Under what circumstances + for how long would you be ok with leaving the house while your dc are sleeping?

[thesleepingbeauty]

I have a (rare!) girls night out coming up in October, and I've decided to get the train into town as I'll be having a few drinks.
Dh will be looking after ds, and probably dropping me off at the station, or I'll walk (only 10min).

Coming back is a bit of a problem though, as dh doesn't want me walking home on my own at that time of night (even though I'd have no problem with it, unless it's pissing down with rain!).

Anyway, do you think it's an option for dh to leave ds sleeping and pick me up from the station? Or is that a complete no-no? It would mean he's out of the house for 10mins at the most. I admit I've left ds sleeping while I go down to the utilities room to put a wash on or hang a wash up and been gone longer than that, but somehow that doesn't seem such an issue.

What do you think?

PS Cabs are not really an option as there aren't any cab firms in our village, and the few times I've tried arranging one have ended up with me standing outside the train station on my own waiting and waiting and waiting...I could have walked it in that time!

absolutely not.

Well, he wouldn't know he's on his own, too young to get out of bed, but he'd be pretty pissed off if no-one came into him if he woke up crying.

I'm not going to do it (I will probably wait for cab for half an hour and then end up walking anyway ), I just wondered what the general feeling on this was.
Should have known really!
But now that I come to think of it, I know a few people who go to neighbours whilst leaving the dc sleeping...

No no no. Leaving DS is not an option.

Can a neighbour pop in for a few minutes whilst DH gets you? Can you cycle? At least you'd be at risk for a shorter time.

No, no, no.

Can YOU not make the decision that you are fine with walking home?

You are an adult woman - if you're fine with walking ten minutes home, then do it. It's a pretty normal thing to do - ime!

Better than leaving children alone in a house, anyway.

Depends how old your child is. If he is 15, then it's fine. If he is under 11 I'd wake them and bring them along for the drive.

'I know a few people who go to neighbours whilst leaving the dc sleeping... '

well if they want to be irrisonsible thats groovy.do you want to be?

I would say no.

How far is town? Could you not get a cab back from there?

No, I don't want to be irresponsible, but it had just occured to me that some other people obviously don't see it as a problem.

My point with the comment about quite a few people leaving their children sleeping whilst going to a neighbours was to illustrate that actually there are differing points of view on this, despite everyone here giving a very definite NO.

I'm not going to ask dh to pick me up, I will, as I said, probably end up walking home as I have no problem with that.

No, I wouldn't do it. Tho can see your DH's point of view.
Either ask neighbour in for 10 mins, or lift DS into car and hope he settles quickly when you get back, or at worst phone your DH when you get off the train and keep in phone contact with him so he knows you're safe.

Oh crikey this is absolutely fine - your DS won't be any the wiser.

My mother left me and my sister asleep in bed every day to drop/pick my father up from the station - a round trip of 20-25 minutes.

The other day I closed the front door on my sleeping DD as the babysitter was late arriving and I had to leave. I knew she wouldn't wake in the 7 to 10 minutes it was going to take for the babysitter to arrive.

I wouldn't do it. Just get a taxi.

I wouldnt do it either, its not worth the risk. If it was me I would rather put myself at the very slight risk of something happening to me walking home than risk my childrens safety.

Anna8888 that is shocking if I was the babysitter would have reported you.

good lord no! what if you had a car accident

and anna each to their own but i think thats madness,sorry

To whom, prey?

Anna8888-what if baby sitter hadnt arrived?

Just as a matter of interest - under what circumstances would you leave the house whiles your dc were sleeping? Are there any?

Anna8888 - quite a few of my friends here also wouldn't see it as a problem. My instinct is telling me it's not ok, but are we maybe being over-cautious?

Her father lives opposite and had the keys (so said babysitter could let herself in) so he would have known if she had got lost (and would have been worried about his own daughter).

my goodness no, 18 months! I don't leave my 9 year old DS if I'm driving somewhere (incase I had a crash or something), definitely not a baby!

To the police or social services.
I hope it was a life or death situation that you were rushing to ?

Anna what if the babysitter hadn't showed? Jeez, I think that's crazy behaviour. And yes maybe your Mum did it but doesn't make it any more right! Previous generations put rum in babies milk does that mean it's ok?

I used to leave my daughter sleeping (when she was a baby) to put the rubbish out (5 minutes) or do really urgent shopping when she was ill and I didn't want to take her outside (10 minutes).

I always knew she wouldn't wake as I knew her sleeping patterns so well.

The police or social services here would not be interested in such a banal piece of information.

but what if someone had been banging on the door and woken her, the phone had rung, a fire had broken out? If anyone had know and social services had been called...well, it doesn't bear thinking about.

under no circumstances.nothing is that important that i will leave my children(who are 8,7 and 2 btw)alone.if its important id wake them and take them with me or get someone else to sit with them.

i wonder why ops dh thinks an adult walking home alone in unacceptable but leaving a baby home alone is acceptable???shocking.