Baby left in a car at the supermarket

[Pinkerbells]

Shopping in my local supermarket. I parked my car as normal, but noticed that the car next to me had the windows down. I'm not talking a little bit to let air in, I'm talking about every window being all the way down. My teenage DD said 'oops someone forgot to shut their window's'. I looked across and straight away clocked the baby seat. I said 'there's A baby on it's own'! We had a bit of a debate about it and we sat trying to work out what to do. We were probably sat there for 5 minutes, so plenty of time for the parent to have dropped off a trolley, or even go to the cash point at a push. The child was quiet still so I'm guessing it was asleep but it only looked about a year old.
In the end I took the licence plate and reported the car to customer services who immediately alerted security.
But WIBU to report this? I understand in a petrol station it is a different matter, but in a supermarket?

Nicknacky

What if you experienced a sudden health event? Unlikely, but it does happen. Your children might not be able to to tell someone who they are, what your name is, or where their home is. If you suddenly slipped and fell, and became unconscious, no one would know that your children were alone in the vehicle. What if there was a police chase or something and the individual broke into your car? These things can and do happen, sadly. IMHO, any child under 10 years old should NEVER be left unattended in a vehicle. There's too big a risk that something could happen to them.

agnurse. My 11 year old has a mobile phone. I cannot live my life in a state of panic about “what ifs”. Car chases are rare ffs.

It’s risk assessment. The risks are low.

Seriously if you have a 10 year old who is incapable of being left in a car for a brief spell you have problems. Excluding any additional needs.

My kids from 9 years old got the local bus to and from school.

Jesus what are you raising

Ohmydayslove

It is a beautiful place to live and in our eyes perfect.

Everywhere has risks, I just prefer animals over humans.

Well agree I prefer some animals to some humans but I wouldn’t like to meet a bear up close

A few months ago I was in a car park and a car burst into flames, igniting about 6 other surrounding cars. It’s something you don’t ever imagine happening but it happens! Luckily there were no kids left in cars that day.

Car fires are also very rare. I think my 11 year old would manage to get her and her sister out in the event of a car fire.

Like I said, risk assessment.

I would have rang the police straight away.

I wouldn’t like to meet a bear up close

Last summer I walked out onto our deck to find a black bear cleaning the grease off the BBQ. It was a fairly scary at the time but you kinda get used to it.

Car fires are also very rare. I think my 11 year old would manage to get her and her sister out in the event of a car fire

And if she didn't manage it, then what? She would have to live with the guilt of that for the rest of her days (if she was lucky enough to survive). Your 11 year old is or responsible for your younger child's safety. You are.

So you wouldn’t leave your children in the car. I would. Neither is right or wrong.

But I don’t have catastrophic thoughts about normal, every day situations. You would drive yourself made if you worried about car fires and police chases ffs.

So you wouldn’t leave your children in the car. I would. Neither is right or wrong

Again, SS and the police would disagree.

I can promise you the police wouldn’t be the slightest bit interested in an 11 year old and younger sibling in a car. Neither would Ss.

Totally unacceptable. I'd have called the Police.

Nick unless something went wrong. Then they'd be very interested and very concerned. But hey, luck might be on your side and you might be ok. Then again, you might not.

The police would only be interested if a parent had left them in a situation that could be considered negligent. Two kids, the eldest being 11 with access to a mobile phone and clear instruction then some unforeseen, rare event happening? Not neglectful.

I really genuinely do not think that the police, or ss would have any interest in two NT kids, 5, 8, 11 or whatever sat in a car for 15 mins. Unless sat in the sun etc etc.

They wouldn’t be. Unless there was a particular concern.

Clearly babies and toddlers are a different issue.

Some people on this thread are projecting their extreme and abnormal high anxiety and catastrophic thinking paterns onto others. The people talking about not leaving 11 year olds alone incase of spontaneous combustion or the parent unexpectedly dropping dead.

It would be a damn sight worse if the parent had their "unexpected health event" while driving, rather than while the 11 year old is safe in a parked car they are old enough to get out of.

The advice, if we're worrying about totally unexpected parental heart attacks, strokes, or psychotic episodes, unprecedented seizures etc. should surely be that we all stop using cars at all, if it were based on any trace of internal logic.

To those saying how difficult is it to smash a window, it is difficult, but I have a tool in my car for this purpose. DH bought it for me after I had DD, in case I ever drove into a lake or something and had to smash it . I have never left dd in the car, if she's asleep when we get home we sit in the car with her.
Yanbu op

If there was an incident, questions would be asked about how the children had been safeguarded. Without a parent/carer there they haven't been and you'd have a hard time convincing anyone otherwise.

What is your source for this certainty?

I can assure you, there would be no questions asked about this and it would NOT be a safeguarding issue. If that was the case then laws would be in place making it illegal leaving children of a certain age in cars. Leaving two older children in a car for 10/15 mins with a mobile phone and instructions is not a safeguarding issue.

Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.

I smashed a car window once! I bought a car window smasher thing and also the car window smasher keychain when I had kids incase I ever locked them in by mistake or something, or got in an accident. There was a baby left in a car at the shop, hot day, they didn't come out when security called. I called the police who would take 20 mins to get there so with the police on the phone, I popped the window. Don't feel bad about it one bit.

Also the corners of windows are supposed to be the weakest points.

I'd have called the police tbh