DS coming downstairs on his own?

[chihuahualady]

Not really an aibu but interested in what other parents think.

DS 3 has been coming downstairs on his for the past two weeks and putting the tele on usually helps him self to a piece of fruit as well.He comes down about 6:30 me and OH and DD usually wake up around 8-:8:30.

I'm fine with it but just wondering what other parents do, would you wake up with him and go down? I'm just no good when I'm tired so that extra 2 hours is needed.

Also the gro clocks are good for letting little ones know what is and isn’t an okay time to be up.

My 7 and 5 year old do this. And sometimes the 3 year old joins them or comes to get me. My 7 year old is very responsible for his age and would come and get me. But tbh the three year normally wakes me up straight away to jump on my head. And my 3 year old can work the TV and get a snack or juice from the fridge or water.
Most 3 year olds can if they have been taught how to...

I have a 4 and half year old and nearly 3 year old we don’t let them get up together without us. I feel funny if they are upstairs and we are downstairs in the middle of the day, they can get up to all sorts when left. I was upstairs just last week and my husband had gone out, the nearly 3 year old decided for some random reason to unlock the front door and go outside, luckily I was listening and ran downstairs as soon as I heard the door open, I found him stood on the front lawn. He’d never touched the front door before, I think because we did the street party thing he had a random new found confidence and decided to go out “looking for daddy”.

It’s not worth the risk, go to bed earlier if you need more sleep, kills us some days getting up at 6ish particularly on the weekend but that’s having kids for you.

A friend and I were in her house when we heard her car start up on the drive outside

Her not-quite 3 yr old had lifted the car keys from their hook by the door, unlocked the car, started the engine, let off the handbrake and was just trying to change gear.

Hmmmn I think three is too young if he is downstairs. We lived in a bungalow when my lot were very young so they did watch tV and I had our bedroom door open so we could doze and listen . Eating was a big no no without one of us in the same room. I nearly choked on a grape as an adult and it was horrific,luckily one of my nurse colleagues did heimlich !!

I know you've already said you're going to go downstairs with him, OP, but just to say I think you're wise.

I only let mine eat sitting at the table until they were considerably older than that. I gave up the 'no food other than at the table' modus vivendi once they became teenagers and it looked as if it might become a battle. They still have to eat communal meals at the table, though.

They were allowed to play quietly in their rooms until 7 o'clock if they woke up (they had animal clocks when they were very little, so they knew the hands had to be at the dog and the cat). Then they would get into bed with us and we would read to them.

One in particular was a spectacularly difficult small child, but it helped that we never gave any of them the idea that anything was negotiable at that age.

Happy days.

Yes can't see me doing this sorry, my DS is 4.5 and someone always goes downstairs with him.

Wow just wow.

No chance!

I would have been grateful of my dc getting up at 6.30am when they were 3 to be honest...It was more like 5/5.30am. But one of us got up with them one morning and the other the next and we coped until they were older and started sleeping later.

Sometimes, when my ds would wake up ridicuously early, we would set up the travel cot in our bedroom and put him in it with some quiet toys and/or the ipad on nearby with a quiet cartoon until it was 6.30.

I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing my 3 yr old was downstairs on their own with no idea what they were doing down there.

If he just goes on his tablet I would get him a gro clock and say he is allowed to come into your room when he first wakes up and he can have the tablet only if he goes back to his bedroom with it and stays there til the sun comes up on the clock. And adjust the time to a happier medium, 7-7:30am or something.

My goodness no. My DS is 8 and I would even think that was too young!

Mine went through at that age but I live in a very small flat so they were a couple of paces away and I am a light sleeper so I woke up and was awake, just lay in a bit longer. But not downstairs and not for that long and especially not eating. I choked on a a banana once as a kid - scary (and silent)!

What time does everyone get up for work?! If 6/7am is too early?

Invest in a gro clock
Talk to GP about sleep

I always thought ds was an early riser at 6:30 until SIL told me her dd's were up bright as buttons at 5am most mornings regardless of when they went to bed, they were just early risers.

He's only 3 you need to get up with him, or tell him to come into your bed and read/play on the iPad while you snooze. He should not be downstairs by himself eating/drinking or playing with the TV. He could do something to seriously injure himself while unsupervised. If he can open the stair gate get a better stair gate with a childproof lock.

3 years olds have eaten/drank things they shouldn't, have TV's or furniture fall on them, found the front door keys and went a wander, decided to get a knife and slice his banana, tripped and hit head of hard surface, switched on the cooker, etc etc

Sorry I meant to add not if you're going to go back to sleep

At 3 alone, no, but by 5 we let DS1, and DS2 joined him probably very early, maybe only 2.5 (DS1 would have been about 6) - we were living in a flat at the time though, so they were only the other side of a wall, and I'm a light sleeper. Plus they are very easy kids - who still ask if they're allowed to have breakfast and a glass of milk now, even when I have never said no, in their entire lives.....

If I turn my back for 10 minutes my 3 year old can have wreaked absolute havoc so no way could I do this.

Far too young to leave for that length of time. Can he access the kitchen? I see choking has been mentioned a lot but what about, knives, electrics, medicines, cleaning fluids, glasses etc, etc, the hazards are limitless especially for a bright child that works things out easily. No matter how child proof you think things are they will always be something that you hadn't ever thought of.

Yikes !
So he opens the fridge ?
What else is in there ?
Glass?
Alcohol ?
As others have pointed out , choking is silent.
Do you have blind cords?
Where are the knives ?
What if he fell?
What if he tried to work the toaster ?
It's negligence really , you absolutely need to look after him , because he's 3 !

Wtf have I just read??
GET UP WITH HIM!
Wouldn't we all have loved to lie in until 8.30!
Mind boggles.

How are these children going downstairs by themselves? Does no one have a house alarm set? We did, they couldn't reach the control panel for years and I wouldn't trust them not to tell anyone the code!

My children ate at a table, or the breakfast bar, never alone in another room. I think if you have ever witnessed your child choking,which is silent and quite frankly fucking terrifying, you would never let them eat without you being there again.

Mine could come into our room and watch tv in our room whilst we were in the bed in the morning. That was usually so Ds2 wouldn't wake Ds1 too early, Ds1 had school.

3 is far too young to be left for that length of time. They could strangle themselves, fall and hit their head, choke. Why would you take the risk?

We have two gates but he can open both

Get some sort of easy release lock that you can open but he won’t be able to.
DS crept downstairs once and tried to make a cake. He turned the gas on for the oven while putting ingredients into a bowl-we woke up to the house smelling of gas. If anyone has turned on a light switch we would have blown up. The neighbours had even called the gas board because they could smell it next door and they thought they had a leak!

Mine are 5.5 and almost 8. They are allowed to go downstairs provided they come in wake me up first. I do leave out food sometimes but usually milk or juice, soft breakfast pastry and maybe a yoghurt pouch or I come down and give them food. I don't normally sleep once they are up, just relax in bed for a bit so I can keep an ear out for them. They didn't start doing this until my youngest was 4. House fairly baby proofed, no access to anywhere outside the house. I'm a single parent now, so no one to share the wake-ups so often this is the only way I get a bit of a rest on a weekend. I don't think there is anything wrong with this but agree choking is always my big concern.

In the day I would be in and out of other rooms with a 3 year old (not always in the same room). But I wouldn't be out of the room for anything like so long a time and not with me asleep.
So I wouldn't do it in the morning either.