AIBU to leave my toddler in an enclosed outside space while I ordered at a cafe?

No way. The benefit doesn't outweigh the risk.

It is a risk. Children can run off. People can run off with children. It takes a moment. That is all.
Children forget where they are and run into people carrying trays full of hot drinks and food.
At some point you would not have had him in your sight. Talking to the cafe staff, paying etc.
Having him with you is hard but at least you know he is there.

I think so long as you could see them and they weren't near something like a road or open water it's a risk I'd have taken. You know your own child and you can't always live your life thinking of the worst case scenario.

I wouldn’t have left either of mine. Eldest because he wouldn’t have liked it and probably would have trotted in after me. Youngest because he would have found something dangerous to climb very quickly. But I wouldn’t judge anyone else for doing so as I know that all children are different.

Id say definitely not. They're nobody else's responsibility. Anything could happen.

Depends, where was the cafe, on a busy road or at something like a farm venue geared to children

You know your child. It was fine, wasn't it? I would have done the same with mine.

i wouldn’t have left them but I wouldn’t have raised eyebrows or tutted at you. I would have kept an eye on your child though. As others have said, it only takes a second for something to happen

No I wouldn’t have personally left them, it seems unnecessary to have done so.

No. It only takes seconds for the wrong person to have lifted him out and run away. By the time you notice, they would have a huge head start on you.
I was a criminal defence solicitor in a past life and they would always choose the children who were unsupervised. It’s made me hugely risk averse since becoming a Mum x

I would be worried that left alone they might hurt themselves somehow, but I wouldn't judge you for the taking chance.

Was the lady at the table next to him?
I hate it when people do that kind of thing.

Yes, this exact scenario in a cafe with play area. Around five years ago in a shopping centre in my region ( north west). The child was found wandering a few hours later thankfully.

No, definitely not.

What's happened before? A child has been snatched while their mum is looking at them, and the abductor has had to go past the mum carrying the child? Has it?

I think if you don’t have kids that are flight risks or who are unpredictable it’s a lot easier to make decisions like this too. My two have never run off from where they should be. It just wouldn’t occur to them, I think, they wouldn’t see a point in doing it. They just happily stay where they’ve been told to. They would never just run out of a play area and end up on a road or whatever.

Not being smug, I’ve done nothing, it’s just the way their brains are wired. It’s the same at school/nursery. They are rule-followers like me.

My friend’s 8yo DD is the opposite so if I was her parent, I would make different decisions. I give her less freedom when we have responsibility for her than I do my 4yo.

in the conditions you sea that sounds fine

Does the cafe serve hot food and drinks? I would assume so - and that’s why I wouldn’t have left him. Toddlers don’t always understand that they have to stay seated and anywhere with hot drinks is a high accident risk for me. Imagine he got up to come in or go and get something and got in the way of someone carrying something hot. You wouldn’t have been there to stop an accident happening.

Yes. We have a farm shop/cafe like this with the cafe opening into an enclosed outdoor play area and plenty of people will come and order etc while their kids are in the play bit, including me with both DC at that age. You can see them the whole time.

Mine are in their 30s now and I would definitely have left them if they were in my sight. I fear from reading MN that some will
not have crossed the road alone until they go to Uni.

How could he not leave? Was there literally no way out except through the restaurant?

Only in some kind of emergency. I am not lax about safety and always err on the side of doing the safest possible thing. In theory, I'm sure your son was fine, you could see him the whole time etc but I like to eliminate every variable I possibly can. I am an early years teacher (and have 3 of my own) and my brain is just trained to layer on levels and levels of safety. I wouldn't let a toddler walk ahead of me, even if they normally stop because they are impulsive and you just can't trust any 3 year old to reliably do what you ask.

Personally No, but I wouldn't be tutting and blowing if I saw another mum do it.

No because in my head I would be thinking what if I got held up at the till for some reason.

She had access to the closed space and so would other people. It’s happened before hasn’t it.