People leaving children at the station semi-unattended at a volunteer station

[u/statuscaffeinepticus]

Hello all,

I am a volunteer firefighter/AEMT for a volunteer fire department. We have a station that is fully equipped for living out of (used to have a live-in program for college students) that a handful of people use. We have a TV room, bunk room, and a gym.

Several times now, I have arrived at the station and found children semi-unattended in the TV room. If it’s only for a short time it’s no big deal, but it does get kind of frustrating when the on-duty crew has to tiptoe around the kids. At previous departments, sometimes members would bring their kids for a tour or something. However, they were not left unattended in the living areas of the crews.

Once all the station duties are done, hit the gym, run calls and do paperwork, training, cook dinner, it’s nice to kick back and relax. It feels disrespectful to be leaving your children in the way of the crew(s). This is a fire department not a daycare?

This is mostly a vent and to see if anyone else has dealt with this.

[u/DBDIY4U]

At my paid department this never happens. At the department I volunteer with it has been a reoccurring thing. One of the captains would sometimes bring his son down to the station with him and keep them there all day leaving them if he went on a call. It was a little annoying. I think it depends a lot on how long and the age. You talked about them leaving the kids at the station while they did personal errands and that is just flat out inappropriate in my opinion. The closest I have come to doing this is having my 13 year old son with me when we got a call and leaving him in the station while I was on a call. I don't expect anyone to change their behavior for him and he damn well better not be getting into anyone's stuff so I don't care if they've got their nicotine in their bags like you mentioned. If it is a kid young enough that you have to worry about stuff like that then they should not be left unattended. It is not a daycare service.

[u/statuscaffeinepticus → u/DBDIY4U]

Exactly!! If they were 16 it wouldn’t be a problem but they’re 10-13. Also them having access to the truck bays is a little alarming as well.

[u/DBDIY4U → u/statuscaffeinepticus]

For a volunteer department even 10 to 13 is getting to an age range where I don't necessarily have a problem with the kids being left at the station while a parent is on a call. It depends on the kid. My kids know better than to touch anything. They are not going to be running their mouths. Usually I will point them at the brooms and tell them to sweep out the bay or something like that. 10 is maybe a little bit on the young side but by the time the kid is 12 or 13 they better be able to be down there for the length of a call. As far as leaving them there while a parent runs personal errands, I don't care what age they are that is plain inappropriate. The only way I find that in any way excusable is if there's some sort of cadet program and they are in it and have a reason to be hanging around the station anyway. I go back to my original comment, this is not your daycare. Is one thing if you are doing a service to the department at that time and the alternative is you are not there but that totally different thing if it is for your convenience. You in this case meaning the parent

[u/statuscaffeinepticus → u/DBDIY4U]

Yeah I guess that’s reasonable. But as soon as they get back from the call, they either need to take the kids home or remove them from the crew living areas if they’re going to keep them at the station while they do paperwork or whatever. They can take their kids into the office with them. Having children in our living areas at the station is uncomfortable and awkward, I do not want to watch hours of kids TV. Also, conversations with the rest of the crew then have to be policed. Can’t talk about patients calls, be sure not to swear, etc. It’s just frustrating when it’s hours of dealing with them