May have mistook it for water or something...

#62 exactly - he could've mistaken it for water. That's why you keep it out of reach

I guess his parents trusted him not to eat it and left it low enough for him to get it. He's 7, he's not stupid, he did that on purpose.

#2. He walked into just about any garage and grabbed a bottle. This isn't something which is kept under lock and key.

#101, doesn't matter whether the kid knew it or not, but I think the neighbor is definitely uptight because they friggin stood by and watched and even recorded the kid killing the garden. It was within their power to tell the kid to stop, they had time to record, so why not use their vocal cords? Man people are just desperate enough to pull money from anyone in any way

129, that assumes the recording wasn't from a home security system or something.

How do we know it wasn't the neighbors who left it outside?

85: Hahaha, yea you try watching a child 24/7.

#85, although I do agree that parents should watch their child as much as possible, there are certain circumstances, such as going to the bathroom, where it's almost impossible to keep watch on the child.

I agree that you can't watch your kid the entire time and they're often left alone at this age to play in their room for awhile or while you go to the bathroom, etc. But the part that is a bit weird here is the kid had time to go to the garage (or wherever) grab the weed killer, go outside (which is a Huge no no, he could've been hit by a car, injured by something, wandered away, kidnapped etc) and had time to spray and destroy and entire rose bush. So in my opinion the kid was left alone a little too long. And to be honest the fact that scares me the most is that he got outside all by himself and was out there for probably a minimum of 5-10 minutes. I'm not saying that Op is a bad parent or judging them necessarily, but I do hope this was a huge accident that he was left alone and able to go outside. I hope this isn't something that's a regular occurrence.

Most children can handle playing alone outside for a bit by age 7. I could. I suppose it depends on the individual child and the neighborhood though. I'm sure now op knows her child can't be trusted...

Depending on how safe the area is I don't think I would have an issue with a 7 year old playing outside on a field or something and I wouldn't necessarily be there watching them the whole time if they were with friends and it was nearby.

My 6.5 year old brother plays outside by himself, and can get himself in and outside the house. They are more than capable of playing safely by themselves at that age - you just have to check on them not watch them like they are a 1 year old. In saying that, 7 year olds also have the tendencies to try to 'help' but then make things worse because they don't quite understand until things are properly explained. The child could have asked what weed killer was and most people would simply reply 'it's weed killer, you spray it on weeds to kill them'. To a 7 year old who wants to help they may think if they spray it on the roses it will only kill the weeds. The chemicals should be more out of reach but we don't know where they got the stuff from yet, so we can't accuse OP of being an irresponsible parent - yet.

Holy crap are you kidding me? a seven-year-old can't be alone for 10 minutes?!? what the hell. No. If a seven-year-old can't be left alone for 10 minutes how are they expected to handle themselves at school??? Wow. Do you have kids 103??

no the neighbor is sueing her

#4 Did you even read the FML?

are you autistic?

you're about as stupid as your profile picture.

But he caught you on camera!

"It wasn't me" Caught you spraying all the roses I actually read your comments in that tune haha

The fact that the kid is "only 7" is irrelevant. He caused significant damage, whether malicious or not, and the parents should pay for the damages. If the parents would step up and do the right thing, court wouldn't have been necessary. Some of you apparently have no idea how much money it takes to have a rose garden. The plants, the fertilizer, the bug repellents....not to mention the time and effort. Kids will be kids, sure, but if your little angel damages someone else's property you should pay for it. Why should the neighbor be victimized??

1. The fact the child is 7 will play a role in the case (the case not the morality of the action). 2. The parent didn't even have a chance to "step up" seeing as OP wasn't even aware their kid did this until the footage was shown. 3. OP most definitely would have payed for the garden without the court case (unless they have a reputation of being a douche and the neighbor was only taking precautions). 4. Let's be honest we all did one dumbass thing as kids when our parents weren't paying attention. Though the kid does need some disciplining after this.

37, point three is just a huge assumption. you don't know the OP, so you can't definitively say that they would've reimbursed the neighbor for the damage.

74 that's why they said after that unless OP is a huge douche.

Maybe the neighbor went to OP first and OP was like a lot of people here. "He's 7 no big deal." We only have one side.

The kid is 7...not 17...

Who said he was seventeen

This chick I replied to said the kid is an ass hole. So I said the kid is 7 years old, not 17. Had the kid been 17 then he would have been an asshole. How the **** can you call a 7 year old and asshole?

That kid is an asshole. ^ Like that. There is no way that kid didn't know what he was doing.

Agreed. The kid is indeed an asshole.

You act like the kid understood what he was doing. Even if he knew weed killer killed weeds, he might not have assumed it would kill flowers. Kids tend to try and help but make things worse instead, especially at that age. It doesn't make the kid an asshole. It makes the kid ignorant on what effects their actions can cause.

The guy had a garden, maybe they were *his* chemicals and he left them out, not OP.

he was supervised. The neighbour was busy filming him, instead of stopping him.

71, or maybe the neighbor has security cameras set up on his property.

46 That still doesn't explain why the 7 year old was off in the neighbors garden unsupervised long enough to destroy an entire garden.

I walked around in the ghetto at age 7 by myself. I think a suburban area where the greatest threat is a lawsuit is relatively safe to not be a helicopter parent. OP may have thought their kid was just playing in the backyard like too many parents do. If the kid opened the gate between every half hour checkups, then okay, that needs corrected. Otherwise, a gated backyard where you can check on them occasionally is no big deal to leave the kid to play and have fun. Just give them water every half hour to fight dehydration, a snack every two hours they are out to help balance the increase burn in calories, and bring them in before it's dark, and you're doing a good job. The kid getting out is a separate problem from being left unattended.

My guess is he probably wasn't home and had a camera outside his house to monitor what happens. That and I'm not sure I would go near a 7 year old with chemicals in his hands. I may just be thinking way too much into it but I'd fear he would spray me

He probably came home or went outside to find his whole garden dead and then went to check his security cameras to see what happened and then he found op's kid spraying it down.