Do you let your two-year olds play alone?

Sometimes I am doing something, like cleaning, and the girls will wander off together and play in their rooms. My only rule for that is that they leave the door opened. But then they get quiet and I get a little nervous. I'm pretty sure it's completely baby proof-ed in their room, but I can't help but think that they may be too young to not have constant supervision. So even though I tell them to leave their door opened, I cannot feel comfortable to let them stay in there alone. I was just wondering if anyone else with this age group feels the same. I consider myself a pretty laid-back mom, but those awful thoughts that I think pass through every mom's brain just take over sometimes.

 

I do, but check on them constantly, especially if they get quiet. We live in a small house, so everything is close together. It's not that big of a deal here because I can hear them even in the living room. Now that they are older, they usually don't try to just tear apart everything, the actually are playing.

 

I do, and I also check on them frequently.

 

I do, but I have the two older children as well, so they are usually all playing together. If they get quiet, I check on them b/c that usually means they are doing something they're not supposed to.. But sometimes! they are actually being good, playing quietly!

 

I do, but there is a monitor in there room so I can hear what is going on. We just ungated the stairs probably 3-4 weeks ago, so it is still new to them. They don't usually stay in there long. There is a lot of up and down the stairs.

 

We do it as well. Although they are in the playroom which is next to our living room. I can't possibly keep them in the same room as me or be in the same room as them ALL day or I'd go crazy! Sometimes I will even run upstairs to do something in the bedrooms or the bathroom but I can hear them and when it gets quiet, I will check on them. Once in a while I will catch them doing something they shoudn't but most times they are just sitting looking at books or very into whatever activity they are doing. I try my best though about every 30-60 minutes (depending) to stop whatever I'm doing and just sit and play with them for a good 20-30 minutes. I also try to take advantage of the time they are sitting at the table eating (I usually put on a show for them during that time).

I think as long as everything is baby proofed, it's a good idea to give them some freedom and independence to do their own thing. Always however, (like you said) keeping a careful ear.

I also think it's a good idea to put a monitor in their room so you can really hear what they're up to. That way, you can carry it from room to room and always hear them.

 

We did too. The kids have had their own rooms since 1 1/2, and ever since then they have been allowed to play in there (alone or together) unsupervised. It is baby proofed and we check on them regularly (we also have a very small house and can hear everything). Honestly, the worse thing that has ever happened is that they dumped all the toy bins over and unloaded every toy we own.

 

yes, we have been letting them play unsupervised since they could crawl. Their room has a gate and is basically babyproofed (with occassional tweaks such as door handles after jake was locked in the closet by Becca). We can hear that at all times, house is small.

We do let them roam the house quite a bit and they are learning their boundaries (even if they test them).

 

Ditto, always listening and checking when its quiet. Now if find one reading and one playing when its quiet. YAY

 

Mine are 18 months and I would feel comfortable if they played alone in a babyproofed room IF they would ... they are not at the age where they will let me out of their sights for a moment! However, that being said, I don't know how I would feel with the door closed either. Maybe you could get one of those really heavy door stops that maybe they couldn't move and just prop their door open when it is not naptime? I want to say I would be OK with it ... but then I know how crazy things run through your mind like what if this, what if that ... one word of advice is to make sure that either they can't get to windows or you have window locks ... my cousin's kids fell out of a second story window a few months ago and window locks are not something we have in our house ... so it was a wake-up call for me (the kids ended up being OK ... one got a broken arm and one just scratched up ...)

 

:blush: Umm...I do this ALL the time. After playing with them for a few minutes I ease my way out and let them be for a while. I've left them for as long as 30 minutes and they're fine. There's nothing in their room except two cribs, their toys, and a huge open space. Everything's baby-proofed and as neurotic as I can be sometimes, I really don't worry at all about them playing alone. In fact, they do much better without me. The second I come back it's a game of fighting for my attention and trying to see what they can get away with. We've been doing this since they were about 14 months old.

 

Not their rooms, but I do leave them alone in our completely baby-proofed basement playroom -- sometimes up to an hour, if no one is complaining. Like Larami mentioned, they play quite nicely when I'm not there. We've only been doing this for a month or two, because we were remodeling the basement before then.

Their rooms are not an option, because they each have access to a sink (jack n' jill bathroom between them), so I'm afraid someone will climb up and turn on the water.

 

Mine play by themselves in our baby proofed living room all the time while I am in other rooms. I listen and check on them a lot, but I love that they are starting to be more independent!

 

I do because I have a baby monitor that I can turn on and listen to them - it works out well now because I can tell them to go play in their room while I shower (the bathroom is right next to their bedroom - so they pull out the legos and the books and I turn on the monitor and get a shower in peace!