Leaving kids for 5 minute late night walk?

[OneOliveOtter]

Husband and wife went out for a quick walk an hour ago whilst kids were sleeping (3 and 5). Gone for just over five minutes. Unreasonable or not?

Mind your own business. People are far too judgemental, especially in MN. You say you don’t know them very well so don’t know their circumstances.

The parent inside the house wouldn't know a child was doing that unless the child fell, and even then they may not hear what happened.

Let's face it, the child's bedroom window opening to an amount where a child can fall through it is a far more immediate and ongoing concern than parents going out of the house for 5 minutes. Yet that doesn't seem to bother you. I wonder why.

I would report this to social
services including the window, you could save their lives if they help
the parents fix it

Sorry I think you have posted this int he wrong place

A fire spreading throughout the house that you are no more than 2 mins away from?

They could fall out the window when youre downstairs!

Utter nonsense.

Sorry, will delete it assp, thank you.

Gross negligence.

Leaving a 3 and 5‑year‑old alone at night is fine for "5 minutes” is the kind of logic that only works right up until the exact moment it doesn’t and that’s usually the moment you end up explaining yourself to paramedics, police, or social services

Comparing to MM is ridiculous too, its apples and oranges.

These parent are no more than 2 and a half minutes from house!

I expect they know their children/ ability to open windows etc better than you do.

You sound spiteful towards this family

You omitted they were walking their dog in op

And havent returned to thread to ask how on earth you know the exact details of this situation.

Hopefully you will tomw

Struggling to delete my post, apols again abs ignore me pls :)

I'd assume the parents were thick or just didn't love their children very much.

In this heat I'd also assume some windows were left open.

Easy for a small child to leave/fall out... or for a grown man to enter.

The house would be in sight when 2 mins away!

What stops them plummeting to their grizzly deaths from the open window when youre downstairs?!!

If a child isnt mature enough to be trusted to not jump/ fall out of the window, then you have it closed or set so it only opens so much. If they havent (and I'm living in doubt about the dripfeed) then the children could fall/ jump out anytime. Being two mis away, whether in a large back garden, or up the road, isn't going to increase the risk.

This thread is crazy.

This is Mumsnet where there's imagined to be a child snatching arsonist on every corner waiting for a child to be left alone with no parent in the house or garden.
I'm sure they also never cross the road unless there's a lollipop person or traffic lights, and never drive full stop.
In the real world, you know your children best so if you think they'll be fine, fine.

The facts:

"A house fire can take hold and become life-threatening in as little as 3 to 5 minutes. In under 30 seconds, a small flame can spin out of control, and within minutes, flashover can occur—where everything in a room spontaneously ignites."

Minute-by-Minute Breakdown

The spread of a fire moves incredibly fast, following a dangerous, progressive timeline:

0–30 Seconds: A small ignition turns into a major fire and starts to spread.

1–2 Minutes: Thick, toxic smoke fills the room. Temperatures rise drastically, and smoke layers descend rapidly.

3 Minutes: Heavy smoke spills into adjacent rooms, and the air becomes dangerous to breathe.

3–5 Minutes: Flashover occurs. The room becomes completely engulfed in flames, and the fire becomes virtually impossible to control without professional equipment.

Why Fires Spread Faster Today

While occupants 30 years ago had roughly 15 to 17 minutes to escape a burning home, today you typically have only 3 to 4 minutes.

This rapid acceleration is due to two main factors:

Synthetic Furnishings: Modern homes contain high amounts of petroleum-based plastics, foams, and synthetic fabrics, which burn much faster and hotter than natural fibers.

Open Layouts: Modern open-concept floor plans and larger rooms allow oxygen to feed the fire and flames to travel across the house unhindered.

We are currently in a heatwave ..you don't think electrical items coukd overheat and start a fire?

It would speed first aid though...as in any ATTENDED accident / incident

3 minutes of bleeding out...would be different wouldn't it??

Agree. It's too young.

Also, what would even be the benefit of a 5 minute walk?

Pointless and reckless.

@OneOliveOtter how do you know the kids are home alone and that they don’t have a granny staying ? Also how do you know so much about their window arrangements and how many times they’ve walked the dog if you live at the other end of a cul de sac and barely speak to them ?

Utterly unreasonable

My friend used to do this with her newborn when her husband worked late. Would leave her sleeping and take the dog round the block. Till her mother in law found out and started turning up at the house of an evening to “help” when she knew she was on her own. It’s not ok. The dog isn’t important enough to be leaving kids alone in the house.

It's fine if the distance is not far at all.
Neighbourhood calm, small dead end street.
They can see the house and time was only five minutes - fine by me.

If they were jogging a mile away and gone for over ten minutes, not fine at all. Busy, people all about, a through road - not at all fine for five minutes.
Circumstances matter.

Did someone say they wouldn't leave their 10 and 13 year olds? For 5 minutes, asleep? Bloody hell. That is serious helicopter parenting.

When I was about five, I woke up to find no one in the house so I left and went to a house across the road thinking my mum might be there. Luckily the neighbour looked after me, anything could happen.

I do agree with your sentiment @Pinkflamingo10, and I was devastated at that time about Madeleine's disappearance. I did secretly think to myself what on earth were the group of professional friends - with at least some of them being doctors no less - thinking in leaving their children unattended like that? This is the first time I have publicy given my thoughts on their parenting, as the McCann's have suffered far more since then than any parent should have to endure, and I felt much more sorrow for them than I ever felt at all judgemental about it.

However, even with the terrible disappearance of Madeleine, my first thought at that time was not that one of their children was likely to be kidnapped, but that what if there was a fire, or if one of the children had woken up scared and not knowing where either their Mum or Dad was. I don't know about the twins, and how capable either of them would have been to leave the apartment, but Madeleine was an almost 4 year old, so I am reasonably certain that she could have left the apartment under her own steam. What if she had done that and gone searching for her parents down by the swimming pool, they could have found her dead at the bottom of the pool? None of it bears thinking about, and I hope that her twin siblings managed to have a good childhood, with as few as possible nightmares to contend with.

So, even if it was unlikely that the children that the OP was referring to, would have been kidnapped, the chances of either one of the children waking up - maybe they would have heard the front door closing - and being really frightened if their Mum or Dad didn't come when they were called for, is reasonably high. On top of that, my cousin was killed by a car after having gone for a walk one evening, not long after he had married the love of his life. What if the Mum and Dad in the OP's scenario had been knocked down, and maybe not even killed, but taken to hospital unconscious, if no-one knew about those two dear children sleeping all alone in their house, there are various different catastrophes that could have happened to one, or other of them, before anyone realised they had been left at home alone.

So @OneOliveOtter, yes, I believe that those parents were very irresponsible, if you were one of them OP, would you do the same thing a second time?

Do you know for certain noone else was in the house?

Bad parents