It sounds pretty frightening when it is written out, doesn't it? From everything I have read, people are not only suggesting keeping an eye on children, but have an unrealistic expectation of surveillance 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week without fail. Has society has gone into nanny cam mode as a parenting model?
I see the pressure my own DIL places on herself to be the super mom/ super parent. We discuss the pressure coming in from all sides and how it is very difficult to maintain the level of perfection others place on parents today. So it isn't this case that opened my eyes to such a problem. But it is a problem concerning this case, imo.
She *thought* she knew the location. Watching cartoons in the living room. When I go to sleep at night, I think I know that my kids are safe in their bed. I do not stay up to watch them to make sure. He was watching cartoons. Sounds pretty reasonable.
I work in a school, with Year 1 pupils - aged 5 and 6, so the same age as Noah. The class has a mixture of children from those with special educational needs and other specific needs, to those children who are attaining what they should be at that age, right up to those classed as "talented and gifted". I worked with last year's class too, so another 25 children of Noah's age, differing in abilities across the board. I can honestly say that there wasn't a single child in either class who I would 'trust' to leave unsupervised, even in front of a tv, for 2 hours or more. Simply because they are 5 years old, and are unpredictable.
We aren't allowed to leave any of them unattended even for a minute, let alone 3 hours. Even if they go in the tiny outside area (which is safety checked each day and contains no potential hazards such as water, sharp stones or uneven ground), an adult has to accompany them, even if its just one child.
Having worked with many children of this age, I can honestly say I have never met a single child I would trust to stay put and keep doing the same activity for 1, 2 or 3 hours. They flit from one thing to another all afternoon, their concentration is very limited. Not only that, they often do things we just don't expect - anything from throwing an object at another child without warning, to putting something into their mouth that they shouldn't.
I get that people think a child should be perfectly safe watching tv whilst mum has a nap in another room, but they aren't robots and once they decide they've had enough of watching tv, they will stop doing it and move onto something else. At that point, their sleeping mum has no idea what they are up to. Unless they are strapped into a chair, they could be running a scalding hot bath, turning the oven on, attempting to use a knife or even walking out of the house.
Just my opinion.
