To think this is the most dangerous parenting

[Scrumbleton]

Went to B&Q tonight- it was still scorching. I pulled into the car park to find a car parked with all its windows open and a lovely little girl asleep in the back seat. She was around 2-3 years old. Seriously who would do that after poor little Madeline. A man then exits the store with a little boy of around 6 and loads his shopping. AIBU to think this is the pits. I’m so cross about story after story on here about men shirking responsibly- yet another example- clearly couldn’t be arsed with a misbehaving freshly weakened little in so decided to place her in peril instead

[Igotthemheavyboobs]

God I lock my car doors whilst walking round the car from the back seat where my son is to the drivers seat I'm so paranoid! I really don't understand how people can leave their children unsupervised anywhere! (obviously age dependant, I won't be hanging about when he is 20! much as I want to haha)

[OwlBeThere]

Who’s to say he wasn’t inside for 2 minutes to pick up something click and collect? The catastrophising is mad.

[Jobseeker19]

Leaving the window open doesnt do shit in this weather

[BabyLlamaZen]

@MushroomGloom have you tried it now? Sit in a car and leave the windows open with the engine off and see how long you can take it for.

[Jobseeker19]

It's too hot omg.

I sat in the car whilst OH went to the shops and I was dying.

[BabyLlamaZen]

My.first thought was defintely she could have died with how hot cars get, even with windows open. I'd tempted to do something.

[User8008135]

However I can't deny never making my own dick move that after i thought, 'that could have gone very very badly, luckily it all worked out this time.'

[User8008135]

It's a dick move. The risk of abduction is low but even with windows open kids can overheat plus if she'd woken and she would have been terrified.

I feel for single parents, i think any 1 child only rule is ridiculous but a child this young alone in a hot car? Not on. He was lucky she didn't wake and scream the place down or if she's dexterous like my dc1 was get out of the car seat and try to climb out!

[hopsalong]

He should have taken her in with him and argued it with the security guard. (I've had to do this a couple of times in the last few months at the supermarket and have always been allowed in.) Or not gone. I don't think there's any dispute about that.

But I'm very glad he left the windows open. It was so hot yesterday that the risk from being in the car with the windows closed doesn't bear thinking about.

[Mypathtriedtokillme]

The car would heat up quickly if the windows were left up which can kill a child in less time than you think on a not that hot summers day.

It’s the bigger fear than her getting “taken”
Is her waking up then opening the door and walking out into car park traffic looking for who ever left her?

[catcatcatcat]

You can take 2 children into b&q. I did just yesterday.

Awful leaving that poor little girl like that.

[harper30]

You should have taken the registration number and called 101 with it afterwards. I did that once after I was behind a car at a drive through that had THREE toddlers sat/standing in the passenger seat, and the back seats filled with older kids/adults, so I knew it wasn't just that they'd gotten in the front at the drive in, they had been like that for the journey there too. It worried me so much I took a pic of the registration and rang the police.
If something like that happens again OP that's what I'd do. The police might not have done anything but I felt less helpless and stressed about it after reporting it.

[Waxonwaxoff0]

YANBU.

It wouldn't even be the thought of abduction that would be my main worry - it's the weather at the moment. Way too hot to leave a child in a car, it's dangerous.

[SmallChickBilly]

Would you leave a million quid lying on the back of a car with the windows down? A little girl like that is worth almost that to a paedophile ring.

But almost everyone wants a million quid. A ridiculously small percentage of people want to abduct a toddler.

This is like a plane crash - unlikely to happen but catastrophic if it does.

And yet literally millions of people get on planes every day, demonstrating neatly that risk assessment is something that is very much a part of every day life, despite being something that can often seem counter-intuitive.

I'm not saying the dad did the right thing, but comparing the risk of abduction to the risks of flying on a plane really just reinforces the point that the chances of something bad happening (beyond the child waking up and being sad, which is reason enough IMO) are really, really small.

[Justwannabe1]

*taken

[Justwannabe1]

Omg this thread! 🙈

Okay let’s put this supposedly, extremely rare issue of being abducted aside for a moment ( we’ve had lots of other children abducted since poor Madeline as far as I know she’s not the only child ever to be famen) what if it’s as simple as this child waking up alone in a car and not knowing where the hell her father was.

Yes he could have only have been gone a short time but long enough for her to wake up and be distressed.

That’s why I Wouldn’t leave my child alone in a car. Lots of things could happen but even just the thought of my young child being alone and distressed is enough of a reason for me not to leave them.

And B n Q? It’s hardly been an emergency pint of milk he’s needed.

Children especially young children need supervised at all times. It’s really simple.

[GilbertMarkham]

has CCTV, so they won't be stupid enough to take a child from there.

Yeah no-one's ever done anything criminal on CCTV - with a baseball cap, hood (and now perfectly ordinary) mask on their face.

[IWantT0BreakFree]

Also the advent of the internet and the dark web has turned child abuse into a billion dollar global business. You simply cannot compare the risk to 30, 40, 50+ years ago.

[GilbertMarkham]

A few years ago this would be normal.

I don't think so.

Anyone who left kids unattended after the Moors murders and Jamie Bulger case is a fkg moron.

[GilbertMarkham]

It was extremely rare for babies to be taken.

Oh well then .....



I actually pissed myself laughing at that for a good minute. It's so blackly funny.

Reminds me of that Steve coogan sketch about the swimming pool manager "in 1994 noone died in the pool, in 1995 noone died in the pool, in 1996 someone did die in the pool etc" ..

I'm sure the fact that it was rare is of huge comfort to the possibly dead children and their parents.

[Lancrelady80]

@OneUsernameOnly

I can take 2 children in my local b&q - I did it this evening. If I couldn’t then I wouldn’t have gone or I would have tried to make alternate arrangements

This! This is what you do if restrictions stop you.

[Lancrelady80]

@Oliversmumsarmy

You can’t take 2 children into B&Q

And that makes it okay?!