When do you let them play in another room by themselves?

OK this is a 2 part question:

1. At what point do you feel comfortable leaving your LO's to play in their room when you are not in there?

2. When I go put the baby down in her room should I feel comfortable leaving them by themselves in the living room? I give her a bottle and can be gone for 10-15 minutes. I used to put them in their highchairs when they were younger, and DH has been in between jobs and home with me for the last 2 months. He is going back to work soon and I was thinking about whether I should continue to put them in their highchairs, or I should be comfortable leaving them alone for a little while. The kitchen is gated off and I can put the dining room chairs in another room. Doesn't leave too much for them to get in to. I guess they could break a window... that is all I can think of that they could get in to...

 

I would be more afraid of leaving them in their high chairs than to just let them play in their room or the gated off room for 10-15 minutes. I would get some mega blocks and let them build or just put some of their toys in there and I would feel comfortable.

I have always let my kids play in their rooms by themselves. I have always let my kids have free range of the house and have always been comfortable doing so. I kept bathroom doors closed when they were younger but have never really used baby gates ( I use them for the dog and to gate off the stairs to my boys bedrooms when we have company come over that has little kids)

 

It really depends on how baby proof your house is. My kids were always fine playing in another room but we've always baby proofed a lot (although they still get into things, just not life threatening stuff).

 

My kids have always been okay to play by themselves (IF ONLY THEY WOULD!)
They're very sure-footed and never get into stuff so I never had/have to worry there. I totally trust them and truly always have. They aren't the get into the trash/toilet, climb on top of stuff kind of kids.

It wouldn't even cross my mind to worry about leaving them play wherever when I fed the baby. By 18 months, I was letting them go out into the backyard alone! All kids are different tho, I know that.

You really need to judge for yourself.

GL!

 

I agree with the baby proofing issue. When my girls were 2 our den was baby proofed well and gated off. I could leave them in there while doing chores around the house, checking in every couple of minutes. They usually played nicer together when I wasn't in the room.

 

I am going through this with my boys. I don't know what your boys are like, but mine could find trouble inside an empty cardboard box!!! They know that when I leave to put the baby down for a nap, they have 5 minutes to insight mayhem all over the place. My house is very well baby proofed, but they can squeeze their arms into the baby proofed cabinets and drawers and pull stuff out, usually candy or snacks. They have annihilated our baby changing station, cushions off the couches, climbing on toys to reach the counter top... Anyway, THEY have trained ME. Before I leave them alone, I check the counter top for dangerous items, give them juice, and put on Elmo. That usually keeps them occupied for about 10 minutes until they are bored and on to other things!!! Also, I am very lucky that the baby goes down awake and very easily. He has some music and a stuffed animal he plays with before he falls asleep; it doesn't take much time to put him down.

So the short answer is... I still don't feel comfortable leaving them alone for too long, they are T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!

Good luck!

 

You really won't know until you let them. I had the family room which is in our basement gated off since they were a year old. It is baby proofed and I would leave them down there alone when I would put laundry away or cook. When they turned 3 this year, I finally got tired of of the gate and took it down. They now can go anywhere in the house and I can't say there have been any huge problems.

I still have locks on the bathroom doors but that is it. The main things they do are using their toys to get an extra few inches to turn on the lights or getting a toy I put on the counter. I even leave my bedroom door open and all the do is lay or jump on the bed.

As you can see, some of us have boys that can get in trouble the minute you turn your head and others don't have it as bad.

 

My kids are the kind of kids who get into stuff, climb on top of furniture, etc. I do let them play in their room alone for a few minutes. Sometimes I listen to them on the baby monitor so I can hear what they are doing. We still having issues with emptying drawers, emptying the entire Kleenex box or wipes box, but other than, there isn't much they can get into in their room. I don't really have a choice since I have to put the baby down for her nap 3 times a day. I do not trust them in other parts of the house, though. I think it really depends on your kids' personalities and how toddler-proofed your house is.

 

This happened sort of gradually for us, but it was around that age (sometime between 2 and 2.5). I just gradually realized that I was going for a few minutes at a time without knowing exactly where they were or what they were doing, and it was OK.

Our house was actually not very well babyproofed, but we did it on an as-needed basis and they just never got into very much trouble. It's totally a personality thing. (They are actually much more likely to do accidental damage now, at age 5.5, than they were at age 2.)

If you have a gate and there's nothing breakable within their reach, I think it would be fine. Your biggest problem is likely to be that as soon as they realize you want them to stay there by themselves, they'll be screaming to follow you.

 

I have one of my boys playing and singing up a storm in his room right now. Another one is hopefully sleeping in his room. Their rooms are mostly baby proof. They can still get into their dressers, but the one they know how to open up drawers I have stapled to the wall so it can't tip over. Otherwise, I occasionally get a disaster zone in there, but they are safe. They are 2-1/2 but I've been ding this since they were about 2 years old.

 

I took down the babygate to their bedroom hallway at about 18 months, and this spring, just before they turned 2, we took down the gates to our front door, and to the dining room/kitchen areas. I feel comfortable leaving them long enough to take a shower, or run out to my shed to get something from the freezer. Yes, they do sometimes get into trouble, but everything is fairly baby proofed of anything very dangerous, no lamps, sharp knives up high. The worst they've done is pull all the movies off the shelves, or empty the kleenex box, unload the snack cupboard...etc. :lol: They've had free reign into their room since about 18 months old, and often they will go in there and build with their mega blocks or wooden train track, sometimes for an hour or more, I just keep going to check on them.

We also have a fairly small house, 1300 squ ft, so they are never out of my hearing/sight.

 

I'm with the others, baby proofing is key! :good: Our family room was VERY safe for the kids and I've let them play by themselves in there since they were young. :good: Give it a try one time (maybe even put the TV on?) and do it when you'll just be in the other room instead of putting the baby to sleep but unless you give it a go you'll never know!

 

It probably depends on the kids..mine have been fine from about 2 on...they know what they are not supposed to do and they don't...I could probably nap without worrying about them..

 

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This is so my boys!! It is for this reason I keep such an eye on them. But I am starting to feel like they need some freedom to learn. I just don't want them to get hurt. And I don't want child services called on me, so I wanted to make sure it is normal. LOL

I started letting them play in their room today. I made sure there is nothing in there they could get hurt with. Though, A figured out how to move his kid chair over to the crib to help him climb in! Moved those to the living room!

The one problem I had was they kept trying to close the door (while they were inside and I was out). Any advice on that?

 

I use these on a few of our doors. You can get them at BRU. My issue with doors is that one is in the bedroom and the other is in the hall and they slam the door. My fear is one day we're going to lose a finger.

 

I like those! Wish I had known about them!

What we did, we had an old door bolt, one that looks like this, we installed it on the FRAME of the door, not the door itself, close to the top. Then, when the kids get up, I flip the bolt so it's in the LOCKED position, and it sticks out far enough that when they close the door, the door bumps up against the bolt and it can't be closed, it bounces back open. I think they still got fingers pinched once but not near as bad as the door slamming completely closed. When it's time for bed or nap, I just flip the bolt to the OPEN position, which allows the door to close completely.

Although if I had known about that cute animal prop posted I'd have bought some of them! :lol: