Should young children be left alone downstairs?

I think that they should be in an area where they could hear the child if something happened. It’s fine that they find time to nap while their child is watching TV but I think they should be in an area where they could readily attend to the child quickly. I suppose it depends on the dynamics of the house and how well behaved the child is. There is just so much stuff now that can endanger small children that I think it’s best that someone always stay up while they are up. Sometimes it’s hard if the parents have weird schedule because knowing people work the night shift, they have to find sleep when they are able to get it.

I should explain that the bedrooms are upstairs and the living room and the kitchen downstairs. It was at 12:45 in the afternoon and they dont work shifts. He sometimes is up to 3 in the morning playing video games. I find their lifestyle incomprehensible when it was a lovely morning.
She got up to switch on the tv for the kiddie and then went back to bed.

Well, I think that at least one of them should be up watching the child. Or if you want to take a nap, do it in the same area as the child. But I agree with you on this one. He could be playing games while the child is watching TV. That way someone would be up and he can get his fun time in. I remember I slept every minute at night that i could. I couldn’t imagine getting up and playing games when sleep is at a premium =\

My own feeling is what would happen if anything went wrong while theyre sleeping?
To me its pure thoughtlessness on their part – I was quite angry about it.

It doesn’t seem safe to me, the stove for one very important thing. I used to nap on the couch occassionally if my 3 were watching a disney film.

A four-year-old who follows rules well could be left along downstairs to watch television. The child would know not to open the outside doors to anyone, not to leave the house, and to run upstairs to their parents if there is any trouble. They could even feed themselves a breakfast of cold cereal or a peanut butter sandwich.

Some four-year-olds should never be left alone for a minute, but the same can be said for my 15 yo, because he is ADD, ODD and Bipolar. If he isn’t in any trouble he will make some. It depends a lot on the child.

In our household, we chose to be awake when the kids were awake in part because we didn’t want them to spend a pretty day indoors when they could be running or climbing or discovering outdoors. We also had to keep an eye on my son because, as I said above, from his earliest years he would find trouble if there was any to find, or make it himself if there wasn’t any to find.

I can’t say that it is the best parenting practice, but it is not abusive. As long as the child knows to run get them in case of trouble I see no major problem. Now if they were to leave the child at home alone, that would be a different situation.

I don’t think it is the wisest idea.

My parents allowed me to read/draw/play unsupervised, when I was four.

So long as they have arranged the house in such a way that there are no serious dangers, and the child is well-behaved and understands the risks in their environment/what-never-to-touch, I cannot see any issue.

6 or 7 houses down from us, a father took his 2 year old upstairs to put him in bed. He left the 9 month old in the playpen in his living room.
He was upstairs for 5 minutes.
When he came back downstairs, the 9 month old had been kidnapped.
The child was eventually recovered alive, but it had been raped.
They eventually found the guy responsable for it, but it sickened everyone in the area.
Who knows what is safe anymore?

So did the kidnapper have a key?

I wouldn’t sleep, but I don’t see an issue otherwise. My son is 2.5 and I don’t mind him going downstairs without me for a little bit, but if he wants to continue to play down there..I follow.

It probably greatly depends on the maturity of the kid and the set up of the area where the kid is allowed to be. I can nap and let my 2½ year old run around upstairs. If I’m not sleeping, he can run around all over the house, because honestly, he gets into trouble and gets hurt even if I’m standing a foot away from him. Heck, I’ll even watch a movie upstairs or something and let him run around wherever he wants. As long as I can hear the front door open and his voice, there’s nothing I’m worried about. I imagine when he’s 4 I’ll be taking naps while he watches a movie.

@ubersiren I tend to shut the bedroom door (locking my son in) and lay down, so I don’t have to really think about it too much. My son usually ends up passed out along with me…bonus! haha

@casheroo yeah, I sort of corral him in upstairs and leave my room and his room open for him to run between. He often ends up playing with his dinosaurs or something beside my bed.

@The_Idler No key. He kidnapped 2 other children before he was caught.

The time you really have to worry is when you don’t hear any noise at all. That was typically when my kids were doing something they weren’t supposed to. As long as I could hear them, things were okay.