AIBU to think 3yrs old is too young to get up themselves, down stairs, turn on telly while parent still in bed

[scuzy]

and have no idea how long they are up when parent gets up? child is quite mature and always safe (so far) but it doesnt sit right with me? or should i feck off and mind my own business.

But any of those things could happen unless you have your child in your sight all of the time. It does not matter if they are downstairs and you are upstairs - surely the issue is whether you think it is OK for a 3 year old to be out of its parents' sight and if so, for how long.

I thought I was an anxious parent, but my ds has done this since he was 2
He does have older siblings with him thoughit

they have their own tv and its just cartoons can put it on herself and she seems to stay there. but was a bit when she would say she had no idea how long she is up. this is everyday. guess should lighten up and mind my own. glad not the only over worrier though

I wish my 3 yr olds did that! They prefer to come and jump on top of me at 6.30am. Oh, the bliss of a lie-in.

I think a child who is capable of that is probably not going to put wet fingers in a socket. I also think if they fell downstairs, you'd have to be in a very deep sleep not to wake up!

The biggest worry would be playing with fire, IMO. Get smoke alarms fitted.

It's not much different to leaving a not yet alseep 3 yr old upstairs after you've put them to bed, and going downstairs and watching TV.

You can't really know they're not jumping off the top of the wardrobe, or if they've sneaked into the bathroom and are drinking Toilet Duck, but it's reasonable to say you'd probably know if they were doing something other than harmless stuff. A child sat on the sofa watching telly is no more likely to do something stupid than a child sat in bed with a book.

Nope, no chance I would be in bed snoozing with my (only just) 3 year old wandering about downstairs on her own.

She is still too little to properly understand danger or risks. Apart from the colossal mess she would make with all her toys, I could not be absolutely sure that she would not try to climb onto a kitchen surface to pretend she is cooking (as she does with me) leave the freezer door open, or that I had hidden all the knives, bleach away, etc.

At 3, there is no knowing what they might take it into their heads to do and unless your home is entirely childproof (no way mine is), personally, I wouldn't let mine alone downstairs unless I was about.

I wouldn't worry too much scuz The parents in question will be secretly judging you on the things you do or don't do as well!!

Shatners thats so true, never thought of if that way.

pinktrees, that list is ridiculous.

You seem to be implying that a three year old needs constant supervision every moment of the day. They do not.

That list is more appropriate to a 9 month old who has just started crawling.

probably upahill. ah i'm not bashing the parent although it probably reads like i am. just genuinely wondering if it was the norm. i like her and she is a good mum.

It depends on your house and everything else really imo. My youngest would have been fine but he has older siblings

Just this last holiday my 3 would wander down stairs and put on the TV and chill for 1/2 hour whilst I slowly came around. I could hear and I had a gate on the kitchen. Now the gate has been removed I wouldn't leave DS down stairs alone.

Mine would immediately hurtle head over heels down the stairs and break her neck. No way would I be able to have a lie in while she was up and about. I don't personally know any parents who would leave a child of that age unsupervised, to be honest. I would find it a little odd, too.

Other things that could go wrong

1 plane could crash into the house
2 car could drive though the living room wall
3 aliens could abduct child

It's a fucking minefield.

Me and my brother used to do this on a weekend, must have been up fairly early because we used to switch the TV on and the test card would be on and we would sit there and wait for programmes to start!

1. Child could fall down the stairs This could happen any time day or night
2. Child could wet fingers and go touching electrics to turn on TV I think this is unlikely
3. Child could run bath & drown Surely you would hear them running the bath, and the bath would be upstairs anyway
4. Child could ingest small toy eg hama beads, marbles, even small batteries This could happen any time again, you could keep toys out of TV room to mitigate this risk
5. Child may actually be able to get out onto street! Lock the front door and keep key out of reach
6. Child may open door to stranger See point 5
7. Child could climb to reach something out of their reach and have accident This could happen any time
8. Child could consume overdose of calpol/similar Childproof bottles?
9. Less seriously, they could make a mess of food or poo or anything really. etc They could, but if they did you would clean it up and they wouldn't be allowed downstairs by themselves again.

I think as long as the parent is semi awake ie not comatose/drunk that this is fine, really. Your home should be kept safe enough, and rules in place that children of 3 can be left in a different room without accidentally killing themselves.

ABatInBunkFive :)

Thinking back we didn't let DS1 go down on purpose but there were a few times when we didn't hear him get up and were suprised to find him downstairs engrossed in watching Kipper or what ever was on at the time.
I think as a toddler he became a creature of habit, wandering downstairs and switching the button on and making himself comfortable watching tv until we got up!

Nothing like that happened when DS2 arrived. The house soon sounded like a zoo in the morning.

I would say it'd probably be fine. But personally, I do wish I'd just made the rule of DS staying I'm his room until we woke up.
Just a word of warning though, we used to let DS do this and usually he was very well behaved... Until one morning we woke up to the sound of the electric whisk... DS had been making 'potions' while we were sleeping and the ETIRE kitchen was covered in flour, eggs, cous cous, baked beans, cooking oil etc. it was damn funny (we had to hide our sniggers from DS) but took ages to clear it up!

It's quite different to leaving a not yet asleep 3 yr old upstairs after you've put them to bed and going downstairs and watching TV, as in that case you are awake and can hear what they are up to...

In our house anyway, if the patter of little feet are heard or the tell-tale creak of the bedroom door opening then we're up there and telling our 3yo it's bedtime and she needs to stay in bed and go to sleep. And when it all goes quiet when she's in bed, she's asleep - when it all goes quiet when she's downstairs, she's up to something...

I wouldn't do it, but that's me and knowing my 3yo child.

We're generally overprotective parents, but our just-turned-3 year old has been doing this for at least 6 months.

We live in an apartment though, so no stairs - and we can hear him if he walks around, so if he does, I get up to find what he wants.

When he was younger, I'd get up with him and just snooze on the sofa while he watched. But now he goes and puts DVDs on by himself and watches a film. He comes to find us if he gets bored. At some point his 7 yr old brother joins him.

I wouldnt have liked it when ds was three but he's started doing it recently, ( six in two weeks) and thats fine as he sensible and is careful.

When my DC were this age I would put out two bowls with spoons in and the cerealn box next to them. All of these things were too high for them to reach wihout climbing.
They had breakfast in front of the TV whilst we dozed, no problems at all.

Nowt wrong with that. As long as the 3 year old is not making a cooked breakfast

I wouldn't do this when he's 3, no, as it's only 2 months away and he has a gate on his door after finding him wandering at 4am one morning!

I do leave him on his own all the time though, even when I'm in the shower.

pigletmania - As long as the 3 year old isn't making a mess while doing a cooked breakfast.