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?

I don't think all these farfetched ideas such as the car rolling into the sea (from a supermarket carpark!!!) or being abducted are likely to happen. I mean, sure, they might happen. So might awful things happen with you in the car. Hey, just driving is dangerous! But we all do it.

But what is likely to happen is child can wake up and be scared, or well meaning people will call the police or social services.

I came on to post about the same incident that electricmoccasins has provided a link to - about a dad leaving his child unattended in a car while he dashed into a chemist.
He was spotted by a policeman and the implications were horrendous. I think social services got involved. I remember hearing him talk about it on the radio and being really shocked at what he went through.

Literally nobody suggested that the car might roll into the sea from a supermarket car park, the point was that you can’t always predict what random incident may occur. And it’s not really a necessary risk to take leaving the child alone in the car for a wide range of reasons.

I did this once. I nipped into Wickes to pick something up and left my sleeping child in the back, in locked car.

I was literally 10 minutes and when I returned, there was a police car next to mine, and two police officers waiting to tell me off.

Lesson learned. I never did it again.

Have they though? No. It was never safe. As someone who suffered one of those 'rare' occurrences as a child I'd say we lull ourselves into thinking the 70s were 'you never had to lock your door' safe. They weren't. You just lucky.

Just because you did it all the time, doesn't mean it was safe or a good idea 🙄

fuck no but especially because most of the time when i grab a prescription i wait atleast 10-30 minutes for them to process and sign off on it as they always have to do when a prescription is collected

ALSO anyone sees your toddler in your car.. they dont know whether your gone for 2 minutes or 2 hours. Police and SS will be called. if that child wakes up and is alone and scared that can cause some real Trauma.

I think being potentially reported by busybodies would be my biggest concern. I'm obviously a terrible mum as I occasionally left one or other child sleeping in car when a baby (more usually DD, as once woken from a nap, even one she really needed, she wouldn't go back to sleep, unlike DS) to nip into Boots for something.

It is a bit ridiculous - yes, there's a vanishingly minute chance someone could crash into the car/set it on fire/abduct your baby, but at the end of the day there's an equal (tiny) chance that you could be hit by a car while carrying a baby through the carpark, a heavy tree branch could fall on you, a display rack could fall on you, a car could smash into the shopfront and hit you or whatever.

Why people, whether official bodies or armchair critics should level accusations of neglect or endangerment, with no other evidence or context whatsoever, because someone leaves a sleeping/calm/happy child in a car to do something that demonstrably will take a few minutes, is beyond me.

No way. I’d only do this if I had visual at all times. Even then I probably wouldn’t - I’d nip to a cash point but not inside a shop.

I do it on my driveway if DD has fallen asleep on the way home, but i can see the car from my lounge window. I also leave DD in the car in petrol stations obviously, and have done it for very small shops where i am parked right outside, and again can see car the whole time. I wouldn't do it where i couldn't see the car

I’d do it. I wouldn’t do a big shop but I’d happily leave them if they were sleeping and I was just dashing in and out.

absolutely not.

The eye roll is to the over dramatising of things! My sons, my nephews, my extended family and friends have all left children in cars for a few minutes and they have came to no harm.

Same thing happened on an estate near where I used to live. Child died. Complete tragedy.

My son was completely safe

Not in a public car park, no. I think the risks of anything awful happening are slim but they are still possible and if something were to happen I think it is likely you would be blamed for neglecting the child. To be honest the biggest and most likely risk is probably someone seeing the child alone in the car, calling the police and then you potentially being investigated for child negligence and having social services involved.

If car was parked on your own private driveway and you could see it from the house I think it would be different but I wouldn’t leave a child unattended in a car in a public place even if the car was locked and even if I could see it.

Not a supermarket, but if it was a little local pharmacy where I could park outside and see the car from the window then I would probably do it.

My sons, my nephews, my extended family and friends have all left children in cars for a few minutes and they have came to no harm.

Oh - well that makes it safe then

We aren’t talking about the 70s, my son was fine and safe and I would do it again if I had to

If she was anything like my daughter she'd always wake up distressed from a nap, she'll wake up and wonder where the hell you are, no don't do it, don't put her through that.

Probably be a 5 minute job? That's not a definite. I've waited 25+ min at a supermarket pharmacy before.

The risk of anything untoward happening may be extremely low, but It's not a risk I would be willing to take.

A couple of minutes to run in a shop
for calpol or milk, or nappies if everyone is more honest here they have all done stuff like it.

No. Is this for real?

Not a chance I’d consider this, and would report to police if I saw a child asleep in a supermarket car park.

Go home and come back later? Use a local pharmacy?