not to give my 18mo DD more freedom?

[Bousy]

My DD is 18 months, my only child, and I'm very protective of her. We don't have a stairgate because she's never near the stairs without me. The same for child locks on cupboard doors. If I'm out of the room (having a shower etc) she's in her cot (with toys) upstairs, or her playpen downstairs. I never leave her in a room alone for more than 30 seconds, because none of the rooms are completely childproof. She doesn't really go into the kitchen at all, because the layout makes it impossible for me to do anything while keeping an eye on her.

Is this paranoid and over the top, or does this seem a reasonable approach? I'm beginning to feel bad about the amount of time she spends 'behind bars' while I'm getting her lunch etc. I don't really have any way to judge whether this is 'normal' or not, so please feel free to judge for me

I'm not saying everybody should live their lives as if one day there dc might have a medical diagnosis: of course, that would be child abuse. Just that we shouldn't judge other parents too easily on what we see from the outside.

I've had so many people say afterwards that of course it would have been totally wrong to have judged me and my parenting- and all the while I'm thinking, but you did judge, I remember it.

point taken.

Day 1 DD had the run of the downstairs room yesterday while I put shopping away and cooked her lunch. She's happy, and nothing disastrous happened. Next stop, stairgates! Thanks again for everyone's advice.