so, how irresponsible would it be......

[MrsMc82]

...... to go to the corner shop while ds (6mo) is napping....

just want to gauge how terrible it would be to do this and if anyone actually would do it.....

would take me 5 mins to get there and back if was just grabbing some bread and milk for instance (and have even thought that i could even have the home phone next to the monitor and listen to it on my mobile? - see thought about it lots!)

main reasoning is that its a faff to the buggy out of the car and then get him in it just to go round the corner...... though is it actually illegal??

I totally get what Seeker is saying. And what AF says too.

FOr me it DID come down to fear of getting judged. My rational mind knew full well that DS would be fine. My rational mind ALSO knew that I would most likely be fine too. My rational mind then kicked in with: 'what if someone I know sees me?'. I decided not to do it. Every time the same train of thought and the same end result.

I agree, my fear of being judged and even reported to the police or social services is much greater than my fear of anything happening to my children.

Off topic a bit but I am quite determined to let my children walk to school by themselves when the time comes and my biggest worry about it is the reactions of others to my 'irresponsibility'

I did it while my neighbour stood at her door with both our front doors open

I'm by no means a fusspot when it comes to DD - I run all kinds of wild and crazy risks now she is approaching 4 (leave her in the car for petrol/have a shower/carry out tasks upstairs while she is down or vice versa )

But no, I would never do this. It would cross my mind, but I would never do it.

I would never mention on MN that it had crossed my mind either.

Blimey! I just posted and disappeared (not to the corner shop I hasten to add!! :o )

Really interested in all the replies..... Reassured to hear that general consensus is that its crossed most peoples minds - so I'm not massives neglectful to have thought about it!! - But most people wouldn't do it - TBH I don't think I could actually do it, even with my mobile phone/monitor master plan, it just wouldn't sit right with me

• "I don't want to do this because it doesn't feel right, and doing it would make my heart beat so fast it might choke me" pretty much sums up the feeling I'd have, but if I did I'd massively judge myself for leaving DS and then I'd judge myself because it would be really bloody lazy of me not to just carry him to the shop (and I do lug him to the shop on many occassions)

Though I do leave him in the car when I pay for petrol sometime but this makes me twitchy too so more often than not I go to the petrol station that has the pay at pump option!!

Never thought that being a mummy would involve so many inner wrangles on a daily basis - who knew?!

Btw - Like the suggestion of going to the evacuee style note around my neck - just in case!!!

I'm with Seeker on this one.

It wouldn't be illegal per se.

I used to leave mine for five minutes to go and post letters. They both seemed to survive.

It was only on MN that I realized the awful risk I had been running in having a shower while my toddler played happily in a child-proofed room downstairs.

Other Europeans must think we're insane. A friend who's been in Germany for a few years asked me if I thought she was going to be considered 'bad' for leaving an eight-year-old and 11-year-old alone for half an hour each morning while she runs. Not by me, I told her. But given the hysteria in the UK no doubt someone will be telling her that the house will spontaneously combust while she's out.

not THAT irresponsible

When DD was a baby DH left her a couple of times to pick me up from the station so I didn't have to walk home on my own in the dark - he could see the train pass our window so could time it perfectly and was only away for 5 minutes - neither of us over-analysed it

My mum says she left me sleeping a few times to go to the local shop

"If you're carrying the baby and something happens to you it would happen to the baby too!" - exactly!