To leave kids in bed whilst I run

[Wanttodobetter]

I’m a single parent to 4 children, youngest 8 and eldest 14. I want to run for 30 mins locally early morning whilst they’re still asleep. 2 have phones and I’ll leave a number of a neighbour. That’s fine right?!

@gloria

yeah not eveyone wants to live their life cowed by microscope risks such as this.

I'm just wondering why you need to do it before they wake up?

The solution is to get better smoke alarms not to supervise your kids. Right got it.

Yes, i do with my children regularly - similar ages. I advise all of them the night before that will be out so that if they do wake the younger ones know to go into their older brother and he knows to expect them as well.

Yes they're more likely to do something to start a fire or cause a danger when awake than asleep!

You should have good smoke alarms either way.

Microscopic risks?

Have you ever watched the news?

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest the ones with the biggest issues here are the ones who don't exercise, use their kids as justification, and see you as a reason to feel bad that they've got weak/soft since having kids.

The news is a running report of the extreme things that happen around the world every day, if they were regular occurrences...they wouldn't make the news

Are you under the impression that the news covers things that happen lots? Of course the risk is microscopic. That's why it makes the news when it happens!

This is actually a well known phenomenon the tone of fire/smoke alarm are not suitable for waking children and a frighteningly high number of children who die in fires are found in their beds.
A study in 2017 looking at children, I think mostly under 10, 80% of children didn't wake up to a smoke alarm. There were higher rates of children waking when there is an intermittent alarm or where in place of a tone the alarm as a voice

www.dsfire.gov.uk/safety/home/talk-your-children-about-fire-safety

This. If yes, I’d give it a try, see how they feel about the actuality. If they were t happy about it, I’d try to find a different tone.

(Personally, don’t think older siblings should be left responsible for younger ones but appreciate that I had lucky circumstances so never needed to do so.)

I do it so I can make the most of my day and spend more time with my kids. Working full time means that I either cut into our evenings and leave them home alone unsupervised after dinner while I go out (which for my kids would definitely be worse), or I don't do it.

Time, not tone.

If you were talking about a run after work, I'd say go for it as long as your eldest was babysitting the others. However, we had a fire alarm once go off, all the adults in the house woke up and all of my children (including my then 9 year old) slept through it entirely which scared the life out of me. None of my children are deep sleepers and could wake up easily if I shut a door. If your 14 year old is tired, they may forget they are watching the 8 year old at that time in the morning too. Would they be able to get all of the children together and out a window/door in the case of a fire?

Eldest would need to be awake and happy to be in charge the whole time. Then it’s fine

Right. Although the way people go on they wouldn't leave their 18 yr old alone

@Gloriia

yep. Microscopic risk.
Op needs to exercise.

Ive always exercised, I just looked after my kids too. They're older now but there is not a chance if have left kids sleeping and gone out.

My DS and l have Life360 on our mobiles so they can see where l am and vice versa.

Yep. Risk is risk.

The kids need to be supervised, sorry it is inconvenient I agree.

Just exercise when they're awake so at least they've got a chance of getting out of the house quickly if a 'microscopic risk' should arise.

@Gloriia

maybe this is the only time op has to exercise though,
? What with work, after school clubs, making tea in the evenings etc

Risk is risk? No. That's not how risk works. Different things have different risks. Her kids will almost certainly not spontaneously combust is OP goes for a run. Lack of exercise almost certainly will shorten OPs life span and healthy life expectancy. Different things have different levels of risk.

What about parents that are hard of hearing then? My kids always used to alert me to sounds I couldn't here when they were small. Electric meter beeping as running low, washing machine, knock on door

When did you exercise? Because as a single parent, working full time, I genuinely have no time to do this when I'm not with my children in some capacity.