To leave 2 under 2 in the house while I walk to get dc no 3 from childminder 5 doors down the road

[threeisacharm18]

Quick pulse - as the title says I have 2 under 2 at home with me now. Dc No 1 is school age and gets picked up by the childminder who lives 5 doors from us.

Should I pack up the 2 babies in a pushchair to walk 2 mins up the road to get dc 1 or risk it and leave them in the bouncer while I run up the road to get dc no 3?

@Chasingclouds100

Not OTT at all - but I do think YOUR defensiveness is because you are quite happy to leave your children alone which is completely wrong and you know it

And

Maybe I care more

No it's not, you're intimating ask others have said that you're a better parent, you're not!

So stop commenting on how I parented and others, then you won't get it back.

How dare you say I'm wrong for leaving my children for a shower or to use the toilet. Even someone you thanked and xxx, agreed that they showered and left their child to do so. So not sure what your adulation was about their.

I wouldn’t allow DC1 to walk back home on their own. I’d bring the 2 year old out with me to the childminder. Young children can’t be relied upon to act with sense and can be easily distracted. Also, I listened to a podcast recently where a 6 year old boy was to walk to the bus stop and take the bus to school. The bus stop was just a few doors away. Another Mum, whose child caught the same bus agreed to watch him get on the bus. On the day, the Mum at the bus stop didn’t see the child at all so assumed he wasn’t getting on the bus after all. It wasn’t until the boy’s mother arrived at his school to pick him up that they realised he was missing.The little boy was never seen again and it took 27 years for the police to piece together what happened to him. Unfortunately he’d been abducted by a predator. Apologies, this is a such a grim story but the bus stop was within sight of the boys home. With so many stories of abductions and the normal risks of the child perhaps running into the road, I wouldn’t risk it.

Absolutely no way could you leave them! Imagine if anything happened, you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself. Way too young, even if you think they are in a safe place it's just not worth it. Xx

I have two under two (twins, crawlers) and a five year old. I routinely leave them in the living room when I go to the loo, and I’d also comfortably leave them in the flat while I go down one flight of stairs to, for example, get the online shopping delivery in - in both cases I can hear them and I know their usual patterns/go-to mischief. I also trust the five year old to call me in certain situations. This is in line with what many of my friends (parents of twins and singletons) do. My only point of anxiety is around making sure I always have my keys with me.

There are lots of very excitable responses on this thread which seem more heat than light. Like lots of other things this is one of those aspects of parenting where you need to assess your own circumstances, kids, needs etc.

Under 2?????????? I can’t believe you’re even asking!!!!!!!

@Chasingclouds100 yes I left my children in a car 10000s times, whilst I paid for petrol?

I was never reported to social services.

What's the issue with that?

So, you drag your children across the forecourt, risking an accident?

As others said, you're coming across as unhinged.

You beat me to it, mentioning slings. When little ones are ill a sling for DC3 on my front, Little Life Child frame on my back for DC2 which balances out the weight, and both unwell children are on your body, getting some fresh air, the vibration of your movement, and it soothes them. The five door walk to collect DC1 wouldn’t be long enough for DC2 & DC3 but it would calm and soothe them. It’s irrelevant if when we were seven years old we crossed two major A roads and walked 15 minutes to school in London, that was a different era. I hear you were exhausted OP and looking for some relief from that difficult three days. Your babies soothed and ready to sleep when you got home with DC1 so you could unload them into their cots would do it.
And yes when my DC2 was weeks old and DC1 was at school I had DC2 in a sling on my front as I went to the loo, what else could I do. The sling was amazing, soothed and calmed them the whole time: they got my smell, my sound, my movement. Of course they were heavy but it was worth it.

This! If it isn't possible, then definitely don't leave the younger two at home alone.

I would leave them in a cot or playpen but not in a bouncer.
This is about assessment of risk. You have to look at what could happen, how likely it is too happen and possible outcomes of it did happen. You have to do this for both leaving that at home unsupervised and also for walking then along the pavement with you.
If you are literally talking about 5 doors away and childminder would be happy to have child ready and maybe even hand over by phone so you can literally do whole thing in under 5 minutes, there is very little difference to bring in toilet or shower, but as I say, they would need to be contained.
I actually did this when I had 3 very young children and needed to get the oldest who was 3 to preschool which was a similar distance away. She would need collecting at 12.30 and there other 2 were having lunchtime map by then. I would make sure they were settled and if they were not I would take them with me.
A couple of years later, all 3 plus a friend narrowly avoided being killed whilst we were crossing the busy road between our house and preschool/ school when a car driver straight through the pedestrian crossing whilst we were crossing.
In my situation, my assessment was that they were far safer at home on the occasions they were asleep in their cots than crossing a busy road twice.

5 doors? Of course you can leave them!
so long as CM has other child ready and you don’t stand and chat of course you leave them. Why would you bother with coats and buggies to go 5 doors? It will take all of 2 minutes MAX. Do you take the babies with you when you go to the loo for 2 minutes? So many crazies on here saying shlep them out with you! Why? No!

It's concerning that you even need to ask this. How many times have you left baby(ies) alone to pop out quickly??

Just the fact your asking should tell you you know your in the wrong; I’ve only read your initial post & my bloods boiling; it takes seconds for a house to catch fire; for a child to choke; to fall; I honestly cannot believe in 2022 stupid fucking idiots are still asking these dumb arsed questions!!!
It pisses me right off that idiots like you are ever allowed to be parents because you obviously don’t have the brains to blow a fucking balloon up, I hope if your stupid enough to leave your children you’ve got an alert neighbour who reports you; don’t be such a lazy cow bundle them up & walk up & collect you other Dc safe in the knowledge all three are safe.

I was being ironic to a certain condescending OP - I never said anything was wrong with this scenario (although it is not something I would ever do having witnessed in the past a child being kidnapped after being left in a car whilst their parent ‘nipped’ in to the garage!) And I really don’t give two flying fucks if I come across as ‘unhinged’!

I was being ironic to a certain condescending OP - I never said anything was wrong with this scenario (although it is not something I would ever do having witnessed in the past a child being kidnapped after being left in a car whilst their parent ‘nipped’ in to the garage!) And I really don’t give two flying fucks if I come across as ‘unhinged’!

Kidnapped... yeah right!

Presumably never if she's asking?

No I wouldn’t drag them across the forecourt - I always get my petrol on the way to work without any children in the car as this is what I do, for no other reason than this is what I have always done even pre-kids.
That doesn’t surprise me. This is a public forum and I can and will comment.
Thank you

I would take them and I get the impression from MN I am generally very laid back about this stuff.

No I wouldn’t drag them across the forecourt - I always get my petrol on the way to work without any children in the car as this is what I do, for no other reason than this is what I have always done even pre-kids.
That doesn’t surprise me. This is a public forum and I can and will comment.
Thank you

Best way to avoid kidnapping, I suppose!

Maybe don't take your children out of the house at all?

For all those saying ask the childminder to let the older child run home - I’m a childminder and wouldn’t allow a young child to leave my house unaccompanied by an adult, no matter how short the walk home is. It might only be 5 doors down but what if the child ran into the road. Guess who’d be prosecuted (rightly)?

What is wrong with you?

Christ missingpop who pissed on your chips?!

Christ missingpop who pissed on your chips?!

A stray apostrophe?

You don't need a pushchair for 5 doors down, you can literally carry them it would take less than 60 seconds to open your door and pass 4 other doors to get to number 5.
I think you're telling fibs about how many houses you're actually separated by.