Kids left in car while mum shops in Lidl

[Talawrence]

This morning I arrived at Lidl just before 8am. Another car pulled up beside me. The parent parked up leaving 2 very small kids ( 3 & 1 yr old) in the car unattended . I took my time to get my own child out of the car and observed the kids left alone . After 7 mins I took a photo of the unattended children in the car and the front number plate. Just then the mother came out and was confrontational. She said she was running late for work . I told her that she should use common sense and I will be reporting her to the police . Shall I delete the photos or report this parent .

Children in the car for 7 minutes, just before 8am?

I'd just delete the photos tbh.

You sound like a busy body.

yabu. Leaving your children in the car for short periods (like running into a shop for a couple of things) whilst not ideal is pretty far down the list of things considered child neglect. Id probably be pretty confrontational too if i came out a shop and saw someone taking photos of my children.

I'd let this one go. There will be other opportunities - keep your camera handy.

I'm surprised she didn't hit you having pictures of her children . You need to delete them. If you were worried why not just call police / tell lidl??? Why gather evidence?!

I imagine she has enough on her plate and doesn't need you taking photos of her children.
We all make decisions that others will question, who makes you the perfect parent?
I left my ds age 9 in the car when I went in to pay for petrol. Others wouldn't have done that but I did. I've been doing it for years. That's my choice.
This parent made a choice that you disagreed with so strongly that you felt police needed to be informed? Really?

I'd let this one go. There will be other opportunities - keep your camera handy.

LOL!

Where do you live, OP? Is it somewhere tropical where even the heat at 8am is unbearably oppressive?

Let it go..... let it go.... poor woman will have been stressing over it all day and will probably still be stressing about it now.

It's not ideal parenting by a long chalk but she wasn't very long and the kids were fine. If you were going to report it, you should have done so immediately.

It was pretty odd of you to take photos. I would delete those sharpish. If you were that bothered that they were alone, why didn't you go into Lidl so they could make a tannoy announcement?

So it's ok to leave 2 small children unattended ? When they could climb out of their seats, open the door, over heat.......

Far better to keep an eye on the car and make sure they're okay than start confronting people and threatening them with the police. They were okay and she was very fast.

It's not ideal but it's hardly police worthy.

Unless you left any details out they weren't climbing out of seats or opening doors. I very much doubt it was hot enough for the kids to over heat in 7 minutes at that hour either.

What were the children doing?

But I don't understand why, if you were so concerned, you didn't do something proactive at the time?

Like asking the shop to make an announcement? Or if you thought it warranted reporting to the police, doing that as soon as it was clear they were unattended?

The alternative was hauling two dc's around a supermarket and being late for work. I wouldn't have left mine at that age but I don't blame her tbh.

Lidl? Should have gone to Waitrose.

Overheat in 7 minutes at 8am? Where on earth do you live?

Left my 3 kids in car just outside Aldi a few weeks ago to run in to get a pack of nappies. None can get out of their seat belts. Car was visible at all times. Probably took 4 minutes as no queue at till. Would you have reported me too?

I wouldn't report it but I probably would have said something to her. The 3 yr old could probably undo their harness and get up to mischief (one of mine could undo it at that age) and if the 1 year old had been upset that is a.long time for them to be left and not fair on them or the 3 yr old. I agree that overheating at 8am is unlikely in 7 mins unless were talking Dubai or somewhere????

Not ideal to leave kids in the car, but they were hardly going to overheat at 8am in this country! How do you know the kids could get out of their seatbelts? (Mine couldn't when they were 3 and 1). 7 whole minutes! Were you standing there with your stop watch?!!
Taking pictures is totally ridiculous. I'm not surprised she was cross with you. Delete them straight away.
You could have handled this so much better!

I definitely would not leave mine like that. I would worry about them becoming inconsolable and distressed from not understanding I'd be back soon. However as an observer, would have gone inside Lidl and asked for an announcement, maybe after another 5 mins. I don't really understand the purpose of the photo.