Have/would you leave your kids sleeping alone in the room and go f/swim? *SEE #159*

[LaurenLC]

No, I wouldn't leave my children alone in a hotel room to swim regardless of how close the pool was. But I have to ask, why bother asking the question if you have obviously already made your mind up?

 

[Zeebs]

Yes I would - my kids are 5, 4 and 9 months. But I also fall in into the other crazy catergory of no monitors, using in room childcare and popping across the street to drop the eldest off at the walking bus while other two are playing in the lounge.

My 9 month very rarely wakes up once put to bed and believe me I would hear her even without the monitor LOL.

Kirsten

 

[PEANUT1]

I would not feel comfortable with it. I don't think you would either...otherwise you would not have even posted this question. I am a pretty laid back mom. I have used in room babysitting at disney as well as the kids clubs. Unless I was on the ground floor and only a few steps away from the room, I would not leave them. Yes I will sit on the patio while the kids are sleeping but I am basically connected to the house...not really the same thing.

 

[lurkernj]

Which line stated that I was right? I stated what I would have done.

well, I guess reading comprehension escapes even the author at times.

Which part of your post didn't you comprehend?

 

[kimkoz]

No thats not for me. I would just worry eventhough I could see the door would I be able to get out of the pool fast enough if something would to happen.

I'm the person that even with monitors I don't like leaving my yard with kids inside. Not only do I worry about strangers but fire.. Could I get back into the house in that case.

I'd say don't worry about it now, you have to wait and see your room first anyways.

 

[woodkins]

CBR has rooms by quiet pools that you just about fall into the pool from your room door. This is what gave me the idea. I said, "Next trip we are getting one of these rooms." Really. You could almost kick the chair to the poolside table by doing a long stretch out your door. What is the difference between sitting outside the door of your room on the ground and going 10 more feet or so to the edge of the pool?

Honestly, I am totally shocked with the replies thus far. Of all the crazy stuff I have read on here. LOL

I'm not shocked at all & I have to say I agree with the majority that this is not a good choice. I see on your ticker you are staying at the Pop and the rooms are not very close to the pool, even if you paid for a preferred pool location. There is no way you could be in the pool while listening to the monitor with your eyes glued to the door at all times. At that point why even bother, it certainly doesn't sound relaxing or enjoyable to me

Okay, I'm not saying you're silly, but I do find all these examples to be so silly. What in the world is the difference in between being in my own home and feet from the one hotel room door?! How come no one is answering any of these questions, such as the pp posted. Do you sit on your front porch after the kids are asleep? If you have connecting rooms, do you leave both inside doors wide open at all time when the kids are asleep. (Personally, I have never locked either of them, but leave both open a crack.)

I mean, I just can't keep saying how floored I am at the responses. Maybe it's just the group of people on tonight. People post on here all the time that they *lock* their children in their rooms at night(not I), leave them cry to sleep(not I), would never use a monitor(not I). Do they know if their baby is sleeping in vomit all night or perhaps had a seizure even? What if there is a fire and their door is locked? What if they fall our of bed while they are crying to sleep and crack their head open. For pity sakes!

ETA: My mind is made up. My opinion is that I don't see a problem with it "under the right circumstance".
I didn't post for advice, I posted just because I was wondering what others would/or would not do.

Having children sleep at home in their own beds and home in familiar settings is totally different than sleeping in a hotel room in a strang place that is unfamiliar to them. All it would take is for one of them to wake up and slip out of the room to look for you in the split second that you take your eyes off the door and blink. Pop is a huge resort and they could wander off and become lost in an instant. I don't think kidnapping or something like that is a huge risk, but having them take a wrong turn around a corridor could become very disorienting, particularly if they are half asleep and it is at night. I now I have gotten turned around trying to find my room at Pop! It would not be a risk I would be willing to take.

 

[Sugar Jones]

Our room at POR this past September was perfect for the situation you are describing.

I could have sat in the pool, relaxed and stared at our room door.

If I wasn't so exhausted after a day at the parks I would have felt completely comfortable leaving the kids sleeping while I went down for a quick dip.

They were 8, 6 & 3 at the time.


In the summer in the evenings I will sit on our front porch with a drink while my kids are in bed without a monitor. No big deal.



Everyone's comfort zones are so different. I find it to much more dangerous to let my 8 yr old go into a men's washroom alone, but have been laughed at on here for that exact reason.

 

[disneychic2]

I'm not sure why you are defending your stance if your mind is already made up. You asked what others would do in this circumstance and people have told you. You have said what you believe and to me that's all that is needed. Would I do it? No. Do I think you're a horrible parent for contemplating doing it? No. We all make the best decisions we know how to while raising our children and we all make mistakes. Good luck to you. I hope your trip is everything you want it to be.

 

[momof3poohlovers]

Then your post has ceased to make any sense to me. You have a 13 year old and a 13 month old. The OP's oldest child is far more like the former than the latter, and yet you compared her child to the latter. Why? To guilt trip the OP?

Letting an 11 year old eat with a fork is to letting a 13 month old eat with a fork, in the same way that letting an 8 year old be alone in a room with siblings and parents in shouting distance is to letting a 13 month old be alone in a room with siblings and parents in shouting distance.

I can not picture your pool at all. You have a pool. It has a fence that goes all the way around it and is locked. And yet somehow you have doors. Multiple doors, that open to the pool area? Wouldn't they open to a fence?

The OP also has a 2 year old. That was my concern which is why I used my 13 month old as an example. I also made a mistake in my post, my son is 12 not 13 yet.

As far as the pool goes, we built it long before we knew we would be having another child. Yes, I know it is hard to believe but we actually have doors that go out to our back patio from our family room and master bedroom. The patio is about 100 feet long and 10 feet wide. There is a wrought iron fence that starts where the covered patio ends (about 10 feet from the house) that has a locked, self closing gate. The pool is directly on the other side of the fence. The pool is only 35 feet long, the fenced in portion, including the cement around it probably makes up a total of about 75 feet(?) so the doors on my house lead out to the patio, not a fence. There is even room on either side of our pool to get to the rest of our yard on either side of the pool. I don't know what is so hard to imagine. I hope that helps.

As far as the OP goes, I guess at first I was imagining you being much further away from the pool than you will be. You weren't very clear at first. I have not stayed at that resort before, only the deluxe resorts/ DVC villas and I have never noticed rooms very close to the pool. I was not being sarcastic about letting the front desk know what you want to do. I was being serious because if you really feel that you want to do this, you should be as close as possible to the pool and hopefully they can help do that for you.

 

[ekmom]

Look at this picture from CSR.

If I was in one of those ground floor rooms, I would have no problem with being in the pool while my kids were asleep in the room.

 

[tink15823]

I have a dumb question but could you not take turns with Dh . One night you could go to the pool and take a quick dip the next night he can go first . For me I would not be willing to take a chance that a one in a million freak thing could happen. If you are comfortable were not going to change your mind anyway. Are you sure your older child would not open the door if they said they were room service, housekeeping maintenance or public service agent . Mine would and his dad is a 911 dispatcher he knows better but when your in a different environment they don't always remember safety first !

 

[arihillfarm]

Ahhh! These threads drive me nuts, of course it's fine! I wouldn't feel comfortable if I could not see the door, but you already said you would only do it if you could see the door, so what is the problem? There are seriously people who do not go out into their own yards while their kids are asleep???? Everyone who spends so much time hovering over their kids really needs to see the documentary Babies and see how kids around the world are raised. They are left alone, and with wild animals running about no less, and guess what at the end of the documentary all the babies were still alive! You know why we all know the name Madeline Mccann? Because what happened to her was so incredibly rare that it made headlines around the world! It happened in Europe several years ago, but the way the media hypes everything parents seem to think this sort of thing happens around every corner every day. Go, swim, enjoy, your kids will be sleeping when you return.

ITA with you, but then we routinely leave the house to check the mailbox, clean stalls, feed animals, work horses, wash cars, swim, do some work in the yard or garden, use the hot tub, etc. when the kids are sleeping at night or taking naps, while carrying a monitor with us. Otherwise we'd never get anything done. The only thing I will not do is go out to the barn and leave the front door unlocked, since I would not be able to see anyone walking in the front door and now that my 2 year old son is in a toddler bed, I won't leave him sleeping alone in the house unless I'm going out in the front yard (so I could see if he tried to leave and head for the road) so that means that either an adult or my 10 year old daughter is in the house with him for most other outside activities unless we're staying close to the house (the barn is about 200 feet behind the house but with a clear line of sight).

In the OP's case, I know how close some of the groundfloor rooms are to the pools she's talking about and if I had a room that close to the pool and could see the door at all times and had a monitor, I'd go swimming if the kids were asleep. These are the quiet pools and are small anyway so it's not like we could ever even be that far away from the room door and I'd check on them regularly. Even better would be a video monitor to make sure that no "quiet" monkey business was going on.

-Astrid

 

[brockash]

I don't know where you are planning on staying but I don't know of any resort room that is only 10 feet away from the actual pool. I just don't understand how you could relax knowing your kids were in the room by themselves but that is just me. I would think if someone saw you and security was called there could be a whole lot of trouble for you. Is it worth it? Again, I am sorry, as I said I usually don't like to post on these kinds of threads.

ITA! Honestly, if someone did call security, or if god-forbid something did happen, you'd probably be charged with child neglect. So, are you asking if that's okay

 

[Mom of 3 Princesses]

I honestly really try to never post negative things to anyone because I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and parenting styles but have you ever heard of Madeleine McCann? She was a little girl who was kidnapped from her resort room while her parents ate dinner right across the way. Please do not do this even if the room is literally right next to the pool. What if there were a fire? I really hope you are just kidding.

Yep... That was my thought exactly.

 

[Disneymadhouse]

I haven't read all the posts but as soon as I read the Op's question my first thought was Madeline McCann. I live in England and it has been debated at every family gathering and girls night out i have been on. Her parents didn't think they were doing anything wrong either. (I'm not saying they had anything directly to do with her disapperance - i just think they were negligent to leave their children alone).

i guess the OP should just do what they think right - personally i will probably be using my "baby" monitor - even at home until DD is 16!!

 

[sbsteel]

Look at this picture from CSR.

If I was in one of those ground floor rooms, I would have no problem with being in the pool while my kids were asleep in the room.

Funny you posted that pic, that's exactly where we were on our last trip to CSR. See that table towards the left? Our room was right behind it, so we let DS sleep in the pack n play and we sat at the table with the video baby monitor and enjoyed a couple adult beverages while enjoying the pool view. It worked for us.

 

[imthatgirl]

ITA! Honestly, if someone did call security, or if god-forbid something did happen, you'd probably be charged with child neglect. So, are you asking if that's okay

so after reading this I was curious as to Florida's laws on leaving children unattended. Turns out there is no law regarding age in Florida. however there is a "recommendation" that no child under the age of 12 be left without adult supervision. Further there are laws that state all children must be "adequately" supervised.

So I guess it's up to the officials if this would be legal or not.

Turns out(and this is news to me) there are only 2 states in the country that have laws regarding the age of which a child can be left unsupervised. Those are Maryland and illinois.

 

[DeniseinNS]

Look at this picture from CSR.

If I was in one of those ground floor rooms, I would have no problem with being in the pool while my kids were asleep in the room.

It says in the OP's sig that they are staying at POP Century on their upcoming trip, the pools there are definatly not as close to the rooms as in the pic posted.

 

[kidshop]

I'm hoping we can see our room door from the pool so dh and I can go for a swim with the baby monitor nearby after the kids are asleep. I wouldn't feel comfortable unless we could see the door and hear with the baby monitor. Anyone else do this or feel okay doing this? Our kids will be almost 6 and 8, and a 2yo.

ETA: I'm talking a few feet from the door, not 100. In clear view of the door at all times.

No.

I have, however, at home gone next door or out in the back yard briefly. It seems different at home than at a public place. Maybe it's not.

I would not leave sleeping kids alone where they would not know where I am if they wake up, especially in a strange environment in a public place.

 

[Zeebs]

Op - going to pool, can see door, will have monitor,

Madeline McCann - Went to dinner, couldn't see door, sent someone to check every 15 mins did this almost each night while there. Kidnapper knew this routine and took advantage of it.

Total different situation.

The Op also has stated she didn't post to find out "IF" she should do it, but to see how many people felt the same way as her and how many didn't.

Everyone parents differently if you don't like the idea of doing something like this you don't do it that is your choice they are your children. That said I don't feel I have to justify my decisions should I do it.

Kirsten