Would you leave your child in a car alone?

lulu_92

peachyprice wrote: »

There wasn't such a thing 21 years ago when mine were born.

They were far safer strapped in the car than with me trying to cross a forecourt trying to avoid moving cars with 2 wriggling toddlers in tow.

Definitely appreciate that! They didn't have it when I was a child, I do remember my mum and my dad (not at the same time obviously) nipping in to pay for petrol when we were in the car. One time on his way back he accidentally got into someone else's car, gave two other kids a hell of a shock! Lucky for us we were locked in but we knew how to unlock the car from the inside. (thank you, central locking!)

AndyBSG

I would never leave my child in the car.

First up, I don't know that something won't happen in the shop to delay me. I've been in a bank before when the alarm was accidentally tripped and the security shutters slammed down leaving us stranded in there for a good 40 minutes while it was sorted.

Secondly, my daughter worked out how to open child gates at 13 months old, how to open child locks on drawers within 2 months of us fitting them, etc.

A child lock on a car door won't keep her for long if she's left alone to try and figure it out and with things like hand brakes, cigarette lighters, etc all on hand I can just picture the risks!

somethingcorporate

HappyMJ wrote: »

Oh no...I wouldn't lock them in. They need to be able to get out in an emergency and with door locks these days preventing the door from being opened from the inside that would not be an option.

They've got to be old enough to understand road sense to be left alone.

IIRC it's about 12 years old where they have proper speed perception.

Artytarty

Ok, I'm going to be totally honest and say yes I've done it. Nearly 27 years ago.
It was wrong but I honestly knew no better.
My baby daughter was a mere few weeks old. It was June. Warm.
I drove to the shops, got my bits, ( no massive supermarket in those days)
AsI was walking, nay waddling, back towards the car I overheard two ladies looking I and saying- oh dear, doesn't she look hot- I was suddenly aware of my mistake and so ashamed I walked past til they had moved on before I dashed to the car....
We all know the story here, it's been used as a family example of what not to do.
Yup. Fire away.

lisa110rry

Not quite the same thing, but in 1982, as a new mum, the done thing was to leave the pram outside the shop in the village we lived in. Once, I forgot I had a baby 😳 And calmly walked home. Got halfway, dropped my shopping and RAN back. He was fine, thank God. Never again did that happen, but the pram continued to be left outside the shop, with others. No one would do that now, I suspect.

d70cw6

Artytarty wrote: »

Ok, I'm going to be totally honest and say yes I've done it. Nearly 27 years ago.
It was wrong but I honestly knew no better.
My baby daughter was a mere few weeks old. It was June. Warm.
I drove to the shops, got my bits, ( no massive supermarket in those days)
AsI was walking, nay waddling, back towards the car I overheard two ladies looking I and saying- oh dear, doesn't she look hot- I was suddenly aware of my mistake and so ashamed I walked past til they had moved on before I dashed to the car....
We all know the story here, it's been used as a family example of what not to do.
Yup. Fire away.

what speaks volumes is that you were more concerned with those random strangers judging you and deciding to walk past and hide than dashing back to the car to attend your child.

GG

Person_one

lisa110rry wrote: »

Not quite the same thing, but in 1982, as a new mum, the done thing was to leave the pram outside the shop in the village we lived in. Once, I forgot I had a baby 😳 And calmly walked home. Got halfway, dropped my shopping and RAN back. He was fine, thank God. Never again did that happen, but the pram continued to be left outside the shop, with others. No one would do that now, I suspect.

I don't think its all that surprising that you forgot, and probably more common than you'd think when it was standard practice to leave prams outside.

There have been some awful cases of people accidentally leaving babies in cars because they just forgot they were in there and went to work/shopping etc. only to come back to them dead or dying. Somebody posted a link on here once that was really upsetting about the phenomenon.

MallyGirl

lisa110rry wrote: »

Not quite the same thing, but in 1982, as a new mum, the done thing was to leave the pram outside the shop in the village we lived in. Once, I forgot I had a baby 😳 And calmly walked home. Got halfway, dropped my shopping and RAN back. He was fine, thank God. Never again did that happen, but the pram continued to be left outside the shop, with others. No one would do that now, I suspect.

My Mum did the same to me, except she had unpacked the shopping at home before she realised!

Person_one

Here's the article that was posted a few years ago on a similar thread.

Its distressing reading, but important.

Ames

Dad used to leave us in the car regularly. He'd say it was so he didn't get a parking ticket because they'd know he'd be coming back soon because we were there.

Can't remember how young the first time, but definitely from ages six and two or thereabouts.

More generally I was 'looking after' my sister in the holidays from about 12/13 (she'd have been 8/9). I remember being sent home sick my first year in secondary and because the school rang mum had to get a friend to look after me since she was at work. After that we arranged a 'code' where she'd say she was coming home from work and would meet me at home so school would let me go home. AFAIR we never had to use it, I was about 14 the next time I had to go home so it was fine for me to be alone.

So much has changed since the 80s!