Toddler left alone - is this acceptable?

At 14 months mine would have managed to climb out!

Are you the grandmother?

Please don’t say you are a social worker and are canvassing opinion on MN before completing a safeguarding report.

Not ideal but not a hanging offence.

I had 3 children under 4. They are teenagers now so my memory is a bit hazy but i know i definitely did not haul all 3 of them around from room to room everytime i had tp go get the baby from the cot or change a nappy or cook the tea or had a shower.

they have all managed to make it to teenage with out any major incidents so I can’t have been that neglectful!

When mine were little (many years ago now) they were in the bath. Maybe 14 months and 4 years old. Pretty chilled kids who were happily playing with bath toys.

First time I ever left the bathroom with them in the bath unsupervised (popped into bedroom next door to get towels) I heard horrendous screaming, like the worst most hysterical screaming. Dropped the towels and raced back in.

Little one had produced a stealthy floating poo. Big one went absolutely nuclear trying to climb out of the bath screaming, little one didn’t know what the issue was but saw his brother screaming and terrified so joined in. I was out of the room for about 40 seconds.

Littleist didn’t have a bath for 3 years after that. Used to have to wash him in a big garden tub in the sitting room 🤦‍♀️

Bit off topic, (and no, never ever leave your child unsupervised in the tub- I mean this genuinely, the poo floater was the least awful thing that could have happened), but goes to show what can happen when you turn your back for a minute!

So people cannot put the bins out , go to the toilet or go in the garden to put the washing out ? Seems a bit dramatic . Unless that house is seriously dangerous like stairs with no gates etc I don’t think a few minutes is anything unusual . People with multiple kids like myself have to do this all the time when we attend to another child

It really depends on the DC. Mine was walking properly by 11mths but wasn't the sort to stick beads up his nose, open cupboards, stick his fingers into sockets or drink washing up liquid etc. If they were safely preoccupied I wouldn't think anything of having a quick shower, putting the bins out etc.

Nope, I wouldn’t do it. Baby could have climbed on something and fallen off, pulled something over on themselves, tripped and fell- the list goes on.
id have taken them with me or put in a play pen

In my house they'd immediately pull an Ikea bookcase over on to themselves and die. So no.

Well if there was a fire how could the child get out, sure hardly likely but we never had a child in a room they couldn't get out of

I did. The house was relatively child proofed. Thankfully it was big enough to bung them in the cot and be unable to hear them. They quickly learnt to go to sleep.

We had a stair gate across the bottom of the stairs and across the kitchen.

💯

YABU for asking a question that can’t be answered with the level of detail given (or not given). And for not attaching heavy furniture to the walls if there is any that can be pulled down. That can happen with you in the room.

I have a child the same age and if I turn my back he’s doing something dangerous- especially loves cables, electricals, climbing (but can’t get down), trying to eat plants, and grabbing anything on any surface. So no, I wouldn’t leave him for any amount of time. Not even for a quick wee

I wouldn’t have done this but she had a knack for finding the most dangerous thing in the room the second you turned your back. It was an astounding skill. If I had to do something like that I put her in a playpen for my own sanity.

I'd say only if it's your house and your child and you can judge that they'll be OK for a minute.

I left mine every morning to go outside to feed the animals. It takes 2 minutes but would have taken longer if she’d come with me, especially when it was raining and needed to get suited and booted.

Nothing happened. She’d usually watch me out the window.

I’ve left babies in rooms and gone into the other room for something. Kitchen, upstairs etc. I don’t just leave the child standing in the middle of room. I sit them down air contain them or distract them with a toy or something.

Leaving them to go out of the house to
the shops etc is a definite no. But come on, we’ve all been to the loo when we’ve had a baby/toddler. Jsut keep the door open or take a baby camera with you or something.

I would have nipped out of the room when mine were this age but most of our house was child proofed. Hypocritically though, I’d be annoyed if I was paying someone to look after my child or if the grandparents were looking after them.

Of course it's relevant!

There's a difference between 'left my toddler unattended to put out a fire', and 'left my toddler unattended to paint my nails'. And thousands of shades of grey in between.

They were taking a shit in next doors driveway weren’t they?? I bloody knew it. Not acceptable.

Heavy things in the room include a truck and a suit of armour. So dangerous.

In a playpen with absolutely nothing at all that could cause danger would be ok if the errand was unavoidable at that particular time and/or unsafe to do with a child in tow.

Left wandering about on his or her own, absolutely not. Too many things could go wrong.

Unless they live at Chatsworth, probably ok

This will be my new scale of difficulty, against which all jobs will be judged.