Locking a child in a room
Question: I have a few parenting questions for Rav Baruch. In our class last week one women
claimed that it is forbidden to leave a baby or child sleeping in a locked room.
(The issue came up because one woman said she leaves her baby sleeping in the crib
while she goes downstairs to meet her little boy at his tender. She is gone no more
than 5-10 minutes and she knows that the baby is a good sleeper.) Any comments?
Answer:A child locked in a room who is hysterical and frightened is considered a state
of pikuach nefesh in which shabbos is violated in order to open the door to let
the child out. Based on that, there probably was an awareness of the danger of leaving
a child alone in a locked room. However, if the child will not be frightened, e.g.
you expect him to sleep, and you are trying to keep the child safe rather than put
him in danger, it is acceptable to lock the door on the sleeping infant. Generally,
when dealing with reasonable people, issues regarding safety to children are best
determined by those people that love the child the most. Usually, a reasonable parent
is the best judge of what is safest for the child.
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