meeting. he was sitting at her kitchen counter drawing with a black pen.

later she notices that there is black ink all over the guest room carpet. so she freaks out on my son, yelling at him for writing on her carpet. then she grabs her stupid little 'how to get out any stain book' and it tells her to pour rubbing alcohol on it! so she pretty much douses the entire room with rubbing alcohol, puts my son to sleep in the bed IN THE ROOM, and leaves to go buy more rubbing alcohol (fil was home).

i get there, and seriously, the fumes in the room were so strong that it made me feel sick after being in the room for seconds.

1. there is no way that my son would ever in a million years draw on her carpet.
2. rubbing alcohol fumes can be lethal, especially to a small child!

and there my idiot in-laws are, wondering why i didn't want him to spend the rest of the night there!!
poor boy is very upset this morning, he's so sad that he made grandma mad, even after he apologized for something he didn't do.

Thats just wrong. Your poor son probably was so sad.
The fumes would have given me a bad headache.
I hope they realized what they did was wrong in so many different ways.
Atleast your son is home safe and sound.
What did your dh think about all of this?

 

[mickeyfan2]

But first of all, why was he left unsupervised for so long? I mean, I know you think he didn't do it, but there's a very good chance he did get ink on the floor, although not intentionally. He might have been drawing ON the paper ON the floor and it bled through to the carpet. How can anybody know if he did or didn't if nobody was watching?

ITA

This was a dangerous situation. The ILs did very bad putting that much alcohol on the carpet and then did not ventilate the room properly. How do you know you kid is so innocent?

 

[VictoriaT]

How old is he? And WHY didn't she take the pen away when she saw him with it in the first place? Her fault, NOT his! Poor kid!

 

[ChrisnSteph]

First, you can't be sure your son didn't do it. Was he the only child there? Was he the only one playing with a black pen? Never make the mistake of thinking your angel would never "in a million years" do something. As the mother of 3 kids, I can assure you that at some point you will be proven wrong! And I don't think anyone would be thrilled to have black ink smeared all over their carpet. Perhaps she shouldn't have given him the pen in the first place, but you did say he was sitting at the kitchen counter drawing with it, so maybe at the time it was an ok thing to do. For those wondering why this child wasn't supervised for every nano second - at some point people do take their eyes of their kids, and stuff happens.

Second, you shouldn't insult your MIL for using a "stupid" how-to book on how to get out a stain. We all learn things from somewhere.

Third, some cultures and some generations think that rubbing alcohol is ok to use for everything - fevers, colds, cleaning...when I was little, my dad would rub me down with rubbing alcohol every time I had a fever. Bizarre when I look back on it now, but that was how they did things "back then". To him, rubbing alcohol was just a common, multi-purpose product. Maybe your MIL has the same laid back attitude about it's purpose?

 

[Aidensmom]

Just curious if your in-laws have any pets? In my experience, ink on a carpet has always come from an animal that got hold of a pen.

 

[Disfan3]

as a mom of three and a teacher let me say this:

stating: MY child would NEVER _____________________ .

Is not always true.

Secondly...if she wants to clean her house with alcohol that is her choice, but ITA she should not have put him to sleep in that room. I am sorry you are upset but I doubt it could KILL a person by inhaling the fumes of rubbing alcohol.

Does anyone know if it is flammable tho?? That might be a concern. I am not sure if it is or not.

 

[lulugirl]

I agree she should have put your Ds in another room to sleep.
I cringed when I read "never in a million years would my son draw on her carpet..." Come on, he's a kid. I'm not suggesting he would ever do it on purpose but again, he's a kid!
Why refer to her "stupid book" and call them idiots?

 

[Knight]

Secondly...if she wants to clean her house with alcohol that is her choice, but ITA she should not have put him to sleep in that room. I am sorry you are upset but I doubt it could KILL a person by inhaling the fumes of rubbing alcohol.

Does anyone know if it is flammable tho?? That might be a concern. I am not sure if it is or not.

Oh definitely... VERY flammable.

 

[JunieJay]

Is that your son in your siggie picture? If so, he looks a little young to be so sure he'd never in a million years do something like this. Kids are full of surprises. BTW, he's adorable, both of your kids are, assuming that is them in the pic.

Any way you look at it, its your MIL's fault for leaving him alone long enough to write on the carpet, or for not being around long enough to see who did. The alcohol thing I could possibly forgive, she was just trying to get her carpet cleaned and wasn't thinking. I do think this is something I would let go, but probably be hesitant to let him sleep there again. Probably more for the part where she was yelling at him and less for the alcohol fumes, but that is just me. I hate yelling.

 

[jedi_librarian]

Even if your DS did it, your MIL shouldn't have flipped out and yelled at him, making him feel bad. Accidents do happen, and really, it's not the end of the world..

 

[phorsenuf]

and there my idiot in-laws are, wondering why i didn't want him to spend the rest of the night there!!
poor boy is very upset this morning, he's so sad that he made grandma mad, even after he apologized for something he didn't do.

Just curious, did you explain (calmly) as to why you were taking your son home? Seems to me it may have been a good opportunity to explain to MIL that the fumes could have made him sick and perhaps if somethng like that happens again she could try a different cleaning method.

 

[CEDmom]

As the mother of a very sweet little girl I can tell you it's amazing what they'll do that you'd never expect. It's never deliberate but kids are kids.

Right now I have marker stains on DD's brand new carpet because she had something in her crayon bin in her room that I didn't know was there and she thought it was ok to use it in her room.

While I didn't get angry with her because it was an accident I was upset. Did I mention it's brand new carpeting in a brand new house. Had someone other than my child done it I wouldn't have been so pleasant.

As far as the rubbing alcohol I have that Queen of Clean book and what she says does work most of the time. I wouldn't blame your MIL for using that. As for having him sleep in the room it's amazing what my own very intelligent mother doesn't know about child safety.

I do think yelling at him was wrong and I feel badly that he's sad. Perhaps a "no pens except at the table with an adult present" rule might be a good idea.

 

[Beth76]

Whether or not your son made the marks on the carpet is irrelevant. MIL shouldn't have left the kid in the room regardless.

 

[r3ngels]

Did you son draw on the floor with the paper? My kids have done that and the marker has gone through the paper.

I agree with the I never comment... kids or no kids everytime I say I never, it comes back to bite me in the butt.

 

[r3ngels]

double post...

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

Whether or not your son made the marks on the carpet is irrelevant. MIL shouldn't have left the kid in the room regardless.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with your post. If the OPs son that we're talking about is the son in her picture, her signature says he's 6y/o. I think a 6y/o is definatly old enough to stay in a room by themselves.........

 

[sha_lyn]

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with your post. If the OPs son that we're talking about is the son in her picture, her signature says he's 6y/o. I think a 6y/o is definatly old enough to stay in a room by themselves.........

you beat me to it. I doubt seriously that every naysayer here has never left a 6 yr old unattended in a room.