@ThorFull
My boys are 6 and 8 and honestly I think this is really funny and really cute. They were on camera, didn’t leave your front garden. Not sure why there’s a need to panic.
I’d probably laugh and giggle with them, maybe wind them up a bit making up a mad story about why they were out. Then they’d want to prove me wrong and tell me what they were doing. Then I’d tell them that front door is not safe at night, stick to back garden adventures. I might even leave a cheeky note or a little snack out in case they decide to have another adventure.
The genuinely level of survivor's privilege and naivety on this thread is staggering. 'Stick to back garden adventures?'
This has nothing to do with children being children and going on 'adventures' and everything to do with children doing stupid shit that their parents need to ensure they NEVER do again.
Children is exactly what they are and after bedtime they should stay safely in their beds inside a locked house exactly where their parents know they are.
There is a thread from earlier in the week that appears a stranger was in the house after the OP's grown children came in from a night out and left a door open. We are talking about children waking in the middle of the night, unlocking the house and leaving the property whilst the parents are asleep.
The fact it is a small town or a bustling city is irrelevant. Whether they were emulating the 3am Challenge or wanting a midnight adventure the fact of the matter is that they shouldn't be leaving the house at night because it's DANGEROUS.
Google Jessica Lunford, her Dad left their front door open and went to bed. It was that simple. A predator broke in for something to steal, discovered Jessica and abducted her. Held her in his home, repeatedly sexually assaulted her and then horrifically murdered her. An unlocked door, that was all it took. Far less of a risk than having two extremely young and naive children unlocking the door and leaving the safety of the house.
Sarah Payne, yes that happened during the day but it was a case of an unaccompanied child on the street (a safe village) and her parents not knowing where she was.
Disregarding the safety risk entirely, over 1/3 of burglaries happen through unlocked doors. That isn't taking into account what the fuck would happen to the children or the sleeping family.
That also isn't taking into account that they may hurt themselves, they may cross a road, in the middle of the night on a dead quiet street they could be hit by a car, that driver may not stop. No one would know they were even out of bed.
If posters are genuinely questioning 'what could possibly happen?' use your imagination because it will have happened before to another parent and another child.
You are all possibly right - there is a minimal risk of danger but that minimal risk is still too fucking catastrophic to contemplate. All it would take is for the wrong person to be passing and suddenly life as you knew it is destroyed.
It would be lovely if this was the world we lived in. It isn't. All it takes is one child and one adult with ill-intend. We are good people, if we saw an unaccompanied child on the side of a road instantly we would call the police and do everything in our power to keep them safe. Other people aren't like that.
OP you were staggeringly lucky you have cameras and caught them before. Everyone commenting that they did similar as children are equally lucky. There are children who weren't as lucky, parents who weren't as lucky. No, it probably will never happen to you. It probably won't even happen to someone you know. But there is a chance it might and that is not something to be scoffed at.