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.

[MortifiedAdams]

Pub fires arent traditional. They are freak accidents that could happen to anyone. Stop thinking you above incident.

[HoveDad]

As for Maddie McCann, how often do you people think that happens? The fact that you can name the victims in your hysterical responses suggests not particularly often.

[Sirzy]

The chances of things happening may be low but the risks from those things are massive.

Why anyone would think it is worth that risk for a meal god knows!

[HoveDad]

MortifiedAdams - my wife and I could die when we go out with a baby sitter, I don't see how using CCTV affects the death rate of an evening in a gastropub that we don't even have to cross a road to get to.

[BerryLellow]

Ah we're all hysterical now. Silly wimmin.

[MortifiedAdams]

Nope; not often. True. Doesnt make it less traumatic and why risk it.

Unless your childrens lives mean so little to you?

[MrsClown1]

OMG - YADBU!

sandyballs - yes I agree the McCann situation is practically unheard of but that would be irrelevant if you were the parent who had your child stolen. I was a child in the 60s and my parents would never have gone out and left us in the house without an adult.

[HoveDad]

BerryLellow - You're not all women, or hysterical - I wouldn't be interested in the opinions here if I thought that. McCann is an incredibly rare incident and the risks of opportunistic abduction are virtually nill.

[flowery]

Good grief what is so urgent about going to the pub that you are considering this, how bizarre.

Pay for a babysitter so you can go out and relax and enjoy your evening, which you wouldn't do in the unlikely event your wife thinks this is a good plan.

Oh, and 90secs at a run in an emergency is a very long way. We have a pub next door. Were I to do what you are proposing, I would be home in 5 seconds in an emergency. And I still wouldn't.

[MrTumblesTreasureMap]

Hovedad if you and your wife don't make it home, a babysitter will call someone and keep the children safe while arrangements are made. Will your monitor be able to do that? How would your 8 year old cope to wake up and find mummy and daddy aren't there if you don't come home?

[LittleBearPad]

Oh but it's a nice pub that does good food...

If you do lots of reciprocal baby-sitting in your street ask a neighbour to return the favour or a sensible teenager and then go.

[BeanoGrigio]

Name sounds a bit similar to op of a recent very popular classics thread... or is that deliberate?

[Consils]

He only asked. He has accepted the consensus. Isn't this is what aibu is for?

[SeventiesBush]

I wouldn't do it, but friends of mine used to leave their baby in the holiday apartment and take the baby monitor with them to the restaurant, a good few minutes' walk away. And other friends of ours who live on the same road as us are always saying we should go for dinner with them and just take the baby monitor with us.

So op is obviously not the first one to have thought of it - others are doing it already - and I don't see why everyone needs to be so aggressive about it.

HoveDad, I wouldn't do it. I don't think it's a good idea, and you won't be able to relax properly. Just get a babysitter.

[EhricLovesTeamQhuay]

If you both died while a babysitter was in charge the children would be safe. A video system cannot keep children safe.

The chance of that happening is low. But the outcome if it did happen could be catastrophic. How is it worth the risk for a meal out?

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

I think a 12 year old is different to an 8 year old though.

[YoniMeKateMumsnet]

Hi all,

We've had to delete a few posts for troll hunting. We have no reason to believe that the OP is anything other than genuine. Here's a link to our talk guidelines just as a reminder of our rools.

[SkinnybitchWannabe]

Does the pub have a beer garden? If it does you could you go earlier as a family.
Mine dc love playing in our local pub and I love the icy cold lager!

[Forgetfulmog]

Well if the OP is genuine then he's a bloody idiot for even considering what he's suggesting.

And no, this isn't a hysterical response, it's just common sense not to leave children on their own whilst you go to a pub.

[FreckledLeopard]

I knew a couple (both Oxbridge-educated, professionals - a doctor and a banker) that used to do this (although the pub was two doors down). They took baby monitor with them. The kids were fine.

Not sure it's something I'd necessarily do, but definitely don't understand the mass hysteria on this thread. Surely if you had a large house and garden, and sat in the garden with a G&T when the kids were in bed, you'd be running a similar risk?

[ziggyf]

Bloody hell guys! He asked, took on everyone's views and realised it was a silly idea - I don't get why he's being attacked?! And I agree, some are being a little hysterical....

[thebestnameshavegone]

I think the difference between going to the pub with a monitor and sitting in the garden with it is that (presumably) if you're in the garden, it will still be fairly light out. if a child wakes and wanders round the house, they will find their parents. and the parents will have heard them and will probably be on their way upstairs.

if the parents are in the pub with the monitor, the child will already be frightened that they can't find mum and dad by the time they have run back down the road.