To nap with my 2 year old whilst 6 year old entertains herself?

[LadyIzzy]

I’m exhausted after weeks years of broken sleep and stressful work. My DH is away for work and due back this evening. Would I be completely unreasonable to have an hour or so nap now with my 2 year old whilst my 6 year old is in the living room playing with her toys and watching tv? I feel bad leaving her alone but I just have zero energy and have been awake since 4am…

Sounds like a fine plan to me

You can’t leave your 6 year old downstairs while you’re asleep upstairs. Do you have an iPad? Could you have her watching something with headphones in bed with you while you dose next to her?

I would just lie on the sofa tell your 6 year old you are going for a nap.have a nap.

My 6 year old goes downstairs in the morning and plays while I doze in bed for 45 mins or so. I think it’s fine.

No, you cannot leave a child that young unsupervised.

I’ve dozed on the sofa while mine plays, or given her an iPad and let her play quietly on it in my room while I nap there in a similar situation. When she was 4 and I was pregnant I used to put a movie on and get her to come and cuddle up to me on the sofa. If she moved to get off me it woke me up.

A nap on the sofa would be fine.

My 6 yo wakes up before me in the morning, and watches TV and drinks a cup of milk that I prepare the night before. So to me it would be fine.

I think you beyond exhausted is more of a worry caring for 2 and 6 year olds than you having nap while they're there but I think the advice of have them with you in the room with headphones is best idea to make sure they’re safe even if you don’t sleep the lying down may help

No. She's too young. She lacks the capacity for understanding long term consequences of her actions.

It is entirely likely that she will not stay watching TV for the time you're asleep.

She might get hungry and decide to use the cooker/microwave. Someone might knock on the front door and she might answer it 'to be helpful' She might explore the medicines cabinet or take the opportunity to play with kitchen equipment.

It is entirely up to you to take what may be a low risk, but you would be considered neglectful if she hurt herself whilst you were asleep upstairs.

I think a good guide is to ask yourself, would I be happy if a childminder went for a nap when they are supposed to be supervising my child.

At 6 I would hope she has been taught and understands not to do all these or at least not without supervision.
On a weekend morning, if my daughter who has just turned 7, wakes up early she goes downstairs and watches tv and sometimes gets a snack from the cupboard before I get up 7.30ish.

Put him in bed with you with an I pad and headphones.

@Greenwriter76 I can confidently say that if children always did what they were taught to do then there would be far fewer attendances for overdoses, burns, fractures or cuts at the Emergency/Minor injury departments.

LOL yes, you absolutely can. My son is 7 and has been getting himself up about an hour before me and my husband for the last couple of years—makes cereal, turns on the TV, and at six he was also feeding the dogs. He’s perfectly capable of existing for an hour without adult supervision while we’re upstairs asleep.

Mine has also been out playing with friends in the neighborhood since he was about five. I don’t track his every move or hover behind him—I know the general area he’s supposed to be in and the houses he’s allowed to go to, and that’s been enough. Shockingly, he has not immediately dissolved into chaos.

We’ve even left him alone for 20 minutes here and there this year, and again… nothing dramatic happened. Because he’s a child who’s been taught basic rules, not a wildcard waiting to access the medicine cabinet the second we leave.

Kids don’t magically become capable the day they turn 10 or 12 or whatever arbitrary age people decide is “safe.” They get there because you give them small bits of independence and let them figure things out. If you never let them practice, of course it feels impossible.

Wow, I’m surprised by the responses! My son has been playing on his own unsupervised for periods of time since 4-5 on other floors of the house. This has been perfectly fine and felt natural. He will happily listen to an audio book while coloring or playing with toys.

@comfyshoes2022 it depends whether you are aware or asleep. If you are unconscious you are effectively leaving your child unsupervised.

Lots of people would not do that because of the safety risk. If children are happily playing in another room and it suddenly goes quiet, we all know we need to check on them. It's like a little alert goes off in your head even if you aren't actively listening.

Perhaps I need to rethink what I’m doing with my child but when I leave them in their own room on a different floor playing by myself I wouldn’t notice if everything went quiet. I would hear if there were terrible screaming but the same is true if I were sleep too.

I did that with my 2 and 4.5 year old during my last pregnancy, so fine by me.
I wouldn't let them downstairs though, the eldest plays in his room and we put a timer so he knows how long is left.

True - but nothing like this has ever happened to my dd or I’m guessing all the posters here who trust their 6 year olds in another room for a bit without them.
Most 6 year olds should understand danger of fire etc… they’re not toddlers.
Depends on the child I guess.

Thats fine. Ive dozed when my 4yr old happily watched telly. He sometimes naps with me

Some of these responses read like hes6 months, not 6!

Do you have a tv in your bedroom? What we have done (when I am ill especially) is we all go into our bedroom - the 2yo naps, the nearly 5yo watches something suitable on TV with the sound very low / off or listens quietly to her yoto and I lie in bed with them both. I also bring in some books / puzzles for DD1 to do quietly. On occasion DD1 has dropped off as well and had a little nap.