To leave a 2 year old for 10 mins

[BlueSuedeStiletto]

2 year old asleep in a cot they can't get out of. Needed to pop to the shops. 10 minutes away if that, child asleep the whole time, doors locked etc. Friend is horrified. WIBU?

Aaaaaah smell that hysteria.

OP had you considered spontaneous human combustion within that 10 min window?

Mrs penfold, how dare you call responsibile parents stupid. It’s you that is saying stupid things. If the chances of a car accident are slim for a parent going out then they are slim for that child being with them. Based on your comments we should just all leave our kids at home alone as they are safer, despite the fact that most accident happen in the home. No one can predict the future but as a parent it’s your responsibility to look after your child to the best of your ability, and that means constant supervision when they are a toddler. I’m not sure any judge or child protection officer would care about stats if they found out a two year old had been left alone. It’s no excuse and laziness rather than protecting children because of course it’s easier to pop out without a young child but unfortunately that’s parenthood.

Bicustng, presume another parent that thinks it’s ok to leave clueless toddlers alone? It’s so hilarious how others think that’s so wrong isn’t it??

Are you trolling, SV?
Please show me where I said it was a good idea to leave a toddler at home?

“You’ve totally lost the ability to assess risk if you think doing this very occasionally is neglect or a reason to worry. Melodramatic nonsense”

No not trolling?? Think this comment was yours above- another post you wrote suggested we were stupid because it’s better the child is safe in their cot than in an accident?.

You know what you’ve put. Absolute nonsense.

“i agree, @YemenRY. But this nonsense about the mother being run over and dying is just insane. You are considerably more likely to die of a heart attack during a day at home than die while crossing a couple of roads to the shops and back, so if risks at that level should really be considered we’d require every child to have two carers at all times”

Another post by you mrs penfold. Trying to justify it’s ok to leave a child?. How you forgetter what you’ve written?

That article is extremely interesting and confirms my suspicions. People's opinions are based on a moral outrage that is not backed up by facts and as the total over protection of our children continues well into their teens, we are growing a generation of kids who do not know how to look after themselves, risk assess, buy something at a shop etc. People are not looking sensibly at the risks here and there is genuinely far more risk involved in taking the child with you in a situation like this.

• have you forgotten

My point was:
IF you think the reason not to leave a child at home alone for twenty minutes is because you might get run over and never make it back you are incredibly bad at assessing risk. Read the link I posted - it’s interesting.

I agree with mrspenfold.

Vdb - well, you tell that to child protection when they pay you a visit,. People are unbelievable. Of course you should be over protective of a two year old, they’re two? Very concerning attitudes on here.

Omg, you should Never leave a 2 year old at home alone. I’m going to work to talk to sensible, intelligent people. This is ridiculous.

The aspect you've missed out MrsPenfold is the avoidability of the risk. Some risks are small but with potentially terrible outcomes so it makes sense to avoid them.

Nonplussed, here: you quoted something that in no way suggests I believe we should leave toddlers alone at home and then claimed that was me attempting to justify it’s OK to leave a child. Somewhat poor comprehension skills.

Any decent parent wouldn't need to weigh up the risks of whether they leave a young child alone, it would not even enter their head to do it. I’ve not read your article because there’s no excuses for child neglect.

Better than poor parenting skills mrs penfold. I’ve not read it all properly tbh but you are suggesting it’s ok to leave kids at home. That’s obvious.

Yes Biscuiting. MrsPenfold123. I can smell it !! Along with the increasing amounts of LOUD TYPING from the competitive parent brigade , who are DEMANDING YOU NEVER DO SUCH A WICKED THING... THAT ITS ILLEGAL (it's not btw ) and obviously don't have the nouse to make a sensible assessment on 'reasonable risk'..

. The shouty typing is because, by being horrified at your shockingly neglectful parenting, they prove once more to themselves that they love their child more than you love yours !! (And will no doubt be the sort of parent monitoring their every waking move until at least 21yrs old) !

Excellent Donald Trump tactics, Sb. Well done. Nice trolling.

Hi OP. People have been a bit crazy on here and things have got quite heated. However you’ve admitted that the way you phrased your OP was not ideal as a lot of people thought that you had left, or were about to leave, a real child home alone. Some people like me have gone out of our way to highlight your subsequent clarification that it was a hypothetical question.

You say that you and your friend have had a further interesting discussion on the back of all the responses here and that neither of you has quite changed your opinion.

Don’t you think that, since a huge number of people have taken the time to engage in the debate that you started, it would be polite to tell us a bit more about your thinking/reasoning and why you haven’t been convinced by the arguments?

Otherwise if I’m honest you do just look like you fancied goading Mumsnet into a frenzy for sport and that sort of behaviour is really not in the spirit of the site.

I’ve worked in social care; I’ve seen real neglect; a parent dashing to the shops quickly as a one while toddler is asleep isn’t it. To be clear, that is not the same as thinking it’s generally a good idea to leave two year olds alone at home per se.

The problem with that is that it's human nature to get away with it once and then do it again, taking a bit longer each time. Until one day it might not be OK.

Again, why not just wait until the kid wakes up to hit the shop? Unless you're buying, like, life-saving insulin or something?

When I was triaging child protection calls, it became clear very quickly that it was important to differentiate middle class moral outrage about isolated incidents from true signs of neglect. Jane next door went out without a coat; Paul next door shouted at his son; Karen nipped out for five minutes and left her child alone. True neglect is not this. You would not believe the disgraceful way truly neglectful parents behave towards their kids.

Votejadot - I assume you are talking about your own nature when you talk about human nature? Because that in no way describes mine!

The. Nspcc says that babies, toddlers and young children should never be left alone, but hey what do they know?

I agree there has to be some sense regarding what child neglect is but I think the majority of people would agree that a 2 year old should not be left alone. That’s laziness and neglect. Plenty of parents manage their busy lives without leaving their kids home alone.. And frankly, if you give some people an inch they will take the pee. That’s the problem with suggesting things like this are ok. There are lots of kids living in absuive and neglective situations and when people start to verbalise and justify poor parenting and making it sound ok and normal then it could push their neglect to be even worse. Popping out for 10 minutes is 10 minutes too long. Houses can catch fire and be burnt to the ground within minutes. Is it really worth taking that risk to pop out for some bread just coz it’s a bit easier than taking your child with you?

There was one particular school deputy head that reported a ridiculous number of “safeguarding issues”. God knows what her relationships with the parents were like; she would have had to tell them they were being reported and it was probably half the school.