To leave sleeping child in locked car?

[Wouldyoudothisiwonder]

Went to supermarket to get prescription for DD(2) and she fell asleep on the way. Would you lock the car and leave her sleeping while you run in? Or not?

It might be incredibly rare, but imagine the consequences if it did happen - you'd never forgive yourself and your life would be destroyed in a second.

Absolutely not. They could wake and be very distressed.

Just to give the more likely but less awful scenario, but others have explained how much worse it could be.

Good job you were there when she woke rather than stood in the pharmacy queue whilst she got more and more distressed!
You don’t even need the ridiculously unlikely catastrophic scenarios of spontaneous combustion etc - she’s obviously going to wake up at some point and you don’t want her to find herself alone when she does. That’s reason enough not to do it.
I hope you get your script and she feels better soon though.

People on this thread are batshit crazy about risk, as is usual on here.

The only danger I would be scared of is that someone would report me and the case would end up in the hands of a police officer or social worker as nuts as the people on this thread.

I'd be worried about mine waking up and being scared. That's my biggest fear. That's not batshit crazy.

Some people just choose not to take pointless risks for stuff like this when they could just enjoy 20 mins peace in the car while the child sleeps, it’s not like it’s a necessary risk is it. As is happens the kid woke up soon after so it’s a good job the OP didn’t leave them ‘sleeping’ as they probably would have come back to a crying child.

If I were you, I'd drive to the nearest costa/starbucks drive thru and make the most of peace and quiet for a coffee in the car!

As a mum of 4 I would have sat it out until they woke in these circumstances. At least you have a phone these days to have something to do!

All these saying the 'what ifs' are rare, yes they are. However that doesn't help when you're the one it happens to.

Having RTFT I think she's woken now so Mum's gone in with her.
But for future reference, please, never leave a small child in a car in a supermarket car park.

You wouldn’t be worried that your child might be awake and really upset in the car? It would only bother you if you got reported to the police or social services? Really?!

I really wouldn’t because there are too many variables. But I would sit in the car and wait for her to wake up rather than waking her, if that was an option.

I did leave my sleeping baby in the car for less than a minute to collect some shopping the other day, and could see the car the whole time. I reasoned that I’d have to leave her awake as it was big bulky stuff I was collecting, so it made very little difference to leave her asleep. But I could see the car the whole time and if the collection hadn’t been ready the second I got there I would have gone back to the car. That’s really as much as I felt comfortable with and I even thought twice about doing that! No way would I leave my children in a car where I couldn’t see or hear them. At least not til much older. Sorry OP I do sympathise.

So you don't care about your child's distress, just about whether you get reported or not?

I do at home when my 2yo has fallen asleep on the way home, my car is parked behind my house and is about 10 steps from my back gate, can't be seen from inside the house but I hang around the kitchen/yard with a brew so I can see/hear if anyone walks or drives up, and go out to check every 5 mins or so.

I won't do it on hot days or very cold days. Tbh it's quite rare now that he stays asleep through everyone leaving the car but it happens occasionally.

My eldest often gets left outside supermarkets, but he's 9 and awake and it's his choice

I think I may have left them both in there together to pop into Aldi when they've both been with me and small has fallen asleep. Not for a full shop but to grab a couple of bits. Can't remember if it's happened or not but I would 🤷

Used to do this all the time, clearly things have changed in 25 years (rolls eyes)

Not entirely sure why the eye roll. If things have changed in the past 25 years that mean it's no longer considered acceptable to leave a sick sleeping child alone in the car, that is a positive change.

But you could say the same about everything.

What of OP took her in the shop and a car hit them as they crossed the car park? Or OP tripped and fell, landing on her child? Or there was a fire in the supermarket? Or an armed robbery?

Life is risk and its not normal to get so tied up in knots about rare occurrences. Obviously be aware of the possibility but people should be able to balance the probability of that risk and make a decision based on it because absolutely nothing is 100% risk free.

Don’t risk it.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dad-arrested-after-leaving-toddler-5413111#

You can't live your life focused on rare events and the perceived consequences/guilt, you've just got to weigh up decisions and decide for your own self whether the risk is acceptable - realise too that other people may choose differently.

What of OP took her in the shop and a car hit them as they crossed the car park? Or OP tripped and fell, landing on her child? Or there was a fire in the supermarket? Or an armed robbery?

Isn't the difference that OP would be with the child, rather than the child being alone? First the child would not wake up frightened because she was alone, but more importantly if something mentioned unthread happened the presence of an adult can badly alter the eventual outcome.

MASSIVELY alter the outcome. Not badly

It's not about avoiding every single form of danger though - it's about avoidable risk vs unavoidable risk.

You can't never go outside, never cross a road or never go into a shop - so you do those things and take the necessary precautions to stay safe and to keep your children safe.

But there's no need whatsoever to leave a baby unattended in a car, in a car park, out of your sight. So logic dictates that you either stay with the baby until they wake naturally, or bring them in with you and accept they might wake up and have a tantrum or get upset. Surely that's obvious?

I know that it’s incredibly unlikely that a crash or fire etc would happen. But even if the likelihood is low, the consequence severity makes it very high risk and not worth chancing.

I have seen first hand on 2 separate occasions, joyriders going berserk in a supermarket car park and crashing into random cars. A woman was freaking out the second time as she’d left her toddler in the car and was terrified the car would be hit.

id be worried about my child waking and being distressed, or getting up to mischief, or getting more unwell. All likely.

hope your DD gets better soon OP.

No, don't do this. A friends of mine did and someone called the police

OP I always struggled with this as I'm a single parent but what I started to do is take a flask of tea with me everywhere. If my DD fell asleep I'd have my tea and read mumsnet on my phone took the opportunity to have a rest.