Leaving a child in the car for a couple of minutes - how old?

[FeathersAndDown]

I left my 4-year-old twins in the car for the first time when nipping in the shop yesterday. I only needed a loaf of bread, it's a small village shop with a car park right outside. My heart was in my mouth the whole time! I literally ran in and out again. Next time I will probably go back to taking them in with me.

When is it acceptable to leave them? I know it varies by the child and how sensible they are, but generally. Would be interested to know what others think!

I sometimes leave my 2 year old with my phone when I take my old kids into school it's 3 minutes and she's in the school car park and our car has blackened windows.

I only do it if it's raining though and the risk is extremely low as families come and go and the cars locked.

In a busy public car park, I wouldn't leave any child under 10. But in a near empty one, I probably would for a few minutes, as long as they're out of site (dark windows). It's a moving risk assessment based on a number of conditions for me.

This explains why I was reported to customer service for leaving my 10yo in the car at the supermarket for 10 minutes. We were on the way home from rugby practice, she was tired and covered in mud.

The only time I ever did it was if I had to pay for fuel at a petrol station kiosk as leaving him in the car was safer than walking him across the forecourt however my preference has always been pay at pump to avoid this. He's 8, nearly 9 and I still feel uncomfortable leaving him in a car alone no matter how briefly. And yet when I was a child of a similar age, my parents would do a whole supermarket shop and leave us in the car for an hour or so.

I leave my 9 and 5 yo in the car if I have to go to the kiosk to get petrol and I have done the same to go to the village shop to get 1/2 things, if I have parked right outside and can see the car from the shop. I don't see the difference. I don't leave them to go into bigger shops.

👀 is this a serious question? Obviously the point about a possible car crash wasn't regarding the fact it's more likely to happen. It's not. It's regarding the fact that if there's a car crash, then obviously the parents/caretakers/people in charge are there and would be able to deal with whatever issues, if there were any, that the car crash had caused. An emergency isn't going to wait until the parents finished shopping.

Or, you could end up with injured children AND parents.

I think the chances of a parked car being crashed into with enough force to injure children who are securely strapped into a car seat, is much, much smaller than the chance of a small child running into a road and being hit by a car.

Or, you could end up with injured children AND parents
You are missing the point by several miles 😂. Deliberately? Or are you really this confused?

Imagine a car crash and the kids are unsupervised. Imagine a car getting nicked and the kids were in there unsupervised.
Imagine a child being left in a car and the sun comes out and kid is unsupervised.
There's no excuse. Being outside the car with kids in full view a couple of minutes is far different to entering a supermarket or shop.

Well definitely not 4!!! Way too young. I would be worried about being reported if nothing else. Dunno what the right age is? The same age as you would leave them at home alone whilst you go to the shops I guess.

A lot of what ifs but if the handbrake gets taken off / is left off by accident and the car starts rolling away, an adult would just hit the brakes, but a child can't. Also, they can't let themselves out of their seats if it's a 5 point harness, so couldn't get out if something happened like the car started smoking and looked as if it might go on fire. Before anyone says "cars don't just randomly burst into flame", I'm actually using a real life example where this did happen and I believe the children in the car sadly died. If an adult had been in the car they could have got the kids out of their seats.

Honestly, it doesn't take a genius to work out why kids on their own in a car accident would be worse than one where there is an adult with them.

I always left mine in the car at the petrol station when they were babies on the few occasions I had them with me when filling up - I wasn’t carrying two car seats in with me (twins) and I could see them at all times (car locked). They are much more likely to be in an accident in the car whilst you are driving than they are to be victims of a petrol station exploding around them!!!! At that point I think we would have all perished.

Presumi g they are not the ones injured then...

11/12

I don't really understand why the answer to this isn't the same as you would leave them at home on their own?

If you wouldn't leave a baby/toddler at home alone why would you leave them in a car alone?

For me, I would leave my 7 year old at home alone for something where I would genuinely be 2 mins, like popping to a neighbours to pick up a package or to the postbox which is about 15 feet from our house. But I wouldn't leave my 4 year old.