My 36 yr old daughter has gotten in the habit of napping and letting her 4 yr old son just roam around.
Is this normal? Safe? She says, "oh, he's Very intelligent; he'd Never go out in the street." She admits to occasionally locking him out of her bedroom while she naps. I KNOW that when SHE was a kid I NEVER took a nap. How can you sleep knowing a little kid is awake? So she hates me because I criticize and question this and other habits of hers. She thinks I'm overreacting. Am I? Her house is 40 feet from a busy highway.

------------------
Aster

Naps are just one of the things I gave up when I became a mom, and that really hurts now that I am pregnant again. The only time I even think of napping is when my daughter (who is 2) is in her crib. Sometimes I will lay down on the couch and rest my eyes while she is watching her afternoon line-up (one hour's worth of shows) but if she even moves out of her chair, I am right behind her, wondering what she is up to. I can't sleep knowing that she might be wandering around alone. I personally think that young children should be carefully supervised even in the home, lest "something" happen to them, whether it be falling out of a chair, sticking a fork in an electrical socket, wandering out of the house, or being grabbed by someone who happened to peek in a window and see an unsupervised child. A four year old is way too young to trust completely, and most would probably open the door to a "stranger" who had a very compelling story. Just my two cents, agreeing with you!

She should never be sleeping while the child is awake. Why is she needing a nap in the first place if I might ask? If it is because her hours she works or something like that then she should hire someone to watch the child while she naps. She also should NEVER lock him out of her bedroom. What happens if she were to fall into a deep sleep and the house caught fire and or he hurt himself really bad and couldn't get in to wake her? No matter how smart the child is there are way to many dangers in and out of the house to let her nap when the child is awake. If some were to catch this and report it to social services she could very well be in trouble for doing this.

Migable, I love that name!! lol
I agree totally w/all that you said. I mailed it to my daughter who will be P****d off but I do not care.
Thank you, /aster

Thanks for the compliment on the nick as it the first part of my email address and is the first and middle initials of my name with my last name tacked on. Since it is convenient to remember I use it on most forms. Hopefully if your daughter see that she could maybe end up in trouble with social services child neglect maybe that will let her know that she better not keep doing this. If she doesn't change her ways you can always file and anonymous complaint with your social services dept.