Claire and her husband were at a hotel and decided to head down to the hotel lobby bar for a drink. They left their baby in the room, but took the baby monitor and kept track of him the whole time. But now they’re being shamed for being bad parents. But what’s the big deal if they were right downstairs with the monitor the whole time? Is bringing your baby monitor down to the hotel lobby bar any different than having a drink at home while the baby is upstairs sleeping?
Jonathan: And today for the panic button, we have Claire. Hey, Claire.
Claire: Hi. How’s it going?
Jonathan: So, Claire, you have a bit of a problem. Because you are just a terrible drunken woman who leaves your children in strange hotel rooms. Well, you and your husband just to get soused. What happened Claire?
Claire: I mean, let me let me tell you what happened. Me and my husband and my one year old, we went on vacation. We had a great time. We went to Disney World. Just a really awesome time. We stayed at this hotel that was there. And one of the nights I was like, we need a little drink. Let’s just go downstairs just to breathe for a little bit.
Ayla: OK
Claire: We had the baby monitor. We left the baby in his crib. And he was good to go. I took a baby monitor with me just in case. Watching it the entire time. We were maybe six floors down.
Ayla: Wow.
Claire: And we were there for 45 minutes. Nothing crazy. He was sleeping the entire time.
Jonathan: He was fine. He was okay.
Ayla: He probably was. But dang, you’re telling me that you and your husband were just like, we’ve been with the kid all day. Let’s have some mommy daddy time. Let’s go down to the hotel lobby bar, grab a couple drinks. The baby will be fine.
Jonathan: I think we know what side Ayla is on this.
Ayla: I would never do that. I would never do that.
Jonathan: Okay. So have you ever?
Ayla: Have I wanted to? Yeah.
Jonathan: So you left the baby down there. How long were you guys at the bar?
Claire: We were there for 45 minutes.
Jonathan: 45 minutes. You had the baby monitor around the whole time. He wasn’t like laying on a hotel bed. You had a crib for him?
Claire: Absolutely.
Jonathan: Okay. So what’s the problem then?
Claire: Well, we came back home and we told my in-laws about it, and they freaked out. They were just like somebody could have came and kidnaped the baby, housekeeping could have came in and took the baby.
Jonathan: Who has housekeeping come by at night?
Ayla: No, that I don’t buy. Actually, this one time I was sleeping in a hotel, and someone had used the room key. There must have been a double booking or something because someone actually walked in.
Claire: Wow
Ayla: And luckily, I had that emergency lock from the inside. Scariest moment of my life. But that’s only happened once in all the travels that I’ve ever done throughout my life. So it’s very uncommon. But still, it could happen. Yeah, it could happen.
Jonathan: It could happen in her own house. What difference does it make?
Ayla: I don’t know. There’s something about that not being socially acceptable that when you’re traveling with your baby, you don’t just go down to a hotel bar. It seems very nearly neglectful.
Jonathan: Why is it neglect?
Ayla: Just bring the drinks upstairs. If the baby’s sleeping.
Jonathan: You can’t get drinks out of a hotel bar.
Ayla: Yes. You can take drinks back to your room.
Jonathan: You can. Fine. But they want to, God forbid, act like two adults out.
Ayla: Act like adults and act like good parents and not do that.
Claire: I mean, we had the heart monitor with us.
Ayla: Yeah, I know you keep saying that. I totally understand that you had a monitor, but there’s something still not right.
Jonathan: What’s the difference between this and getting drunk in a different part of your house, or having a few drinks in a different part of your house.
Ayla: You’re taking an elevator, right?
Jonathan: So somebody couldn’t break into your house.
Claire: Like anything can happen.
Jonathan: Yeah, anything can happen anywhere.
Ayla: But it just doesn’t sit right with me. It just doesn’t sit right with me.
Jonathan: Right. Well, we’ll see where it sits with the audience.
