Abit GobSmacked!....Or Is It Me?

kittykat

JonathanA wrote:

Kittykat - "Her contract actually stated that leaving any of the children unattended at any time was gross misconduct - she should have read it!
Shame parents don't have a similar contract really!!!!!"

From the comments on here, parents need the contract too by the sound of things (me included as per my previous post). I couldn't ever leave the kids in the car on a main road though - petrol stations if the kids are with me I use pay at pump & now they're older (6&3) I'd never leave them in the car anyway, they're older and more likely to fiddle with things they shouldn't - like the handbrake....

We used to take my eldest daugher out in the car sometimes to get her to go to sleep - usually this was about midnight after lots of prior attempts, and I'm sure most people have done this too - but this was when she was of an age where her car seat wasn't fixed, so we could lift her out and take her in the house & then transfer her to a cot whilst still sleeping.

I'm probably classed as completely paranoid when it comes to children in cars anyway - my 9 year old still (willingly!!) sits in a car seat on every journey! I too have always just transferred children - asleep or awake - from car to house. When they were younger (up to the age of about 3) I used "grobag" style sleeping bags (I had to buy from Europe way back then - you can now get them just about anywhere!) which meant they could just be deposited in a bed/cot!

You are absolutely right about parents needing 'contracts' when it comes to this sort of thing. If the children from the first post who were left in the car had encountered any sort of accident/incident it would have been all over the front pages the next day!!! And you can bet your life the parents would have considered themselves completely blameless!

CharleneUK

Nope, no way. I don't even leave the kids while I pay at the petrol station, unless it's the 10 year old on her own, even then, I'm constantly looking back and making sure I have full view of the car, let alone a baby/toddler.

I've seen it many times and have actually stood by the car to wait for the parent to return. Once, I was waiting for 45 minutes and the baby had been screaming for 10 minutes, it was AWFUL.

Dumyat

my husband used to fill my car with petrol so that I wouldnt have to leave mine alone in the car even just for the minutes it would have taken to pay. now I realise it was a wee bit OTT but I certainly would not have left them that long.

the rspca have campaigns every summer about leaving dogs in cars....why would it be any different for babies. one of my colleague's car did go on fire their drive. his daughter had been in the habit of letting the grandchildren sleep in the car...you can bet that never happened again!

CRICKETWIDOW_3

I Can Understand And Have In The Past Left My Kids In The Car - Its Hard To Unload 3 Kids (inc 1 Baby) Just To Nip Into The Papershop, Post Office Ect. But I Would Never Leave Them For A Long Period Of Time And Out Of Total Sight I Think Its A Hard Subject To Talk About. Thank God I Can Now Leave The Eldest In The Car And Trust Him To Be Responsable For 20 Mins Or So And Just Take The Other 2 With Me Into The Shop