Unattended young kids in car - would you have done anything?

Tigsteroonie

If, on seeing this, you go in and report it in-store, then you are again leaving the children unmonitored.

I wonder if the best thing to do, if you're that concerned, is to stay outside watching the car and ready to react if anything untoward did happen (for example, if the handbrake released you could probably stop the vehicle from rolling). At least you are doing your best to ensure the children's safety.

nearlyrich

Some people don't understand the responsibility of parenthood.

phill99

As a nation we are now obsessed, almost to a level of dangerous paranoia, about children being abducted. In reality however, abduction bay stranger is, thankfully a very rare thing and is why when it happens, it is so news worthy and gains so much media overage.

If a test was set to name all children abducted by a stranger in the last decade, most of us could name a few. And many could probably name all of them. But it is no more than half a dozen cases. It is a very rare crime.

Most children who are abducted are abducted by someone known to them.

While I'm not suggesting the parent (or guardian) was right to leave children unattended, we just need to put the whole thing into perspective and take a reality check.

pulliptears

When DD was about 8 I nipped into Tesco on the way home from Brownies one evening, I was literally in there for 5 minutes and at 8 years old I didn't think there would be a problem.

When I got back to the car DD was sobbing her heart out, a car had pulled in to the space in front and hit my car with some force (enough to push it 2 ft back out of the space). The woman then got out of the car and went into the shop leaving my daughter sat there incredibly frightened and upset.

As it transpired the woman claimed to have not realised she hit my car (impossible, but thats another story) though fortunately at the time I drove a Punto with big plastic bumpers which saved the car from any damage, though DD was a little shook up from the whole thing.

After that I never left her in the car again and I certainly wouldn't have left children as young as OP describes in the first place.

persa

I was left in the car unattended when I was younger, but only when I was big enough to know how to unlock the car and get out in the event of an emergency.

I can sympathise with the parent/carer, it's a lot of hassle getting children in and out of cars - but in this case, I think they were far too young to be able to react suitably to any problems. I genuinely don't know what I would have done, maybe hovered and hoped to catch another grown up in the car park for help.

hemophobic

Sometimes it takes me longer to undo their car seats and strap them back in than it takes in the shop, but I still wouldn't leave my 4 and 2 yr old siblings in the car.

make_me_wise

I have very young twin girls and would never leave them in the car by themselves. Even if it meant having to wake them up to get them out of their car seats. If they were asleep and I popped away they would be frightened if they woke up and I wasn't there. There is also the risk that they might choke. Very unlikely but you never know. No amount of saving a minute or two here or there is worth putting yourself through excruciating 'if onlys' if god forbid something did happen.

The poster who mentioned a car hitting hers puts this situation into perspective for me. Its just not worth the risk in my opinion.

persa

pulliptears wrote: »

When I got back to the car DD was sobbing her heart out, a car had pulled in to the space in front and hit my car with some force (enough to push it 2 ft back out of the space). The woman then got out of the car and went into the shop leaving my daughter sat there incredibly frightened and upset.

That's a cautionary tale if ever I heard one... Thanks for sharing, it genuinely hadn't occurred to me.

amiaspden

DKLS wrote: »

At what point did parents become so soft? Cotton wool sales must be through the roof.

Growing up there was many occasion I was left in the car usually with pop n crisps and told I could play with the gears but not the handbrake, surprising despite this huge amount of risk I survived to adulthood.

When I was a small child my parents used to leave me in the car outside the pub. One time I was left on a carpark that sloped down to a main road. They said afterwards I must have knocked the handbrake off, but I suspect they didn't put it on properly - I was tiny then and even now I don't find handbrakes easy to operate. I can still remember the sight of the scenery slipping past the car window, slowly and then more quickly, and then the pub door bursting open and a crowd of people running out in my direction. They caught the car in time.

rising_from_the_ashes

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

If, on seeing this, you go in and report it in-store, then you are again leaving the children unmonitored.

I wonder if the best thing to do, if you're that concerned, is to stay outside watching the car and ready to react if anything untoward did happen (for example, if the handbrake released you could probably stop the vehicle from rolling). At least you are doing your best to ensure the children's safety.

And how long are you going to wait there for!

Sorry ... but if the parent's that unconcerned, I'm afraid I'd not be standing by someone elses car keeping an eye on their kids ..... but I would mention it to a staff member in store!

persa wrote: »

I was left in the car unattended when I was younger, but only when I was big enough to know how to unlock the car and get out in the event of an emergency.

That's even worse IMHO - what if you'd decided to get out and were hit by a car!