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?

Why on earth wouldn't one go and one stay with the kids? This is awful - I would never do this.

We used to live next door to a corner shop. And I mean next to, we shared a wall 😆
When I ran out of milk, or nappies, I would often wonder if it would be ok to nip in there. I’d be far less than 5 minutes, probably 3 minutes max. And I still didn’t do that. So, no! I don’t think it’s reasonable to go for a completely unnecessary walk for 5 minutes whilst you have 2 very small children alone at home.

You don’t know that Granny hadn’t just popped over.

There are no circumstances that I would have left home and left my children when they were tiny. My husband used to work away from home Monday to Friday when mine were young and this was before online deliveries. A dog can be let out into the garden.

Not acceptable at that age

But how do you know there wasn’t a third adult in the house?

I think you can have bad reasons for correct outcomes. A risk of a fall is an excellent reason to not leave a child unattended. It is not that rare. (In my post i specifically said I'm not arguing for leaving children unattended)

What happened to Madelaine McCann is not a good reason. When making a decision, you should weight both severity and probability in your decision making. Of course Madelaine McCann is about as severe as it gets, but also so so so improbable.

I don’t think what the parents did was right, but there’s a lot of over catastrophising in this thread. What the parents did was wrong but hardly “unforgivable” or “gross negligence”.

Unreasonable. No way.unless there was another adult looking after them?

And what happens if they’re hit by a car or something happens to the house. 5 minutes turns into 10, 10 to 20, 20 to 30 and so on.
Totally unacceptable.

That one of the pair could have walked on their own, for longer if they liked.

Very silly. One of them could have walked the dog. My main concern would be a house fire - knew someone who lost four kids in a fire when parents went to the pub (in the 1960s mind you).

"Just over 5 minutes".

Is that genuine minutes, or "washing machine minutes"??

Either way, there was no necessity for BOTH adults to take the creature for a walk when two young children were in the house.

Not the point of the thread but “Walk an animal”? You mean a dog? Interested to know what animal if otherwise..

Someone near me walks a ferret and even ties it up outside the co-op!

Definitely not ok

What is it with MN and all these house fires that everyone is worried about? Every time someone says this it just illustrates how poor most people risk perception is. Risk of house fire in this situation is extremely remote. Much more likely is kid wakes up falls out of bed/falls down stairs/leaves the house/falls in the pond/chokes on food/gets mauled by family dog…maybe not the last one as it’s being walked.

Round the block maybe

Nope never sorry. Tempting as it is , it's a no. They can wake up screaming , fall out of bed , wonder out of the front door, anything.

Is the 5 minute walk 2.5 minutes one way and 2.5 minutes returning? Not worth it surely? The house must have still be visible?

What’s the point in a 5min walk anyway? But no absolutely can’t leave them for any amount of time. House could burn down in 5mins!

Maybe they went for a 5 minute walk to have a private chat away from the friend/relative they've got staying over.

A child could fall out of a window even with the parents home. No latches when they've been known to sit at the window is a whole issue on its own.

Couldn’t answer the poll because I was unsure whether you were asking if it was unreasonable to leave them or unreasonable for questioning leaving them.
A 3 and 5 year old should not be left alone in a house whether asleep or not. A fire can do a lot of damage in 5 minutes. The open windows are a safeguarding risk for them falling out or someone getting in.

Surely 5 mins is the same amount of time you'd be away if you walked down to the end of the garden to get the bins and put them out

Why is she so panicky? That would sorry me on a 16 year okd

If you only know them to say hello or to nod to how do you know so much about what was going on, ie that they'd already walked their dog twice that day, that there was definitely no additional adult left in the house? Just how much of a curtain twitcher are you?

Honestly it's not ideal but the chances of something disastrous happening in 5 minutes, during which time you are probably still in eye/earshot of your house are very slim.