3.5 year old DS came home from the park on his own today.

[fruitstick]

Please tell me how you would have reacted in this situation!

DH took DS1 to the park today while I stayed at home. DS1 came in on his own, I asked where Daddy was
'He's lost'
'Did you run on ahead?'
'No, he's in the park'

I then grab my coat and go searching, with DS1 for Daddy who is running round the streets.

Turns out DS didn't want to leave the park so DH did the whole pretending to leave thing and started walking towards the exit. DS took it upon himself to hot foot it to the alternative exit and beat him home.

Once my heartbeat returned to normal I was at a slight loss as to what to do. DS genuinely thought DH had left him there so decided to get himself the 300m home (crossing a fairly main road). I explained very firmly that no matter how many times he looked each way it was a very dangerous thing to do.

Didn't feel like I could lay into DH as, to be honest, he had been punished enough!

and breathe

Well done to your DS, albeit not exactly what you would want, but good to know he is resourceful!

The only thing I could say would be to tell DH to keep a better eye on him next time... but one presumes he will have learnt this lesson himself.

Your poor DH, he must have nearly had a heart attack.

DH did try desperately to think of ways that it was my fault

Secretly I'm quite proud of DS for being sensible, as he saw it, an coming home. Very difficult to explain why he shouldn't have done it given that he thought DH had left him there.

The trouble is he is very tall for his age and his speech and language are very good. I am frequently outfoxed by this logic! I suppose we both occasionally forget that he is still just a baby!

Oh gosh. How terrifying.

This is precisely why I don't use the 'okay we're leaving without you' trick because I'm frightened this would happen!

He sounds a very resourceful boy.

I'm convinced he'll grow up to save the world or become a crackpot dictator. The jury's out

Good for him! Sounds very sensible to me.

Don't tell anyone off. No-one did anything wrong. But try to make sure DS knows that he musn't ever do it again because of traffic.

Lol you're going to have to sharpen your debating skills with him.

is this your 3.5 ds whos aw his xmas presents?
wow, what a day.
dont blame your dh too much. these things happen, glad he made his home alone. i will be having heart attack too if i wa you

Diva - it is!

Honestly, I can't believe that he's not even 4 and I'm permanently on the back foot!

Sheesh. That would have scared the life out of your DH! Feel sorry for him, I would have said the same to my DC's though.

Thank God they're not that clever

DD is 3.5 and sounds very much like your DS. She had a similar strop because she wanted to go straight home from the park rather than via tesco for some milk. She declared that she would go home herself and wait for us, and started walking off towards home but then turned back. We laughed and said "You didn't get very far then" until she said "Actually, I came back to get the keys mummy."

Sounds like you've been very lucky. I do this with ds but always make sure I have him in eyesight even if he can't necessarily see me.

He sounds like a very sensible 3.5 yr old though I'd be hiding his passport when he's older!