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?

I totally disagree with you that that scenario is nonsense. The fact that you assume that if there was a fire it would start downstairs in the furthest away corner of the house, is what is nonsense imo. I will give you a few examples of my points of view.

Many housefires start in a kitchen, and if, say a chip pan, went on fire, the flames would become ferocious very quickly, easily reaching the kitchen ceiling, if the children's bedroom was right above the kitchen, well it doesn't bare thinking about.

What if there was an electrical fault in the hall, at the bottom of the stairs, and the fire immediately started climbing the stairs - that open window might be the only chance of the children escaping...

What if there was an electrical fault in the socket next to their beds, and it went on fire?

Obviously, if any of those scenarios happened in the middle of the night when the parents were asleep in the next bedroom, and if for some reason, there wasn't a smoke alarm in any of the rooms, then tragically the poor children could still be overcome by the smoke, or even the fire itself. But if their parents had just been sleeping a few feet away, there would at least be a chance that they either heard some noise caused by the fire, or their children screaming... If the parents were outside, 2.5 minutes away, they might have never even got the chance to save their children.

Are there no laws about windows guards for accessible windows when there are young children in the home there?

You talk nonsense.
Of course people should think about what happened to Madeleine McCann when thinking about leaving young children alone.
Not only that, what if one of the children suffered a medical emergency. A choking fit or anaphylaxis? A wasp or a bee is somewhere indoors and stings a child? A fall, a convulsion etc, etc. What if one has a nightmare and wakes up in distress and in doing so frightens the other child? It’s completely irresponsible to leave young children at home on their own even if it is just for 5 minutes or so.

I’m thinking of the 4 boys who died in the house fire in Sutton while they were asleep and their mum popped to the shops

This!

It seems weird they both need to go, especially for such a short amount of time, but how do you know someone isn’t staying with them?

Ermmmm maddie mccan??? It only takes a minute of absence. I’d report them

The only acceptable “walk” would be within sight of the house eg my dog would be walked along the trees on my road, more a sniff than a walk because I was never more than 100m from my house and I only did that when they were older for starters and if exh was on a business trip.

That is quite extreme, surely she has a phone … send her a message if you need to

I'm shocked at the number of posters defending the parents.

it is wrong and unnecessary surely?
how many people does it take to walk a dog

How do you know the children were alone?
Maybe a friend was at the house, who had managed to slip past your surveillance post?.

Ask the McCanns. Jesus wept, what is wrong with people?

To be fair, the McCanns were gone a lot longer than 5 minutes.

As I said upthread, I would never do this as it seems like such an unnecessary risk and I would be very anxious for the whole time I was gone, but looking at it entirely logically I do think the risk of harm is very, very small.

no it’s not acceptable at all. They can’t be trusted for 5 mins if they wake up , particularly the 3 year old who is just a toddler and could get up to all sorts of dangerous things . My five year old would be fine on his own for 5 mins but I woudnt dream of leaving him either anyway. He would be terrified if he woke up alone for one thing and could go out of the house in a panic or goodness knows what. Or what if someone came to the door or broke in etc. all sorts of things can happen in 5 mins .

It’s not appropriate but we don’t know they were on their own.

After suffering a house fire (electrical fault) this year and seeing the damage caused within 5 minutes, absolutely no way.

Children so young cannot ever be left alone. Sitting in the garden ok, assuming it's not a huge garden and therefore you are out of earshot.

Not all dogs will toilet in their own garden so can see why it needed to be walked, but I don’t understand why one didn’t stay at home and the other walk the dog.

If they woke and went looking for their parents it could lead to a tragic situation. When I was a toddler I did two things: got out at night and walked to the corner store and got into the car, put it in neutral and it rolled down the driveway (a very slight hill), across the road and crashed into the fence of the house across the street. My parents must've been terrified on both accounts.

Literally five minutes I think is fine, nothing is more likely to happen during those five mins than at any other time. But I don’t get why they both needed to go, a five minute walk for (I assume a) dog doesn’t need 2 people. Is this a drip feed that you think they were doing something else? And how do you know the kids were asleep and not playing with knives and matches, maybe they were actually getting the DDog to safety 🙃

Most children die at the hands of their parents. Ironically they may well be safer for the 5 mins they are alone than if their parents had been there.

The odds of children being kidnapped are plane crash territory, but IWBU to not take your children abroad for this reason.

To the end of the road and back but I live in a cul de sac where I can see the front door at all times!

I can’t believe the amount of people who think this is fine. It’s absolutely not. You don’t leave a 3 and a 5yr old alone, ever. There’s 2 parents here so one stays back with the kids. A lot can happen in 5 minutes whether you can see the house or not.

I wouldn't do this but they might have a in-room camera viewable on their phone. When I'm away for work I sometimes check in on my sleeping children (obviously there's still an adult at home with them). So maybe they had that on while they did the walk.
But this camera wouldn't be able to tell me if the downstairs of my house caught fire, for example.
Also are you sure they don't have a visiting relative who was at the house, for example?