Child alone in car at supermarket

[weakpanda]

AIBU to think of your child isn't old enough/safe enough to sit in the front seat of the car it's not safe to leave them alone in the car while you shop???

At Tesco earlier while loading my shopping i saw a child alone in the car next to mine. I got the refg of the car and was going to go into Tesco and let security know but then the mum came back and started shouting at him, think he had set an alarm off earlier as hazard lights were flashing.

She then started shouting at him to get into the back of the car as he wasn't old enough to sit in the front and it wouldn't be safe, this boy I'm guessing would have been around 7/8 years old, he was crying so much and then they left.

It's been bugging me all day, nothing I can do about it now but that poor boy

Ds is 12 and I wouldn't leave him. The temptation to fiddle with buttons would be too great..

It all depends on the child surely? Absolutely I could leave my 12 year old for 10 minutes while I popped into tesco. This place is weird sometimes.

I'd have no problem leaving a 7/8 year old in a car.

People are absurdly over protective. What on earth do you think the risk is?

Even if they set off the motion sensor, it won't kill them.

Yanbu. I was left in the car all the time, one time I got bored and released the hand break......

I used to get left in the car at that age. Is not like he was three.

AIBU to think of your child isn't old enough/safe enough to sit in the front seat of the car it's not safe to leave them alone in the car while you shop???
YABU. These are completely separate things.

He was crying because he'd been naughty and he'd been told off. If we all keep treating our children as toddlers until they leave university then we'll end up with an entire generation of functionally useless adults.

People are quite quick to judge folk for taking their kids into supermarkets too at the moment though. You can't win really.

Sometimes it's good to get other peoples opinions.

I personally wouldn't leave my 7 year old alone in a car. But that's me, I've always taken mine with me until they were old enough to stay home alone.

I don't know the boy, he may be the best behaved child in the world.

8 is fine surely? Plenty of kids walking home from school /going to the park by themselves at that age around here.

I remember being left in the car at that age. I just read a book. Don't remember being tempted to fiddle with buttons except maybe the radio, which I knew how to work.

I leave my 7 year old in the car for short amounts of time. He also sits in the front occasionally. It's not like she left a baby In the car. And not being able to leave a 12 year old in the car is ridiculous 🙄

I've always taken mine with me until they were old enough to stay home alone

And what age is that?

This time last year some people were telling people with no alternative childcare to leave children of this age or younger either at home, in the car or outside the supermarket rather than take them inside as you should shop alone

I have on occasion left mine while popping into a shop for something from a similar age. They go to the ladies by themselves as well (well together!). My nine year old goes to the shop by herself sometimes...

DS1 wouldn't have wanted to be left in the car at that age, DS2 absolutely no problem. I thought you were going to say a 2 year old or something.
I assume you don't know how long the Mum had been gone?

@shouldistop

8 is fine surely? Plenty of kids walking home from school /going to the park by themselves at that age around here.

Yes, they can go swimming alone at 8 too.

It depends. What could he actually do? What's the worry?

My 3yo likes to "drive" our car (I'm in it with her at the time, obviously). She couldn't release the handbrake (because it's not a conventional one, and the car is an automatic anyway and switched off in P). She couldn't lock us in (I've got the keys). She could fiddle with various windshield/radio settings I guess. If the car had a carbureted engine and she could reach and press the accelerator repeatedly, I guess she could flood the engine - but she can't and it isn't. Another car could hit us while parked, but it could do that anyway. What is the worry?

@Aprilwasverywet

Ds is 12 and I wouldn't leave him. The temptation to fiddle with buttons would be too great..

If the child is NT then I woul dbe very worried that a secondary school aged child could not be left in a car for a short time.

My DH and I found a toddler alone in the car in Tesco car park once poor kid was screaming her little head off. We called the staff to the car park and they called the police, the mum was gone another hour while the staff waited next to the car, the police arrived before she did. She Got a right bollocking from them.

@shouldistop

I've always taken mine with me until they were old enough to stay home alone

And what age is that?

Around 35-40 on MN

Ds is a fiddler and currently being assessed..
Dd at 12 would have been fine.

Point is people should be able to make their own judgement.. I get that isn't always right...

Sitting in the front is about safety/danger if you have a car accident whereas leaving them is about being able to trust the child; two quite different things.
I think it depends on the child at that age

I’d leave a 7/8yo in the car AND I’d tell them off if they climbed in the front and messed with the buttons.

Depends, as usual, on the child.
If a parent is running into Tesco for one item, then I think the average 7/8 year old should be fine.
I wouldn't leave them and do a full weekly shop, though.

I’d leave mine in the car for a short period. They’re 8 and 10.
I trust them to stay in their seats and not be stupid.
They know how to get out if needed.
I’d also be pretty cross if they were messing about when I got back and that would probably end in tears.