Since I have so many parents of young toddlers on my FL, I have to know if I’m completely off base here. The post is about a 4 year old who died in a front loading washing machine after she climbed in and her 15 month old brother somehow hit start. She was in the tumbler for at least 2 minutes before her mom found her.

One person (who started the thread I linked to) asks where the mother was. I know nothing about 4 year olds yet, but I cannot contemplate leaving Elias alone like that for minutes on end. Our apartment isn’t 100% babyproof, so the only time I leave the room is when he’s completely occupied by a toy and I can hear exactly what he’s doing every single second I’m away. Then, I don’t leave the room for more than a few seconds, just to go grab something or put something away.

I’m really not trying to judge the mom. She is going to be her own worst judge about this situation for the rest of her life.

But I REALLY don’t get all the parents with the reaction of, “What!? Your child is at your hip every single moment!?” I get that the 4 year old should be fairly capable of playing on her own for lengths of time, but she wouldn’t have been able to hit the start button herself (I don’t think, I’m not familiar with the way these front loading washers work), nor should she have been responsible for her 15 month old brother. So I don’t get why the mom had no idea what her children were up to for over 2 minutes.

The overwhelming reaction to this post seems to be that leaving your young toddler alone in a non 100% baby proofed environment for minutes at a time is hunky dory and to be expected. Really?

Popularity: 1% [?]