At what age would you be comfortable...

[MercyInDisguise]

At what age would you be comfortable letting a child play alone on another floor?

Our house is set up with bedroom, kitchen, living room, and bathrooms downstairs, and two bedrooms upstairs. We painted a room upstairs for C before he was born, but he ended up staying in our room longer than we thought he would, and he is still there. We like it, he likes it, and we are not planning to move him to his own room for quite a while. We were talking this weekend about turning that room into a playroom, especially because our living room is very small and we don't have a lot of space for toys right now.

I frequently leave C playing in the living room while I work in the kitchen, clean bathrooms, etc., but I can hear him playing and poke my head in frequently. At this point I'm not comfortable having him upstairs without me, but at what age is it reasonable to expect that?

[Happygrl]

I think it greatly depends on the child. My daughter would play on a different level before your son's age (usually for under 10 minutes until she was over 2), my middle is 3.5 and there are only some days I'm comfortable with him doing it. :shifty My daughter was a non-stop chatterer, so I could always tell where she was. And she's not the type to get into things, really. My 3yo, OTOH, is silent, stealth and sneaky. :giggle

Bathroom doors area always shut, rooms are well child-proofed, etc. Just different personalities.

[Buela]

As soon as they are able to crawl up or down the stairs to get away from me :shrug3

I will even leave my dd on a different floor for a short time now and she can't follow me, I just listen for fussing and come and get her if I need to.

[Thankfulforgrace]

It depends on the child and how childproof/safe the floor is IMO.

[MercyInDisguise]

It depends on the child and how childproof/safe the floor is IMO.

Upstairs is just the two bedrooms. The playroom would be extremely childproofed, and the guest bedroom (the only other room upstairs) is fairly safe. I would probably put a baby gate on the playroom door if we were to do it anytime soon. Our house is old and the stairs are EXTREMELY steep. C is pretty good at stairs at other peoples' houses, but our stairs just scare me. :blush

[kiloyd]

My children never played away from me for very long, they always seem to gravitate toward me. :giggle

Probably about 2 yrs for short periods, like check on him every 10 min. or so, or at least listen. You could put a monitor in there. Mabye closer to age 3.

[AngelaVA]

I let them as toddlers but I check really frequently and then as they get older I check less and less frequently. E.g. my 2 1/2 year old could be in our downstairs playroom and I'd check about every 20 minutes but my 5 1/2 year old I would probably let her go an hour before checking as long as I didn't hear anything amiss.

[Buela]

As soon as they are able to crawl up or down the stairs to get away from me :shrug3

I will even leave my dd on a different floor for a short time now and she can't follow me, I just listen for fussing and come and get her if I need to.


She did it today :giggle first time, all the way up the stairs! Her sister used to crawl up the stairs to get away from me and get into stuff, but this one is real mama's girl and she's following me :lol

Now I have to remember to keep the bathroom doors closed, because she's also a splasher!

[gardenfreshmama]

My son (17 mo) often plays downstairs (where the playroom is) while I shower upstairs or get ready for the day. He's done that for about 2 months.

[TuneMyHeart]

I agree it depends on the child. E would have been fine at 2, although she was usually attached me so she wouldn't have liked being that far away from me. AK is 3 and I wouldn't be comfortable with her on another floor. :no

[Can'tTurnLeft]

While I say (and believe) it depends on the child...I would say for both of my older kids it has been around 2.5 when they could easily navigate the stairs. The rooms were incredibly childproofed, so I didn't worry. And I checked every ten minutes or so, or if I didn't hear them more often I guess.

[staceylayne]

Our playroom is upstairs and once I'm secure with the kids navigating the stairs on their own they are free to go up and down as they please. I keep a monitor up there that I turn on if I'm in my room or if something noisy is going on (dishwasher running, radio on) where I wouldn't hear them easily. I feel like I can pretty accurately picture what is happening when I can hear them. If it's too quiet I'll sneak up to take a peek...but it's usually innocent puzzle working or book reading.

I have let little ones play alone with the stairs gated for a few minutes at a time while I change out laundry or something downstairs. If they let me escape. ;)