Woman telling me to open my car windows

In that unlikely situation there would have been plenty of time for OP to go out and check on her child again. A 6 year old is also capable of opening a door if she's uncomfortable.

Was it really 2 mins including pumping petrol time ? I'd query why if feeling ill she didn't want air as most people do but kids don't always realise feeling cold is often a temperature and needs to be brought down.
I'd rather someone asked than a child got a heat stroke and started vomiting or worse.

Nobody has died from heat while someone paid for fuel. YANBU

She’s being ridiculous. Was it hot where you are? Even so, the time it takes to go in to pay for petrol she wouldn’t have got too heated

Julia?!

I agree! I'm firm with my child especially when it comes to safety. Mine is 7. Kid's need grown ups to make decisions that involve safety....

That last comment is very true.

I remember when my first newborn was in the pram ( not a buggy style, traditional pram lying completely flat) a lady came up and said the baby needs strapping in even if they can’t yet roll or move as if a car hit the pram or it tipped over the baby would fly out. Until then I had only thought of the straps as restraining the baby from rolling out etc and hadn’t bothered to loop little floppy arms through the straps and clip the buckle ( which looks HUGE) on a newborn. It sent a shiver down my spine I hadn’t done it ( we hadn’t been out much as it was very early days) and I was actually very grateful. BUT she did add very kindly “ you have to let me point these things out: I’m a frustrated grandmother! None of mine want children yet!”

You could have told her to mind her business, but I wouldn’t give it any more thought.

Surely if a stranger approached and said anything about a child/dog in that scenario you would simply tell them the ac was on. It's not that deep. Simple communication goes a long way. People are so desperate to be offended.

The difference is that I would have said to my child (and I have said) if you don’t want to get out of the car and go into the shop with us then we will all just go home now and you won’t have your headphones, whatever is on the list. It’s the parents actually taking responsibility for parenting. It might take longer to get round the shop but that’s how it is with kids in tow.

Well there are cases of people being arrested because they left their child for minutes. I literally ran from my car in front of the house to the door to get my mobile left right inside the door and ran back - and in that seemingly seconds a neighbor walking their dog stopped to lecture me.

But here's the thing mumsnetters. It takes minutes for a child to die in a hot car. And there's no coming back. Before you start recommending insults for the woman running in - commend. her for giving a sh!t about a child who is not hers. Because every single day on this wonderful place called EARTH the unthinkable happen. What if mom went in and the petrol station was held up? What if she had a seizure or a heart attack? All manner of things can happen. And no matter what your CHILD says - you don't leave a child in a car without windows cracked open if at all. In many places it is against the law. In the USA children DIE it sees on an almost daily basis becasue of being left in a car.

I would much rather look at this way: thank gooodness there are strangers that care enough about humans to NOTICE a child alone in a car and to DO something about it. Because that 'overbearing' individual is precisely the kind that will notice someone in distress and stay involved until that person is no longer in distress.

FFS people it takes a village...

This is going to become more of a thing with electric cars. Children and dogs can be left in a stationary electric car with the windows up - the AC can stay on. Except no one else will realise that the AC stays on and will be kicking off about it.

Well you were more patient and polite than I would have been, but busybodies are a pet hate of mine.

The conversation with me would have gone more like this:

First response: 'She's fine, thank you your concern though'

Second response: 'I've already told you as nicely as I can manage to mind you own business as everything is fine, so now I am telling you to piss off you fucking busybody.'

Perfectly. Are you?

It’s always “just a minute”. Until it isn’t.

The woman wasn’t wrong.

I think it was one of those situations where you shouldn't have done it (left DD in a car by herself) but practically, you didn't have many options (if you needed fuel, you needed fuel, and dragging a poorly child out of a car wouldn't have been fun for either of you).

“Leave me alone and mind your own business.”

Don’t let it get to you too much, OP. We all do
things differently, I guess. I do worry about my kids being in the car alone for other reasons but I appreciate I’m the minority. The shell app is a lifesaver as I live in an area with no pay at pump. People will always have an opinion about everything, if you know your kid was okay, let it go over your head.

I wouldn't have bothered explaining myself to her, I'd probably ignore or tell her to mind her own bloody business!

This.