2 year old walking the street by herself feel so sick

[Cantthinkofonenow]

I went to the shop with my 6 year old son and my nearly 3 year old daughter was home with her dad. When I was coming home from the shop round the corner I saw loads of people outside my house so I ran home wondering what had happened. My little girl had tried to follow me to the shop but I had gone another way, and got all the way to the end of the street and even crossed the road before a nice couple picked her up and she told them where she lived. I feel so sick and furious with her dad and like a terrible parent. I can’t believe he didn’t notice she had gone. I can’t stop thinking she might have gone with the wrong person. I feel terrible

if he thought the child had gone with the OP he's not a useless bit of trash. Sounds like a miscommunication.Did you tell him you were leaving her with him?

Sorry to hear that happened i would have gone ballistic. You can't trust her dad again until she's older.

I once came across a toddler wandering on a B road about 50m from a motorway junction! They had wandered off from a football match through a hedge, parents and grandparents hadn’t even noticed they were missing. It happens OP, is a dreadful shock but no harm done. Just take steps to ensure it can’t happen again.

Don't be ridiculous.

Do you not speak to him before you left so he knew he was solely responsible for your add?

clearly it's not you who is the terrible parent so stop with that.

She can open the stair gate

One of my neighbours' tiny DC was wandering outside one day. Too young to be speaking English (multicultural area). I wandered up the street with her, and she skipped into one of the houses.
It happens.
Get a bolt on the door too high for her to reach.

Are you saying that to the posters on this thread who have done similar?

I've taken a wandering toddler back to their house before.

This happened in my town recently. Parent was out doing school run etc. Social services are now involved quite heavily. Be prepared for that of someone reports it.

SS won't get involved with one incident like this so stop scaremongering.

Back in the mists of time me and Mum were walking back from the shops when she realised that we'd left my little sister outside Sainsburys! She was still in her pram. No harm done. This would be about 1962. Imagine the furore now.

My Ex DH did something similar although he was with 21 month old DD in the garden whilst I was inside feeding newborn DS1.

She walked up the drive, out the gate which had been left open, past roadworks with a ten foot hole dug in the road and down a very busy road.

Luckily one of dickhead's colleagues was driving by and scooped her up and brought her home.
The day could have ended very differently and it still makes me feel sick and angry when I think of it now almost 14 years later.

It was one of the nails in the coffin for my first marriage to be honest.

Ignore those calling for SS, I don't know why people are trying to make you feel worse FFS!

Did you not tell him you were leaving her behind? I think this is on you as much as him. If I wasn’t aware I was in charge of a child I wouldn’t be looking for them either

What was her father doing in this case that he didnt see her leave?

Oh OP this sounds terrifying.

I feel your pain our door is one our 4 year old figured out ( can't remove the key). However we got an additional child lock to stop my little escape artists.

However some kids are just scarily good at escaping. My aunt still tells the story of my then 2/ 3 year old cpusins who kept getting out of the house ( 25 years ago). She gave out to the older siblings ( teens through to primary ages) loads about the importance of not opening the doors ect. One day she watched as they went to the door. One twin got down on their hands and knees the other one stood on her back, turned the lock, opened the door and walked out.

But yeah I think your right that you need to get extra measures in place. Also would expect husband to be beating himself up more then he seems to be.

You’ve had a nasty fright but all’s well that ends well and it’ll go down in family history.

Just sort out your door locks and make sure you and DH communicate!

Large glass of wine this evening I think.

Bolt and chain at the very top of the door

When I’m home the chain is on

Look on Amazon for a door alarm. They are just little stick on ones that let out a God awful screech. Put it up high on the door

When mine were little we had a positive handover in situations like these or when we outside as a family "you have the boy/ girl ".

Always acknowledged by the receiving parent.

It's the only safe way in the chaos of parenting young kids.

We had this with out two year old. Kept saying he wanted to go to the park and we said OK we will go.

We were in the kitchen getting bags and snacks ready when we felt a gust of wind you usually get with the front door open. He was maybe 50m down the pavement, thankfully not on the road.

I drove to B&Q immediately, bought and fitted a chain that I set at about the height of an adult.

We got the fright of our life, rectified it and thankfully had no incidents since.

Don't change your front door to one that is hard to open without a key, you need to be able to get out quickly in an emergency.

It does sound like a communication thing, no way would I leave the house with my child in the care of their other parent without alerting DH to that and getting a positive response that he has heard.

Has your DH's expectations changed now your other child is older and maybe needs to be reminded that 2 year old needs constant watching?

One of my colleagues did this with her newborn DS back in the late 80s. She was a bit ditsy at the best of times and had been home for about 30 minutes before she realised she’d left the pram outside Boots.

I also remember going out in the car one day when my DS was a tiny baby. I’d had a c-section so wasn’t able to pick up the car seat and DH completely forgot to pick him up in the sleepless newborn haze. We were halfway down the road before either of us realised DS was still in the hallway at home.