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1. Is it responsible to have a 5 year old play with his/her 2 and half year old sibling in a back room during the Shabbos Seudah?
2. If you were told to watch a 2 and a half year old kid and you will watch them in a specific room is it ok to read and let the kid mind his own business and play or must you actually watch the kid with your eyes the entire time?
This is written by the preschool-counselor me, not the high-schooler me.
1) If it’s a familiar environment (their home or a home they know their way around in) and they’re in shouting distance, I’d say fine (though I’d be neurotic and magnetically attracted to their cuteness and just go watch them anyway 🙂 but that’s just me).
2) As above, I’d probably end up on the floor playing with the kid, but as long as you’re eye is more than half on the kid, I’d do it. What gets to be the problem is when the watcher is texting while the watchee is toddling off into an unfamiliar hotel where it’s mere chance that walking towards her is her loving cousin (me) to help her. As long as the watcher is RESPONSIBLE, I think that’s fine.
I think that if they are very close by and can be seen, it’s not such a problem. If not, it takes less than one second for a child to get into serious trouble when unsupervised. You have to know the child, his/her maturity level, and how safe that back room really is. Personally, I would not leave kids unsupervised at this age. I have seen 4-5 year olds left in charge of infants OUTDOORS, and it troubles me greatly.
As Oomis says, it depends in the kids and on the rooms.
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