A mother of two could only watch as her 1-year-old son escaped out the front of their family home, with their pit bull following close behind.
Morgan Silva, who is a dental hygienist based out in California, was at work when she received a Ring notification on her mobile. “My heart sank,” Silva told Newsweek.
“My husband and I are so good about keeping an eye on our kids. We always watch them around the dogs as well, because we understand that dogs are dogs and can sometimes be unpredictable.”
There is rarely a moment’s peace if you are a parent. In fact, a survey of 2,000 parents, commissioned by Lice Clinics of America, found moms and dads spent an average of 37 hours a week worrying about their kids.
Silva had more reason than most to be worried though at that exact moment. Earlier that day, she had gone to work, leaving her two boys, aged 8 months and nearly 2 years old at the time, at home with their dad. That is how this all started.
“We had a company come to our home to install solar on our roof, and they needed my husband to go out front to unlock our side gates, so they could have access to our backyard,” Silva said.
“My husband shut the front door behind him to run outside quickly, but, as soon as he did, my toddler followed quickly behind opening the front door on his own, following his dad out front.”
Her young son wasn’t alone in springing an escape. One of Silva’s dogs was just behind him. “We have 2 pit bulls; the one in the video is only 5 years old, and our other is 10,” she said. “
Though some might have been wary about having a pit bull in such close proximity to their kids, Silva wasn’t concerned. “Both of our dogs are obsessed with our kids and think of them as their own babies and follow them everywhere throughout our house,” she said.
“We have never had aggressive dogs or had them act aggressively toward people, but I also have never put them in a situation to feel the pressure to protect our kids,” Silva said. “Even when people come to our door or come over to our house, we put our dogs outside, so people feel comfortable to come in.”
Silva shared footage from the family’s Ring doorbell camera to her TikTok @morgan.tay.silva. It has already been watched over 1.5 million times. As heart-stopping as it might have been to see her young son escape, the good news is that this particular incident had a happy ending.
“The solar company installers were standing right out front and luckily noticed my son open the door and stood there watching him as my husband continued to unlock and open the side gates to our backyard,” Silva said.
“The kind men stood there to make sure our son didn’t run far from the house or into the street. But then they noticed quickly our pit bull also came out front and was immediately more cautious because they didn’t know if our dog was kind or how he would react to strangers.”
As scary as it was to watch her son dashing off, Silva said she is full of appreciation for the intervention that stopped it turning into something more serious.
“We are thankful the workers reacted the way they did, helping us recognize that our son was at front and keeping a close eye on him and also so happy our dog behaved and did not charge them and make them feel unsafe,” Silva said.
“My husband ended up running back over as soon as he saw our son and dog out front and shuffled everyone back inside.”
Silva said she decided to share the footage online in the hopes it would encourage other parents to be vigilant but also not beat themselves up too much should they go through similar.
“It really is common, but scary too, so I hope parents can relate and feel a little relief but also learn from it,” she said.
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