Leaving baby in car to get car park ticket

[IstheCartooFar]

Name changed as chatted to husband and friend about this already...

I've tried to include all relevant details to avoid drip feeding etc...

Woman in car park annoyed me yesterday. I'd left baby in car to walk to ticket machine (at the end of the aisle next to mine, no closer spaces available). When I came back woman had parked next to me and getting her own children out.

She said 'excuse me, have you just left your baby in the car all on its own?' in an accusing way.

I replied I was just at the ticket machine, which she humphed at and turned away.

I felt pretty cross at her implication I'd done some awful dangerous parenting so I said I found her tone very judgemental.

She just said well you hear horror stories (and then said some confusing story about how some people have brain injuries and do weird things so you have to check). I just said you have to make lots of risk assessments as a parent of leaving baby in car vs lugging them through busy car park, she turned away and didn't answer.

Anyway, do people leave baby in car to get a ticket or is that just me being lazy??

And was she unreasonable to check or would you do the same? (to me it was pretty obvious I'd just gone to get a ticket rather than done a full shop, considering I'd walked past her car with ticket, put it on windscreen then was getting baby out).

Alcohol gel on a lanyard to be dispensed at all times. Duh.

I wouldn't but because I am too stingy to have paid for the time it takes to get baby out of the car rather than it failing some internal risk assessment...

PS "I find your tone very judgmental" - excellent retort OP

cap don't you know antibacterial wipes are just as bad as not wasting at all! And so is that gel duck. Don't you know anything?

Ffs washing. Not wasting

My friend had someone confront her at the petrol station for leaving her baby in the car while she paid. There were actually 3 babies in the car as she had triplets and the woman thought the mum should get her 3mo triplets out to pay. Bonkers imo.

I have 8 yo twins. I haven't had a shit for 8 years. Can't take my eyes off them you see. Anything might happen.
Now, people call me overprotective. But I'm not going to give up my vigil until they are at least 21.
Never slept for the first 3 years, had all groceries delivered (and they stayed on the front step as I couldn't bear to turn my back to put them away), limited liquids so I never needed a wee either.

Very sensible and what any loving parent would do

m0therofdragons i'm afraid in her case she should never leave the house.

She needs her friends and family to rally round and go out for her, or they could travel with her.

MERLYPUSSEDOFF absolutely.

you are a model mother

Silly me, my mistake. I'll take notes from this thread and create a power point presentation for df. Maybe she can watch with one eye while holding her now toddler triplets' hands. I haven't seen her in a while so I'm assuming due to evolution she'll have 3 hands by now!

Surely shed need to have six, else how will she hold them... By their scruff?!

Oh and she needs to evolve more legs m0ther how else will they all sit on her knee? Because obviously no child should sit on a seat or the floor.

I think that would be a lovely thing to do to support you DF m0therofdragons

She will appreciate it

I took my new pfb to the toilet with me, and promptly lost him in the laundry hamper. I didn't think I should leave him alone, and I t seemed like a sensible place to put him down while I peed, in my sleep deprived haze. I realised it was not, as he wriggled his way down into the pants... There were probably foxes in there and everything.

But! It didn't burst into flames! So we have that.

Blimey ifthecapfits someone with a bit of common sense, you are 100% right, it is pure laziness and a bit of a first world problem as some of us had to use bugies and public transport and didn't have the luxury of cars to save us time with our shopping errands, let alone try and justify leaving a baby in a car on its own while you try and save more time getting a ticket. In answer to all the sarcastic comments I got, from angry people who think it ok to leave their baby in a car on their own. Of course I never let my baby out of my sight during waking hours - but I was a light sleeper and I only slept when she slept. Yes you can go to the toilet and even do a number two, all you have to do is keep the door open and strategically place mirrors around your house so you can keep an eye on your baby (who you would of placed somewhere safe) you can do this even when they are sleeping or playing by themselves as they get older. It is hard work and exhausting because you are on high alert and have to have your wits about you 24/7 . You may be tired and exhausted but you still have to put in the hours to play with them, while you guide them through the dangers apparent everywhere for the first few years of their lives, you don't leave them in the bath, gardens, in cars, or even with jealous pets on their own as they are unable to help themselves. When you are out of the house you keep an extra eye on them, and you do all that is in your power to keep them as safe as possible. I had to do this every day for the first few years as a single mum, and even on the days when I felt mombiefied to the core, I still managed not to let her out of my sight. Its not rocket science so all the stupid comments on here are just showing the posters up for who they are.

You sound neurotic.

You've got a bit wrong there LDN, pets don't have to be jealous for you to be careful. I've always had dogs, all placid and happy to be around children but I still keep a watch out because fur tugging and teeth could cause an accident.
But baby in a strapped in car seat for one minute? Safe.

people who think it ok to leave their baby in a car on their own
Erm, it IS okay to leave a baby in the car on their own, provided it's only for a very short amount of time and not whilst you're off doing the weekly food shop. What exactly is going to happen in the two minutes it takes to nip to the pay and display machine to get a parking ticket?

strategically place mirrors around your house
Sorry but this made me I've never known any parent of a small child to live in a house of mirrors for the sake of keeping an eye on them. That's not normal behaviour.

It is ridiculous to compare leaving a baby in a locked car for a minute to leaving her unattended in the bath or with a dog. I have four children and have managed thus far without strategically placed mirrors either.
"Mombiefied"? Is that an actual word?

I don't know what's satire or real any more

Well Ldnmum I quite often left my babies out of sight when I went for a poo or a piss, and although I don't actually remember ever using a pay and display car park on my own when my babies were little, trust me it was scary enough tying to navigate a car park with twins in a double pram without having to leave them in a buggy in the road while I stuck the ticket in the window.

Also I used a playpen when they were older as keeping them contained in a safe space seems infinitely more sensible to me than being able to watch them pulling something onto themselves via mirror while I take a dump.

There's plenty of ways to keep your children safe without resorting to never having them out of your sight.

Worked for me, could leave her to cook her dinner, tidy up, do the diy, go for a pee etc all while keeping an eye on her, suggested by my mid wife, def one of the best tips I got from a healthcare worker.

You don't have to keep an eye on a tiny baby who cannot move every second of the day if they are sleeping or in the house with you. You would never catch me leaving the loo door open in a million years

I've never once heard of a health care professional suggesting a parent turn their home into a house of mirrors in order to keep an eye on their child at all times. No one I know in RL has ever resorted to such measures, seems bonkers to me.