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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To leave a 2 year old for 10 mins

726 replies

BlueSuedeStiletto · 27/04/2019 03:30

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?

OP posts:
Mummyoflittledragon · 27/04/2019 08:17

DerelictWreck
I haven’t seen that thread. I also think it’s ridiculous.

Coconutsandcobbles · 27/04/2019 08:21

I would never do this in any circumstances

PerpendicularVincent · 27/04/2019 08:23

Even if the shop sold life saving drugs that you desperately needed, I would say take your 2 year old with you or don't go.

Leaving a 2 year old alone in a house is neglectful.

Whatafustercluck · 27/04/2019 08:23

No. Just no.

EleanorReally · 27/04/2019 08:23

Nope,
transfer them to a pushchair

Buddyelf · 27/04/2019 08:23

I’m assuming this is a reverse. You know this is not acceptable. You can’t leave a 2 year old alone in a house You don’t need an online forum to back this up. If your friend did this you should be horrified.
It’s irresponsible at best, neglectful at worst.

Margot33 · 27/04/2019 08:24

What if you got knocked down by a car? No-one would know you have a child alone at home. Also at age two mine could climb out of the cot. What if yours climbed out and choked on something? Fire? Intruders? Anything can happen.

Bobbybobbins · 27/04/2019 08:27

No way

KooMoo · 27/04/2019 08:29

Well it’s looking like a worst case scenario has happened.

OP goes to shop and get hit by a bus! Hence no reply.

howmanyleftfeet · 27/04/2019 08:33

OP goes to shop and get hit by a bus! Hence no reply.

I suspect OP fell asleep!

She was talking about a scenario in the past as she says WIBU not AIBU, and her friend was horrified.

This has already happened. She's wondering if it was the right thing to do.

caughtinanet · 27/04/2019 08:33

Intheheatoflisbon - I'm not sure what you're saying. Do you not drive on the motorway in case you have an accident or do you assess the risk as very very small and go ahead?

If it's the latter then surely you realise that all of the what ifs mentioned here are also reasonable risks to take. I've just looked up the house fire statistics and even in the year of Grenfell Tower, the worst ever year for fire deaths, 10 times as many people died in road accidents.

Is there anyone who doesn't go in a car with a 2 year old in case they have a fatal crash?

I'm not saying leave them alone but don't use a fire as a valid reason not to. The risk is exactly the same as when you are in the house, do you worry about that every day?

sparklefarts · 27/04/2019 08:34

She's 2, so she must at least attempt to climb out if her cot.

Why does everyone assume all kids climb out of their cots. Mine never tried. Not once. And at 3.5 years he still calls in the morning for to get him out of bed!

But yeah OP, totally unreasonable. Risk way too high.

howmanyleftfeet · 27/04/2019 08:36

Get off your high horses please people!

Yes, it's not OK to leave a 2 year old on their own. But that's not obvious to everyone. Everyone doesn't start a perfect parent, we learn to parent as we go.

It may seem obvious to you not to leave your DC alone, but it might not be obvious to everyone if they haven't thought it through. Because on the surface - what's likely to happen in 10 minutes? The reality is, not much. Of course the things that could go wrong are awful (especially, the OP being prevented from coming home somehow). It's one of those low risk, high impact things.

The OP is here asking. That's a good thing.

InTheHeatofLisbon · 27/04/2019 08:37

caughtinanet no I wasn't saying that (although I did do several motorway journeys without the children at first until I was confident).

Having read your post my analogy wasn't great, I was trying to reply to someone who said "it's extremely unlikely that...." and was trying to use examples which have a small risk but do happen. The wrong analogies I realise, it was out of context and is confusing the issue.

londonrach · 27/04/2019 08:38

Cant image anyone doing this. So much to go wrong. Yabu

64sNewName · 27/04/2019 08:41

I was reading WIBU as “would I be unreasonable” to do this - maybe it hasn’t happened yet?

Agree with everyone else anyway.

butterflykiss00 · 27/04/2019 08:41

I wonder what's so urgent to have to go to the shops. Clearly alcohol related

englishdictionary · 27/04/2019 08:41

It always baffles me that people have to ask about this kind of thing. Of course it's not ok.

Iwantacookie · 27/04/2019 08:42

No you can't leave a 2 year old alone.
I wouldn't leave any of my dc asleep while I popped out. They need to know if your there or not.

Lockheart · 27/04/2019 08:46

Some of the responses here are a bit silly. Should the OP do it / have done it? No. Would I do it? No.

But it is not illegal, nor would social services get involved. Unless perhaps you were leaving them to go and buy heroin.

A 2 year old could also choke on their own vomit overnight whilst sleeping in the room next to you and you wouldn't know a thing until the next morning, or whilst you're in the shower, or drying your hair, or in fact any period where you don't have eyes and ears on them. So using that as a "what if????" is pretty dumb.

MrsMaisel · 27/04/2019 08:56

Wow. Where to from here? Leaving them at 6 years old with an iPad and a can of coke while you get your hair done?

GoldenFlaps · 27/04/2019 08:58

As I said to myself every time I wanted to post about my abusive husband, if you're needing to ask on MN you know it's not right.

Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow · 27/04/2019 08:59

It is illegal actually. You cant leave a child alone where they are at risk of harm. Hard to argue otherwise here

FFSeverynameisused · 27/04/2019 09:00

clearly the OP has already done it, seeing as OP has not returned to the thread yet. I hope the friend reported it.

SoupDragon · 27/04/2019 09:03

It's a totally idiotic thing to have done.