To go swimming in the sea whilst the kids are in bed?

[Maezzle]

We live by the sea. It is fifteen metres through the garden from the door to the edge of the water. It is a safe place to swim and we are good swimmers.

Are we unreasonable to go for a fifteen minute swim once the kids (preschool) are asleep? They never wake. We would have a friend lined up who would come and babysit if they don't hear from us after half an hour (in case of shark attack or other unforeseen event)!

Basically the only risk is a house fire. We would not have any appliances running and the house would never be more than 30 metres away and in full view. Window open so we'd hear smoke alarm.

I feel like this should be acceptable as it's basically like having a swimming pool in your garden. But for some reason I feel it isn't okay, but I don't know why!

What would you do?

YABU you should be locked up for even thinking of it.
YANBU it's just like a swimming pool, it's fine.

I know, you live in a cave cut into sea cliffs.

Well you're going to do it anyway so why would we bother wasting time arguing the toss?

You know deep down that it’s totally unacceptable to leave young children unattended, regardless of what you’re doing. If you’ve got a babysitter that can come if they don’t hear from you in 30 minutes just ask them to come and babysit before you leave the house.

As opposed to leaving them alone to go for a leisurely swim leaving the windows open?!

So. . . .the littlies are asleep in bed, let's go down and swim in the very calm safe 'lagoon'. You can't hear or see anything when you're swimming but we're not going to be more than half an hour. What could possibly go wrong?

As someone who's grown up in Whitstable this us exactly the houses I wondered if OP meant 😂But you've got to run up a pebbly beach and over a sea wall get to your DC. And the sea in whitstable is not that safe, definitely not a lagoon.

Tada!

My hobby is Rightmove retirement beach house research

How are the front and back of your house on the same side of the house? Are you flat people who live in a 2d house?

How is it ‘completely’ different? OP could be middle class and have 3 pre schoolers too. Madeleines parents were coming back to check on them every so often, Op wouldn’t be able to see every angle of the house or inside the house or anything like that. It is as dangerous as what madeleines parents did.

Please don't tell me to think lagoon. Just tell me it's a lagoon! Or don't, if it's not a lagoon.

I would be thinking of all the things that could potentially go wrong.

Before I even got to thinking about sharks etc, I would be thinking about my young child waking up with a bad dream, panicking when realising they are alone, falling down the stairs.....the list is endless.

I agree that it’s unwise to both swim at the same time, as tempting as it sounds.

Btw OP I’m obsessed with your dreamy home set up - how did you manage to get a lagoon at the bottom of your garden! I’m well jell x

A greenhouse would be unbearable in this weather. No wonder OP needs to leave their small children alone to swim in a lagoon!

I ADORE swimming, your home sound amazing, I would live semi ambphibiously if I could, I just love to swim.

No way would I and my husband both swim when we had children asleep, simply because freak accidents do happen and what would happen if you both got into difficulty. I'm a strong swimmer and I'm sure you know the waters but it's just not worth even the 0.00001% chance of anything happening. Can you take turns swimming so someone is on dry land with the kiddos?

I’d be less worried about the sea dangers and more about the dangers of the preschoolers being in the house alone.

Oh I am suitably impressed! Might be a bit of a squeeze for op though..! 😂

I'm unreasonablely happy that you posted this ..I was way too invested in trying to imagine a house with only doors and windows on one wall and now I have an image 🤣

Can i change my vote please? I thought you said it was 15 minutes to the water not 15 metres.
Crack on @Maezzle

I sort of agree. I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it myself but I certainly wouldn’t criticise anyone else who did. I suspect my OH would be totally fine with it. I think the risk of anything happening is tiny albeit not zero but lots of things in life are not zero risk.

And the sea in whitstable is not that safe, definitely not a lagoon

Even the bloody cottages aren't safe. Stayed in one where you had to climb a ladder to the bedroom and the only toilet was downstairs. Fuck that for a game of soldiers. No wine for me that night, holiday notwithstanding.

Moved the next day to a hotel and got a refund from the cottage. Nowhere on their website did it mention a bloody ladder.

Of course its not okay.

15 minutes there, 15-30 minutes to get changed and swim, 15 minutes back. You would leave 2 under 5 year olds for potentially up to an hour by themselves in the house alone?!!

Yes thank you.

More dangerous, arguably. How many people die swimming in the sea (sorry, a lagoon...) compared to sitting in a restaurant?

I think it's very difficult for us to comment fairly without actually seeing it. And so, obviously, you will have to make your own assessment of risk.

FWIW, I think swimming in the sea (even only 15m away) is very different from swimming in a pool in the back garden.

Questions to ask yourself are:

• will I hear if one of them cries
• what if one of them gets out of bed - would I know
• how long would it take me to swim to shore and then run to the house in an emergency
• etc (I'm sure you can think of more in this vein)

Are we unreasonable

You say ‘we’ like there are 2 of you.

If so, then why can’t you just take in turns.

I would take the bins out or even sit in the garden but there’s no way you would hear your kids crying if you are swimming in the sea.