A mother has sparked a lengthy debate after she revealed that she left her 3-year-old daughter in a park as she went to the toilet.
The unnamed mother took to Mumsnet and made the confession.
“We were at a rural touristy attraction, and when we arrived, both my daughter (three, nearly four) and me needed the loo,” she explained.
“My daughter went to the loo, then refused to wait for me and ran out to the play area. The toilets were within the play area but not staffed or ticketed,” the mother continued.
“I told her to wait but she said no and was off, told me she was going on the slides as she legged it away! We’ve been there before so she knows where she’s going.
“I had to go to the loo and therefore she played in the park for two minutes unsupervised.”
The mother also said that her daughter is “very independent and confident,” but she also admitted that she worried about her safety and asked other parents about what they would do in her shoes.
One parent wrote: “She needs to learn she can’t run off when you tell her to stay with you. Take her into the loo with you.”
Another commented: “She’s three. It only takes a moment for a child to be snatched or to fall off a high slide or run off where you can’t find her. You shouldn’t leave her alone.”
A third added: “Not a f***** chance would I have let that happen. Not at all.”
Someone else said: “You know it wasn’t great but nothing went wrong. Just have a plan or better control in place so it doesn’t happen again.”
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