[...] here we were thinking a toddler in the middle of the road was bad. OK, it’s still [...]

[...] not saying that the kid should be taken away by child services. But why does this happen so often? Maybe it’s because I grew up in a place, The Bronx, where we lock our doors on a regular [...]

I totally left my toddler alone with a 10-year-old today while I went upstairs to fold a load of laundry. It was such a relief. I’m sure if I had my own 10-year-old, I’d do that all the time.

I think it’s silly that the neighbor said, “If you’re a parent, I’m sure it’s happened to you before.” As if every single child has at one time crawled around in traffic.

What PP have failed to realize is that this specific situation, horrifying as it is, COULD happen to a good parent. We all let our guard down from time to time, so instead of the holier than thou attitudes, we should all be sporting a bit of ‘there but for the grace of God’. Your child may not have crawled in traffic, but I bet you have found him or her in an unsafe situation that you could have prevented (could have = constant, completely attentive vigilant parenting – how realistic is that?), examples include on the table, climbing a shelf, etc.

Well stated don’tjudge. My brother was capable of unlocking a door at age three and “escaped” a few times. Thank God we didn’t live on a busy road.

Barb, I’ve also had stuff happen with my kids where I walked away thinking, “Thank God that DIDN’T happen in front of a crowd.” Situations where nobody gets hurt or even comes close but you just make a mistake or an error of judgment or lose focus or something, and wind up thinking, “Well, that was dumb. Clearly not winning Parent of the Year.” And then you remember that situation and it doesn’t happen again. I bet that mom will never leave her door unlocked again.

Of course we all do stupid things and are lucky when it all comes out OK. But the choice of words was dumb. How about, “We all do careless things from time to time.” It would be more accurate. I’m not judging the family, I’m judging the neighbor. Ha!

@MomofBeans – thank you! That’s been in my head lately for some reason, although I haven’t seen Woody Woodpecker in years.
@Jackie – apologies. We will correct the photo credit. If you want the pic taken down, please let us know. Thanks!

Comments My three year old has been found wandering down the block more than once at my house. We now know that we have to use the chain lock on our doors. That will work until he figures out that all he has to do is push a chair up and open it. When something like this happens, it’s terrifying, but I’m not sure exactly what I should do when I have to tend to the baby on the second floor and my three year old is playing downstairs. Do I have to literally take him EVERYWHERE in the house with me? Sometimes I feel that way, but really what happens is that I am constantly up and down the stairs. Run up to settle the baby, run down to make sure 3 yo isn’t running down the street in his training pants, run back upstairs to settle the baby again, run back down to make sure 3 yo isn’t on the kitchen counter. I could lock him in his room, but the wailing and door slamming would keep the baby awake. Some of us have mellow kids, and some of us have very BUSY ones. If you have a busy one, you know what I mean. You can be a very attentive/safety conscious parent and these kids will still get into trouble. Think about how long it takes to walk out the front door and into the street. While I’m sure the perfect parent could never take their eyes off their kid for that long, most of us imperfect ones have to walk away for 10 seconds from time to time.

Most of the time I think it’s just attention seeking because he knows I’m busy with the baby. My son is definitely on the more ‘spirited’ end of the spectrum when it comes to temperament, but I honestly don’t think he’s overthetop hyper in a way that the doctor needs to be involved. The majority of the time, he listens to me, but he has obstinate days and/or afternoons/mornings/whatever. Aside from attention seeking stuff, he gets think kind of crazy manic overtired energy in the afternoons ever since he stopped napping.
Maybe it’s just the people I hang out with, but he’s not THAT much more crazy than the other three year olds we know (aside from the occasional super mellow ones we meet). Thanks for your concern though. I think that I’ll have to see how he does in preschool before we could make an assessment as far as his behavior goes anyway.

My point really was just that things happen REALLY fast. And sometimes the little stinkers surprise you. Like, for instance, before about 6 weeks ago, I never had to worry about my son walking out the front door or getting on the counter. He’s just traded an old behavior for a new one. Ya know?