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

Yes - because every thief who wants a phone or a purse wants to steal a child

It was a time of day when most toddlers nap. Logical conclusion is the child is having his regular nap - not that the child has been forgotten and will die of hypothermia before the parent remembers - in the UK, in Nov.

Merry - but the children who were forgotten had been asleep when the parent got out of the car, hence being forgotten. And whilst I don't think that UK November weather is as dangerous as the height of summer in the US, a child left alone in a car is still not a good thing to ignore if you think that there may not be anyone keeping an eye on them.

The point isn't whether anyone should leave their sleeping child in a car under any circumstances, (I have already said that I have done it myself) but that if a passer by is concerned about an apparently unattended child in a car, should they alert someone who is better placed to take action. I personally think that they should, but happy to be disagreed with, but I think the mean spirited mocking of those who thought the OP should call the police was unnecessary.

After an hour I'd worry not otherwise, both my DDs often napped in the car, until they could undo their seat belts.

One of the many advantages of living in the sticks with off road parking.

As for calling the police our here, it would probably be tomorrow before they arrived.

Yes, the children in the tragic cases, were asleep when the parents got out of the car, but I am sure they did not remain asleep indefinitely.

That is why it's important that the child was not in distress.

It's just lazy parenting.

Merry - but the OP wasn't in a position to hang around indefinitely to see whether the child woke up, became distressed and then wasn't attended to by a parent, she had to make a decision based on the facts she had. I don't think I'd necessarily want to hang around for the length of a toddler's nap just to see if they were going to be collected once they awoke.

Perpendicular if I choose to leave my child outside my house to nap in the car, you say Im a crap parent.

if a passer by is concerned about an apparently unattended child in a car, should they alert someone who is better placed to take action.

I think they should be concerned if the child is in distress, or they should come back later. At least an hour later. If the child was still there in an hour, you could be worried.

I think posters who advocate calling the police in the situation the OP was in, are setting the police up for a lot of time wasting, as it is clear from even this thread, that quite a lot of people do this. I don't think I am wrong to disagree with them.

My previous car - a very nice, new and well maintained car - caught fire outside my house. I'd been home for about 10-15 minutes when an electrical fault started a fire. There was very little smoke, I was only alerted to it by a passer-by who noticed molten whatever falling from underneath the engine (it was not noticeable from my home). It then went whoosh. I had no chance to get any of my belongings out of the car.

It was very scary.

A fire may be a very small risk but too high for me.

OP you did the right thing.

Is there a reason why posters can't just answer the OP without mocking or ridiculing her?

My response would have been 'I wouldn't call 999 but do keep an eye on the car, have a wee walk around it. If someone is watching from a nearby house, they will come out and say something. If you can't stay longer, call non-emergency police number and ask for advice'.

But it is so much more fun to take the piss, and post about hyaenas.

DoJo, she worked very close by. She could have popped by later. She did pop by, but imo didn't leave a long enough time.

Mmelindor, no-one was taking the mick out of the poster. They were taking the mick out of the 999-the-child-is-at-risk-of-dying-any-minute posters. [last time I will say this]

I cannot believe ANYONE thinks it's ok to leave a child in the car alone. They're people not handbags.

Why was it crap parenting [iyo], Vince? Many of us have said we've done the same.

Merry - as it turned out, she could, but this was not a given and wasn't an excuse for some of the comments from those who thought that a call to the police was OTT.

Merry
that is true, but the OP has said that she found the responses unkind, and is presumably a bit upset by this.

She was trying to do the right thing.

I've left sleeping child in a car, when I could clearly see the car and the child, and checking often.

If I had seen someone wandering around, looking in the window, I would have been right out there. Since the mother of the child in question didn't do this when the OP had a wander around the car, I would say that she wasn't watching very closely.

OP, you did the right thing. Glad the child was okay and his poor excuse for a parent came to get him eventually

I'm really surprised at all the sarcasm on this thread - either people just want to have a pop for the sake of it, or there really are a lot of very crap parents around.

I've been on MN for many years and I hate how it has become recently. Some of the comments on this thread epitomise the worst of MN imvho.

OP you did absolutely the right thing. I, like you, would have been very concerned to see a young child alone in a car on a street where no one was clearly keeping an eye on them.

In last week's Homeland, there was a toddler parked in a play pen on the front lawn of a house, residential street, USA. My first thought was, 'What would Mumsnet say?'

When my dcs were little it was routine to leave prams outside shops. Not crap or lazy parenting. Normal. I saw a story on the BBC website with a photo of Scandi mums inside a coffee shop, enjoying a chat, with their babies sleeping in their buggies outside.

Seriously, something has gone wrong with maternal risk assessment in
this country.