Comments on: Is it ever OK to leave kids alone in the car?

By: urelaa

urelaa — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:40:40 +0000

is it okay if i leave my 3 year old inside the car with my 15 year old son,,,… if i was only gone for 5 minutes in a building to do some paperwork/??

By: Mother of THree

Mother of THree — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:00:23 +0000

I am a mother of three (8, 4, 1). I must admit that I have left the children in the car for less than a minute to run into the store. All of the gas stations in our town don’t have an attendant so I have to pump and then run in and pay the cashier for the gas and literally run back to the car. I will pull up close to the store and lock the doors and leave the ac on while I run in to pay. I have also ran up to the post office box to drop off a letter and run back into the car with the kids. I would never leave them in the car to go shopping at Walmart. That is just stupid.

By: jsh

jsh — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:32:12 +0000

When I was 18, my older sister had cancer surgery. She’s 10 years older than me and had two children of her own ages 10 and 8. At the time my mother was also babysitting two young boys one two and one about 6 months as well as my other sister’s 3 yr old daughter. I was left to take care of all 5 of them so my mom could stay at the hospital with my sister.

I took all 5 children with me wherever I had to go and neither one of them were EVER left in the car. EVER. I took them to the mall, to walmart, to the bank to the grocery store. Sure it was tough and it took a bit longer, but they were safe within my sight at ALL times.

The ONLY time I can see leaving a child in the car alone is when you’re not 5 feet away from them. I have stopped to get pizza and had my niece’s son fall asleep. I stopped right at the door, never went all the way inside, asked someone to take the money and bring the pizza to me as I wasn’t leaving my baby alone. I just don’t see how anyone can do that.

By: Cammi317

Cammi317 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:11:28 +0000

It’s just a different time. We got left in the car all the time, and that was growing up in Chicago! We didn’t really live in a “problematic” neighborhood. In fact, my Mom, on several occasions, left my toddler brother in the house napping while she ran to pick us up from school. She would just call the neighbor a couple of doors down and let her know she would be back in 20 minutes or so and ask her to keep her eye out. However, that being said, we got a real wake up call regarding the changing demographics of our neighborhood one day. Just like she always had, one day my mom left out to pick us up and decided to go back in the house and take bring my brother anyway. She then remembered that she had left her wedding rings on the kitchen counter and ran back to get them. By the time she picked us up and we got back to the house, someone had broken inside. To this day, we believe that it was one of our newer neighbors. The police said it had to be somebody that knew her pattern and had been watching for a while. That was all she wrote. Shortly thereafter, my parents sold the house and moved us to burbs of Atlanta.

By: motherjanegoose

motherjanegoose — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:23:05 +0000

I did once leave my sleeping infant son in his car seat ( over 20 years ago) at a Kwik Trip ( that is how it was spelled) in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was pouring down rain and I was lost. We did not have GPS or cell phones ( nor cordless phones in the house or Cd’s in our car LOL) and I had to pick my husband up at the airport. I did not want the baby soaking wet and crying while I tried to figure out where to go. Those car seats did not even have handles and you needed both hands to carry it. I was one of the only cars in the lot.

My husband remembers sitting in the car with his brother and 2 sisters while his parents enjoyed themselves in the enlisted club on base. He told us that once, they were heading out of town
( moving) and they were waiting in the car with their dog. The dog escaped ( I think it jumped out the window) and his Dad made them leave and move without the dog…they never saw him again.

While I am glad things have changed mostly for the better, our kids “aint seen nothin” compared to what we went through.

I remember when my parents left me ( age 13) in charge of my sister and four other kids under 10 ( who belonged to their friends that were camping with us) at a campground ( we were on vacation). There was NO way for us to reach either set of parents and we could NOT sit inside the tents and campers as it was WAY too hot. I was a nervous wreck! I would not leave my daughter in this situation and she is 17!

By: penguinmom

penguinmom — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:03:39 +0000

Leaving very young kids in the car to run into Walmart, etc is definitely bad. Leaving them in the car while you drop off library books in a drop box or get the mail, I just really don’t see a problem with this.

I almost always leave my kids (5, 9, 13) in the car when I run into QT to get a Coke. Door locked, cellphone available, windows cracked or down. I don’t leave the keys or the car running because that would make a possible car-jacking easier. (not that anyone would want to carjack my old ugly van.)

As far as the kids getting out of their seats, if I ever caught either of the younger two unstrapped, they would all get in such Huge Trouble that they wouldn’t ever think of doing it again. (And they know this.) I guess if you have problem disobedient children this would have to be a concern.

I really think we worry way too much about stranger abduction. Unless you are involved in a messy divorce/relationship breakup, your chances of having your child taken are so extremely small. If there is a suspicious looking person around then perhaps you have chosen the wrong QT/Starbucks/ATM to go to and should drive on to a safer location.

By: fk

fk — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:25:18 +0000

I left my son in the car on occasion when I ran in to pay for gas…

By: Robin

Robin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:05:48 +0000

I have run back into our house for something, after she is in the carseat, but I lock the doors, and it is not too hot/cold when I have done this. I have also parked at the movie/library drop box and with the car 4 feet from me, put the items in the drop box. The futherest (sp) I have gotten from her in the car, is to put the shopping cart up, But she was locked in the car, and I was gone maybe 15 seconds at the most.

The worst thing that ever happened was 2 years ago in the winter. It was a VERY cold day, and my husband called me at work, in a panic. He and our toddler had been grocery shopping. He put the groceries and her in the car, buckled her in her seat, and accidently locked the keys in the truck with her. His cell phone was in the truck as well. He had to leave her sitting there, go back into the store, to call me to come unlock the truck. As soon as he got off the phone with me, he returned to the truck, and stood right beside her window until I arrived. She tried to unlock the door, but in her 5 point harness, she couldn’t reach it. All turned out okay, but I have been a little paranoid of locking her in the car with the keys ever since!

By: reeses_peace

reeses_peace — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:06:05 +0000

I’m guilty. I once left my 6 mo. old in the car asleep while I got mail from my PO Box. I could see him at all times and it took less than 45 seconds. He was probably at greater risk of me dropping the infant carrier if I’d brought him in than from anything that could have happended while he was in the car. I should mention that he’s 5 now and was not adversely affected by the incident.

By: Theresa Walsh Giarrusso

Theresa Walsh Giarrusso — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:24:21 +0000

JG — A friend told me that a mom leaned into a store to pay with the kids right out front and the cop came and gave her a really hard time about it — I’m trying to remember if he cited her wtih anything — i’ll ask my buddy and update –