Becoming a parent is like instantly gaining 37 levels in a role-playing game—some acquire superhuman reflexes for whenever your kid decides it’s time to tumble down the sofa, while others get that perk where you don’t need a ‘long rest’ for days because you divide up your sleep into naps to coincide with the kid’s sleep schedule.
However, even heroes can err, and sometimes—just sometimes—there is a moment when we turn away for one gosh darn second and our kid is already gone like Copperfield vanishes from his glass boxes.
A netizen by the nickname of u/blamingpig456 asked parents of Reddit to share their I looked away for ONE second stories, which prompted nearly 10,000 comments and brought in over 42,500 upvotes and 180 plus Reddit awards.
We’ve collected the best stories from the viral post to create a curated list that you can find below. Scroll down to learn what the little critters ended up doing during that moment of complete freedom from their parents, and why not vote and comment on the stories you enjoyed the most!
More Info: Reddit
#21
I had taken my four year daughter into a public toilet in France, which was next to a main road. As we left, I let go of her hand for a split second as I looked away to close the door behind us. When I looked back she was running into the main road as she'd seen her Mum on the other side. From where I stood, my view of the road was obstructed so I couldn't see if any cars were coming, and she had gone too far for me to catch her. By a complete miracle, she got safely over the road. It sends shivers down my spine remembering the helpless terror I felt when I saw her in the middle of the road.
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118points
#22
When my daughter was little, probably about 3, she went with me to shop for some tools. I turned away to look at something and heard behind me "Daddy, what's this?" "Uh, honey, that's an axe. Please give it to me." She did, and all was well, but I'm glad my wife wasn't there--she would have panicked.
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93points
#23
My toddler at the time grabbed a stick of butter out of the fridge and tossed it into the fish tank. Minutes later all the fish were floating dead in the fish tank. Last time we owned fish
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92points
#24
Went to pee , put my kiddos in there room with the door open and the gate up. I also had the bathroom door open...come out to find a dozen eggs cracked on the kitchen floor and into the butter and my youngest covered in peanut butter naked. My now ex husband was sleeping...I walked into our room woke him up and tagged out..my brain was fried at that point. To this day I have no clue how they escaped, they are 16&18 now.
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92points
#25
Woke up once and my two sons had climbed out of a window onto a flat roof. They were 1 and 3. I still don't know how they even got the window open.
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92points
#26
My daughter was 18 months old. Standing in between my husband and me in the kitchen, arm distance from both of us. She slipped, fell and broke two front teeth.
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86points
#27
Growing up we had a shed with our laundry room attached to our porch. My mom had me sitting on the floor of the porch playing with some toys (I was about 2), while she was doing laundry. I was just out of her eyeline for the time it takes to start a load of laundry, but by the time she turned around I had somehow managed to find a snake and had picked it up and was playing with it.
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84points
#28
Telling it on my dad's behalf. On a fishing trip and I fell in a rapid while playing on the rocks. Never a strong swimmer, just kinda started my travel to the sea. He barely caught me by the arm.
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80points
#29
He was playing outside in the sand box just 10 feet from me. I had the window and door open and could hear him playing. Suddenly I was aware that he wasn't making any noise. I couldn't find him. I searched the yard, I asked strangers on the street and made a larger and larger circle and met my neighbors. 10 long minutes and he was nowhere. He had curled up in his stroller and was asleep.
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76points
#30
I was sitting in a high chair, climbed out of it, onto the counter, and stole my mother’s coffee.
All she did was to put her shoes at the door, 3 feet away
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75points
