To be concerned about neighbours 20 month old baby playing in the street?

[rainwatwe]

So basically I have 2 kids, both under 4.
They play in the garden but not in the street.

The other day I was driving back when I saw one of my neighbours kids - a 20 month old baby girl playing on a foot to floor bike with her siblings and the other neighbourhood kids who are all under the age of 8.

The child was on the pavement playing near a road.
There was no adult supervision.
This is the 2nd time I have seen this happen now.
I was a bit shocked at this and also concerned.

But this neighbour is one of those people that is very confrontational as previously she has had the police called on her for verbally abusing a senior pensioner.

Around here most of the kids play unsupervised under the age of 9 though, the parents just leave them too it.

OP, you are right to be concerned and I would definitely contact social work if I saw a 20month old out playing by a road themselves.

I can't understand all these mumsnetters that are up in arms at naked children though. I can understand if there are other concerns and it's maybe a sign of neglect in certain contexts, but not purely just because a child is naked, particularly not in their own home.

I have reported a naked toddler playing outside a house in the street before. It was not my street. I was just passing, but did not feel I could do nothing. I think I called 101. Ir was a long time ago. Just shows that the report can come from any member of the public. It is not a given that the report came from you.

But If you saw it playing in the street and you know its mother is dodgy then report or if you aren’t comfortable doing that, then better to keep out of things

YADNBU. Do what you need to do.

I remember a 7 year old used to be out on his own many years ago. We brought him to ours more than once. His mum was an immigrant and worked all hours and a man, her fella, was meant to look after him. It was all very cagey, we’d assumed it was his Dad but we got various stories from her and him and the child and nothing added up.

I told his mum to drop him to ours if they were heading off and while she would that asshole never did but he’d usually come in to ours once the other kids went in for food.

I always regretted never saying anything but he adored his Mam and she was a great mother who was more or less alone and was doing her absolute best.

He is well into adulthood now but I often think of him.

Aren’t they still putting all sorts of crap in their mouths at this age as well? Dread to think what they could pick up not to mention the road danger.

Seriously? extremely dangerous? kids should be out playing.

No the toddler wasn't naked, she had clothes on.

Another concern is that my neighbour often leaves rubbish outside her house. Fly tipping would be the right description.

She has left a TV out.
A mattress.
A ride on electric kids car.
A fridge.

This is getting stupid now, she left rubbish outside her own house?
I think you’ve too much time on your hands and seem fixated on this woman.
Away out for the day and give her peace.

Agree with @HortiGal
Why are you now going on about a tv left outside her house? What's that got to do with anything?

If she's leaving them outside on her own property, she's not actually doing anything wrong.

If she's leaving them out on the pavement to be collected by the council, that's also not doing anything wrong.

How long does this stuff stay there? Because in my experience when someone puts something outside their house like this, it disappears within 48 hours. If it's not for council collection, scrap metal people come round and take things.

Either the child was in danger (in which case I would think you would have reported it immediately) or it wasn’t.

The fact that you just posted about it implies that it wasn’t in immediate danger and that you weren’t too concerned about its safety, which is fine

Social Services won’t get involved unless the child has suffered injury. They have too much else going on.

You know paedos will be taking of those naked kids, I’ve heard they need to contribute to join some websites! Since I heard that my kids were never naked in public again

Yes I'd report 20 months is far too young to be unsupervised at all let alone in the street.

I dare from the 60s when "playing out" was the norm, and I was certainly playing out with other kids on the estate before I started school.

However, cars were few and far between back then so rounders in the road was fine. But even back then I don't recall any very young siblings being involved.

So I think it's too young, especially with the amount of traffic nowadays.

The unsupervised toddler is concerning but I fail to see the relevance of items destined for the tip, in her front garden.

You should report this to social services. You can do this without them knowing it was you who reported it. It needs to be looked into. There may be other neglect or the mum may need help. Either way report it. How would you feel if you didn’t report it and the child was in the street unsupervised another time, and something happened?

The rubbish paints a picture of careless / unthinking behaviour. Depending on the fridge type, it could also be very dangerous if the toddler shut themselves in as they are designed to airtight. All of the items are hazards for an unsupervised toddler.

It is a bit late now. It isn’t still out there presumably?

A fridge is a terrible safety hazard!