To worry about this child asleep in car

[StrangeMusic]

There's a child about 2years old asleep in a car (in car seat) on road near my work (quietish residential street). I've been here about 10 minutes and no one has come back for him. Might be overreacting but would never leave my son asleep in car for more than a minute or two. Don't know what to do, should I report it?? Just concerned maybe he's been forgotten about, after reading some stories where this happened, and worried for the little thing

crunchy, the article starts off by describing in detail the agony of the parents who have lost a child because they made a mistake

They wouldn't have left the children there on purpose, those cases were all in the summer and a failure to drop them off at day care because they fell asleep and were quiet.

It is worth mentioning as that is a real risk, but not in this way.

I hope I don't come across as smug but that's a completely different scenario than leaving a child asleep in a car on the drive.

The thought about the car catching fire somehow has never occured to me, that might be something which would keep me from leaving a sleeping child in a car alone.
Mine are all older and don't fall asleep in the car anymore.

Yes I a sure they would not have left their kids there on purpose. but yu know what those pants would have loved a busy body to call the police or see their child in the car.

Honestly though leaving your child in hot or cold weather and knowing you are I doing this.

I guess people assume the kids won't get out, or touch controls, or use a cig lighter, or get too cold or too hot or emotionally get scared, or that someone else could tamper with the car or the kids. I guess they live in ally safe neighbourhoods. I gues they are not concerned with how hot a car can get as it has all worked out ok for them and that is why they may appear smug to me anyway, that is how it comes across to me, but others may think differently.

There was that footballer who got prosecuted for leaving his kid in the car while he shopped. I don't think the police would mind a call about a child asleep in a car.

You know those parents not pants! .and lots of other typos!

OP has already said

I didn't think the kid was going to get eaten alive by scorpions or taken by a paedophile lurking in the bushes, but thought it was possible he could wake up and get distressed or had been forgotten about.

OP doesn't live in the street so she's not a neighbour who recognises the kid and the car. The road was residents parking only, the car had a park and display ticket which suggested it had been there a while before OP saw the kid and that it might not belong to one of the residents. She waited around 10 minutes and no one came out to check the kid in that time and I'm guessing that if someone could see the car from a window in a nearby house, chances are OP would have noticed someone peering out regularly.

Totally sensible and practical to then call local police given she did not know 100% if the child's parent/carer was nearby and would be able to attend the child if it suddenly woke up and got distressed. And given that the car didn't have a residents permit on it, even if the kid recognised the inside of the car, it may not recognise the street, plus it's not a given that a 2 year old will sit tight for 10 mins or so strapped into a car seat alone when he/she's just woken from a nap.

You did the right thing OP. And the way I read it is that you calling the police was not a judgment on the parent in question but a reflection of the concern you had as you didn't know the circumstances.

Can't believe this is still going!
At the end of the day it's all about perceived risk. The parent of the child would have weighed up in her mind how likely it would be for something bad to happen by leaving her child in the car, and then acted accordingly.
There are a lot of "what if" statements floating around but it would be interesting to know the ACTUAL odds of a something bad happening.

Am surprised that with this many posts there haven't been many mentions of mobile phone baby monitoring apps. Everyone I know who leaves their child to finish a nap in the car uses one.

Cheshire. How do they work?

I just put the baby monitor in the car.

Puking, you set a level of sensitivity to volume and when the phone mic picks up that level of noise it will phone a number. So we leave one phone in the car and it will phone the other's mobile or the land line. So Max sensitivity it will call with a sniff, Low sensitivity and would take the child to be crying. We have always parked on our drive (in a rural spot), left the monitor and checked visually periodically.

This is the first time i ve ever heard of anyone leaving a child in the car when they are asleep.

It wouldnt even occur to me that people did this on a regular basis.

I ve never seen a child left in a car asleep.

Ironically my neighbour did this yesterday with her little boy who is about 18 months. I found myself obsessively looking out the window to make sure he was ok

You won't have seen my two sleeping in the car, unless you'd open my gate and walked up to my back door.

It's so hard. In warmer climates many babies and toddlers die due to being left in the car - ie being forgotten about, lots of harrowing you tube clips you can watch - even happens on residential roads. But it's November so less likely to die from overheating but apparently car is greenhouse so doesn't actually need to be that warm. It's never ever safe to leave a baby or toddler asleep in the car - sun could come out and car turns into a death trap. Don't do it.