AIBU to go to the pub 30 metres away with a video monitor.

[HoveDad]

I live in a terrace of houses and ten doors down is a really nice pub that does great food. Would it be horribly irresponsible to leave the kids (8,4 and 2) home alone with a video (+audio) monitor watching the doors to the bedrooms, toilet and hallway? One of us could be home within one minute of seeing / hearing a child but in the mean time we could be sat having a couple of pints and a tasty meal with friends with a laptop/ipad on the table showing what's going on in the house.
I suspect this isn't ok and haven't suggested it to my wife yet but wanted to canvas opinions. You could get the kit to do this for ~ £100 which is what 4 baby sits would cost.

I knew it!

My DH thinks this is a "reasonable" idea.

He says "on balance it's probably a bad idea", but I can tell he really thinks it's great but knows I would never go for it.

Birds yes, of course I understand that some parent will lie about such issues. However you said most parents who leave their children unattended will lie...

Of course my children were left unattended at times. I didn't follow them from room to room, down to the end of the garden, making them all stay in one place. My oldest child broke her foot twice in 7 weeks, same foot, broken in the same flipping way - jumping into the deep end of the pool. I saw one, not the other so I suppose one could say that she was unattended.

I'm removing all of your children FuckThisShit. Immediately.

It's quite scary reading the OP. my Ex (who was/is an absolute arse) suggested similar and totally believed that it was PERFECTLY reasonable) I, in the midst of an abusive, controlling relationship, didn't actually realise that my reaction of 'WTF? ' was actually a reasonable one

is noone bothered by the word rools????

I haven't read the fucking thread, but am imaging the OP has been called selfish/abusive/idiotic/bad parent *delete as applicable.

Fwiw, I don't think it is a terrible idea, for a one off. I don't think I would feel comfortable doing it on a regular basis, which is what you are suggesting.

I wouldn't really be able to kick back and have a good evening, cause I would be worrying that the battery had run out, or something wasn't working. I once had that happen with the babyphone and felt really bad when I realised DD had been screaming for ages.

Bloody hell, there's some prize twattery on this thread.

And I'm not referring to the OP.

Of course it's a rubbish idea, but honestly people get quite beside themselves with this kind of thing.

When, for example, people won't leave an NT 8 yo with a 2yo to go to the bottom of their own gaarden, it's hard to take them seriously.

Fuckthisshit if you read my post properly re the 11 &13 year old I said I do leave them to go to the shops etc but NOT to go to the pub.

I get a babysitter if I want to go to the pub so I don't have to think about the kids safety.

I also explained ( in my 2nd post) my reasons re not leaving them at night due to being burgled when I was home alone with my DS & DB.

I can't believe I am having to defend myself for NOT going to the friggin pub and leaving two kids at home on their own

"A tasty meal" sounds a bit scripted to me. Who actually says that in real life?

Have you told your wife about your idea yet?

This is the kind of thing I can imagine my DP, and quite a few other men (and maybe the odd woman) thinking is a good idea.
"Ohh lets get one of those CCTV baby monitors and them we can go out AND watch the kids sleeping AT THE SAME TIME!! Think of all the money we would save on babysitters, think how much better it would be being able to keep constant eyes on our little darlings..."

Then the DH tells the DW his amazing idea and she says "don't be so stupid" and he goes back to thinking up other amazing ideas.

I really don't get the hysteria? I'm not sure if I'd do it. Probably not at 2. Its not THAT terrible an idea though is it... I think we all need to calm down a bit!!

Before you even get to the safety considerations, you're hardly going to be enjoying your night out and your wife's company with one eye and ear constantly on your monitor, are you?

That's reason enough not to do it before you get to all the what ifs.

LOL @ this thread.

OP, I wouldn't do it. For a few reasons really, one being that you wouldn't be able to relax at all. Another being that loads of people would look at you like this And the most important one, that it's pretty silly and dangerous.

Having said that... the remarks about Madeline McCann and the MASSIVE hysteria have really made me laugh today.

And this...

Genius, Trapper

I do a lot of reciprocal babysitting with other parents on our road, I just don't see how this is so different from an audio only baby monitor in the garden or a large house with brick walls/thick floors (I live in a tiny house with walls and floors like paper).

Because those are unavoidable limitations of not actually being in the room with your kids, whereas going to the pub is not only avoidable but a dereliction of your duties as a parent.

When you have little kids you stay home and look after them or you get a babysitter. I don't think your jokes about what could happen to kids left alone are funny at all.

I had a friend who had a "relaxed" attitude to her Dd's safety from when she was very small. She frequently left her unsupervised including in a tent asleep (as a baby) while she was on the other side of a campsite not in sight. Then strapped in a car seat as a 2 year old while she wandered round an exhibition, her Dd got out of the car seat, out of the car and was found wandering round the carpark crying by someone else. Finally, at 2.5 she left her Dd playing in her garden unsupervised where she had an uncovered pond. Friend was upstairs at the front of her house and couldn't see or hear what was happening. Her Dd fell in the pond and it was only the neighbour hearing the splash and her subsequent struggle that saved her life.

Hideous and probably happened in seconds. No, you can't be in the same room as your Dcs all the time, you can't elminate every risk but you do not go down the pub and leave them in the house alone at night.

I can only assume this Thread is a wind up

well my tuppence worth is that, the OP is sitting having a good read and laugh at this nonsense.

convinced it cant be true, can it?

Pub is 10 doors away and your youngest DC is 2? Bad idea

Pub is next door and your youngest child is 8? Could work.

Some hysterical over-reactions on this thread. Having said that, I do think you're BU even considering this with a 2 yo. As some comedian or other said, having a toddler means being on 24h suicide watch.

I'm wondering what a lot of people on this thread do on a night out wrt babysitters.

Do you phone them every 5 seconds to check they have not fallen and cracked their heads open or choked on a wasp ?

There's absolutely NO WAY on this earth that would be acceptable in any way, shape or form and no you shouldn't do it for all the reasons mentioned above.
I have to admit Madeleine Mccann was the first thought that popped into my head as well.
Not from the abductor side though, as the chances of that happening are slim. It popped into my head because the way I see it, there is absolutely no difference whatsoever in what the Mccanns did and what you're proposing to do.
Genuine question, now - why the outrage on this thread and cries of 'twat' and whatever, but when there was a Mccann thread you were not allowed to utter one single word against what they did, and lots of people were saying they did it, and it was just a tragic thing.
Why the fuck is it deemed OK when you're on holiday in a tapas road down the street from when you're staying in a foreign country miles from home, but not when it's the pub next door?!
If the OP did as he professed he was going to, and went to the pub a few doors down, would the response towards him be the same as the tapas lot who went down the street for wine and dinner? I doubt it judging by the responses and vitriol he's got so far.
Which is bizarre as it is the EXACT SAME THING.

Hovedad- being a 'hovemum', im more intrigued by which pub it could be that you're talking about? Terraced houses near nice pub with nice food- could it be the foragers/ the George Payne/ the bell? Please tell??

I don't see how it is any different to living on a big block of land (or a very large house) and being on the opposite side to the dcs.

I wouldn't feel very comfortable though mainly because of the McCann situation.

And I also would be embarrassed to be watching the monitor in the pub! And after reading all these yabu responses I would be worried that people would judge me!

But if those 2 worries of mine don't concern you then I think yanbu.

Read the title out to DH (IT professional) who thinks that he'd be v surprised if you could even receive the video signal that far. He also had raised eyebrows at the sheer suggestion

(Disclaimer - I don't have kids). I might consider doing this with a baby who was too young to get out of bed alone but not with older kids. You would have to be watching the monitor constantly and it would be a huge distraction from your meal to make the whole thing utterly pointless. You could easily miss a small child getting out of bed and wandering alone through the house if you were engrossed in your coq au vin.