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Original poster

Leaving kids for 5 minute late night walk?

212 replies

OneOliveOtter · 26/06/2026 23:22

Husband and wife went out for a quick walk an hour ago whilst kids were sleeping (3 and 5). Gone for just over five minutes. Unreasonable or not?

OP posts:
PGmicstand · 27/06/2026 12:56

Not acceptable to both go. They could have 'tag teamed' to walk the animal if it was that necessary. Absolutely terrible to leave children alone in the house when they're so young.

Thechaseison71 · 27/06/2026 12:55

Yetone · 27/06/2026 12:53

Then I would wait for someone else to be there or do it at a time when the children were there.

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That's not easy if you had two toddlers that liked to do a runner and was a single parent. Exactly when should the bins be put out in that situation

DangerousAlchemy · 27/06/2026 12:54

Pamelaaaaaar · 27/06/2026 02:00

My friend used to do this with her newborn when her husband worked late. Would leave her sleeping and take the dog round the block. Till her mother in law found out and started turning up at the house of an evening to “help” when she knew she was on her own. It’s not ok. The dog isn’t important enough to be leaving kids alone in the house.

The chances of anything happening during that window of time is so small and yet I still would never risk it. Imagine something awful happening and a parent IS in the house (my Grandma lost an 18 month old son to a brain haemorrhage and she was in the same room when he suddenly died & there was absolutely nothing she could have done 💔💔)- but imagine how even more horrific it would be if a child died suddenly and it turns out both parents were walking the dog and had left babies/children complety alone 😪

Yetone · 27/06/2026 12:53

Thechaseison71 · 27/06/2026 12:51

My mums house you had to walk 200ft down the garden, unlock back gate, take bins ( 3 of them so 3 journeys) out into back alley and drop at top of that. Tgen back into garden lock gate and back into house Takes 5 mins

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Then I would wait for someone else to be there or do it at a time when the children were there.

Thechaseison71 · 27/06/2026 12:51

Yetone · 27/06/2026 12:47

You must have a big garden! No, if you walked around the house you would still hear your children.

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My mums house you had to walk 200ft down the garden, unlock back gate, take bins ( 3 of them so 3 journeys) out into back alley and drop at top of that. Tgen back into garden lock gate and back into house Takes 5 mins

OriginalSkang · 27/06/2026 12:49

Zoonosis · 27/06/2026 12:48

Maybe she thought it would be too outing to say that her neighbours own a dog.

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Its for sure a ferret 😉

luckylavender · 27/06/2026 12:49

OneOliveOtter · 26/06/2026 23:32

It was to walk an animal. That had been walked already twice today. I wondered if I was being overly pearl clutchy in finding it a bit worrying…

Why did both of them need to do it?

GentlePanda · 27/06/2026 12:49

NoArmaniNoPunani · 27/06/2026 00:01

Makes me think of the woman who lost her kids to a house fire after she popped to the shops.

She didn’t pop to the shops! She went Christmas shopping for hours leaving 2 sets of twins alone in the house aged 3 and 4! Not on the same scale but still wrong.

DJKATIE · 27/06/2026 12:49

Absolutely not in fact it's against the law

Zoonosis · 27/06/2026 12:48

Sherararara · 27/06/2026 12:24

Not the point of the thread but “Walk an animal”? You mean a dog? Interested to know what animal if otherwise..

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Maybe she thought it would be too outing to say that her neighbours own a dog.

Thechaseison71 · 27/06/2026 12:48

OneOliveOtter · 26/06/2026 23:41

Yes, I don’t know them very well though. They live down the bottom of the cul de sac. I was out sorting out my roses (battered in this heat!). Only know them to say hello to or nod really.

So how do you know there wasn't anybody else in the house with the kids?

Yetone · 27/06/2026 12:47

Thechaseison71 · 27/06/2026 12:44

Surely 5 mins is the same amount of time you'd be away if you walked down to the end of the garden to get the bins and put them out

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You must have a big garden! No, if you walked around the house you would still hear your children.

Zoonosis · 27/06/2026 12:47

If you only know them to say hello or to nod to how do you know so much about what was going on, ie that they'd already walked their dog twice that day, that there was definitely no additional adult left in the house? Just how much of a curtain twitcher are you?

Honestly it's not ideal but the chances of something disastrous happening in 5 minutes, during which time you are probably still in eye/earshot of your house are very slim.

Thechaseison71 · 27/06/2026 12:46

Onemoret1me · 26/06/2026 23:31

Unacceptable. Even now at age 16, I wouldn’t go out and leave my daughter without telling her. If she woke she’d panic if she hadn’t known I was going out. She’d then ring to see where I was but I wouldn’t want to put her through any unnecessary panic

Why is she so panicky? That would sorry me on a 16 year okd

Thechaseison71 · 27/06/2026 12:44

Slinkyminky22 · 26/06/2026 23:25

Yes, children of that age should never be left in the house alone for any length of time.

Surely 5 mins is the same amount of time you'd be away if you walked down to the end of the garden to get the bins and put them out

GentlePanda · 27/06/2026 12:43

Couldn’t answer the poll because I was unsure whether you were asking if it was unreasonable to leave them or unreasonable for questioning leaving them.
A 3 and 5 year old should not be left alone in a house whether asleep or not. A fire can do a lot of damage in 5 minutes. The open windows are a safeguarding risk for them falling out or someone getting in.

JLou08 · 27/06/2026 12:43

OneOliveOtter · 26/06/2026 23:39

Huge garden so they didn’t need to take it out if it needed a wee etc. The children’s windows are open (it’s still very hot here!) not on latches and I was worried about what would happen if they woke if they fell out. One of the children has sat on the window sill previously with the window wide open.

A child could fall out of a window even with the parents home. No latches when they've been known to sit at the window is a whole issue on its own.

Joliefolie · 27/06/2026 12:42

Maybe they went for a 5 minute walk to have a private chat away from the friend/relative they've got staying over.

MumOf4totstoteens · 27/06/2026 12:39

What’s the point in a 5min walk anyway? But no absolutely can’t leave them for any amount of time. House could burn down in 5mins!

Cannybeme · 27/06/2026 12:34

Is the 5 minute walk 2.5 minutes one way and 2.5 minutes returning? Not worth it surely? The house must have still be visible?

Dogmum6 · 27/06/2026 12:32

Nope never sorry. Tempting as it is , it's a no. They can wake up screaming , fall out of bed , wonder out of the front door, anything.

FreyaW · 27/06/2026 12:29

Round the block maybe

Sherararara · 27/06/2026 12:27

WellThatIsABitMad · 27/06/2026 12:23

Very silly. One of them could have walked the dog. My main concern would be a house fire - knew someone who lost four kids in a fire when parents went to the pub (in the 1960s mind you).

What is it with MN and all these house fires that everyone is worried about? Every time someone says this it just illustrates how poor most people risk perception is. Risk of house fire in this situation is extremely remote. Much more likely is kid wakes up falls out of bed/falls down stairs/leaves the house/falls in the pond/chokes on food/gets mauled by family dog…maybe not the last one as it’s being walked.

superspideysense · 27/06/2026 12:27

Definitely not ok

OriginalSkang · 27/06/2026 12:26

Someone near me walks a ferret and even ties it up outside the co-op!