Leaving a child to drink

[GrandTheftWalrus]

One of my friends just admitted she leaves her 1 year old sleeping to go to the pub!

I have a 2 year old and I feel guilty at leaving her to go along to to the bin shute

Is this normal or am I right to be horrified?

No this is not okay and she is not a good Mum. Please phone social services, this is probably the tip of the iceberg!

Sorry but she is NOT a good mum at all if she thinks this is acceptable.

Anything could happen, a fire, a break in or simply children doing what children do and waking up.

I think you need to be reporting this.

School holidays innit

How old is her other child?

Is this normal or am I right to be horrified?

Well what do you think?

Honestly, some of the threads on MN this week have been utterly ridiculous but this one wins an award...

A mum leaving a baby home alone while she goes to the pub is not normal. It’s neglectful and bad parenting.

I agree it’s something that you should report.

Is this normal or am I right to be horrified?

You need to ask?

Have you checked if you're breaking the law by not reporting it?

seriously??

you need to ask if this is acceptable??

That is horrifying! What if the baby woke up and was able to get out of its crib! Or something got fire? Or someone broke in! So many things could go wrong! The baby could choke on something!

Please call and report, this is so wrong.

I'm pretty laid back, and I often feel like Mumsnet users are really over the top about stuff, but this is honestly terrible. You shouldn't, under any circumstances, leave a 2 yr old alone at home. That's definitely not ok. Especially just to go to the pub?

You say your friend is a good mum. I strongly disagree. If SS knew about this she would be in serious trouble.

Next time you know shes doing it phone the Police & report it.

She is the exact opposite of a good Mum

That’s just awful. Please report her.

'She is a good mum'

Er, no she's not. No good parent leaves their 1-year old alone so they can go drinking. Even if it's 'only' once a month. Never is the only safe option for leaving 1-year olds home alone.

She needs a reality check. People have had their children removed from their care for this so, yes, you need to call SS as it's neglect.

[Awaits the inevitable drip feed where the pub is actually downstairs from her flat and it's a family-owned pub and she brings the baby monitor with her and only has a diet 7Up, never alcohol etc etc etc - still not OK by the way]

Ok, so there'll probably be a deletion on this shortly for a PBP, but in the meantime....

Firstly, there's no minimum age to leave a child home alone, so nothing illegal has happened here. HOWEVER, the consequences stack up thick and fast if something goes wrong, and your friend should be aware of that.

Also, going to the pub doesn't automatically equal paraletic and unable to cope/be responsible. If it DOES, again, the consequences stack up thick and fast.

Where I live, SS are VERY busy, very stretched. Understaffed and underfunded. I doubt they'd take this on. That doesn't mean it isn't worth reporting.

I report regularly, KNOWING they won't take up my referrals. But I also know the drip-feed of my referrals helps build up a picture and when a family DOES come within their radar, they often escalate if they have all my reports of my concerns.

A 1 yr old is VERY young. I deal with primary aged children (mostly). They MIGHT sleep through. But... if they DID wake up. I don't think SS would be happy with this scenario.

Its true I'm afraid

I will phone ss in the morning

Call social services

Firstly, there's no minimum age to leave a child home alone, so nothing illegal has happened here.

While it’s true that there’s no minimum age to leave a child home alone, it is an offence to leave a child alone if it places them at risk.

Given that a 1 yr old is too young to have any reliable understanding of danger and how to keep themself safe, then surely leaving one home alone is automatically placing it at risk?

Is it more than one child being left alone?

I hope to god that this is a wind up.

On the off chance that this is real- does the woman have a drinking problem? Wondering why she would feel compelled to put the life of their BABY in jeopardy to have a drink? Ffs buy a bottle it you fancy a drink and have it at home.
Is she picking men up? Whatever she's doing, she's an utter fucking disgrace and the worst mum. How can anyone think this is ok?

I remember reading about a mother doing this and leaving her 4 children at home. She locked them in to keep them ‘safe’. A fire broke out and they all died

We were worried a neighbour was doing this. We reported and it was taken super seriously. I think they did get some much needed help. It's not ok, it's neglect. God a 1 year old!!!😰