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?

How likely is it that someone would abduct a sleeping child in a locked 4x4 with tinted windows, right outside the doors of a busy supermarket?

You’re quite right. That was @CellophaneFlower. You’d responded to my post to her and I didn’t read the different username.

I think you mean me and no, that's not what I said (although I've noticed you have issues with comprehension). I said if I didn't answer he'd come downstairs and if I wasn't there he'd panic.

How would you know how he’d react if you’re always there?

No.

Driving standards are bad enough, but people in car parks especially in SUVs are amongst the worst.

@BatshitandBonkers says it better than I could about how those who saw the child would react.

It’s not about how “likely” it is. It’s the fact it’s not impossible to happen.

If it isn’t impossible there is still an element of risk.

It’s probably highly unlikely. But it doesn’t make it OK.

People aren't saying it's likely to happen, though.

They're saying that if it did, they'd never forgive themselves for taking that unnecessary risk in the first place.

Some things in life are dangerous and unavoidable - crossing roads and driving, for example, but we do what we can to make them as safe as possible - use crossing points, check both ways, hold children's hands around roads, buy good quality car seat, use child locks and seatbelts etc.

But leaving your child unattended and totally unsupervised in a car is never a necessity - it's a choice people make out of convenience. And yes, the risk of anything happening is tiny, but most parents would never forgive themselves if something did happen and it was totally unavoidable.

I think this is fine if you're only going to be gone a few mins.

But understand why others would have feelings of trepidation.

Of course it’s not impossible. It’s not impossible that while carrying your screaming, recently-woken, unwell child across the car park to the shop, the noise distresses you and prevents you hearing a car coming and you step out in front of it. It’s not impossible that a shoplifter running from security knocks you both over and you hit your head on the pavement. It’s not impossible that a wet door sign has been moved and while carrying your child you slide and fall. It’s not impossible that a promotional display of Bells whiskey stacked into the shape of a large Christmas tree falls and a splinter of glass cuts your child’s face. It’s not impossible that a light fitting drops on your head.

Nome of it is impossible, vanishingly unlikely though.

It's better to take her just for your own peace of mind. I would worry.

Haha, perhaps he would! I'm assuming he'd react this way as on occasion, if I have taken bin out and not answered him, he's already getting a bit jittery by the time he's downstairs. If I wasn't there this would be totally out of the norm and would throw him. Same as if he woke alone in the car. He wouldn't calmly sit there thinking I'll be back soon, as I've never done it before.

Maybe you’ve inadvertently imparted your own anxieties onto him by making a big fuss about reassuring when you’ve ‘come back’ from the bin. Or maybe it’s innate.

As others have said, while I wouldn't do it, I don't find it very helpful for some posters to be so melodramatic. Yes, a meteorite could strike the car, an undiscovered volcano could erupt and inundate the car with lava. The biggest concern for me would be the child waking and being upset.

Everything you’ve listed is also very unlikely to happen.

The difference is, leaving your child unattended in a car when you’re out of eyeshot is irresponsible. That’s it.

Leaving a child unattended in a car and something happen to them is 100 times worse then something happening to them whilst you’re present.

Im not sure why so many “parents” are finding this difficult to comprehend.

@Herejustforthisone

The more you post the nastier you become.

Having a go at people and acting like a superior parent because your child wouldn't give a fuck if they woke up alone and sick in the car at 2 years old, give over

If my child was restfully asleep, I’d leave him that way for a couple of minutes while I got supplies to make him feel better. Doesn’t seem that irresponsible to me. It seems a lot kinder than dragging him from sleep and lugging him about a shop or worse, making him walk.

Everything you’ve listed is also very unlikely to happen.

That was rather the point.

I don't suffer with anxiety. I can't see how my 6 year old being frightened if he thought he was alone in the house is an issue, or even unusual?

My point was….why would he think you’d left him? Why wouldn’t he assume you were there, just somewhere he couldn’t immediately see?

You’re missing the point in that everything you listed, you were with the child. Whereas if you leave a child alone in the car, then the child is alone and more vulnerable and prone to risk.

That’s the point. Sorry if you don’t have the emotional intelligence to understand.

Not in a million gazillion years.

Absolutely no chance. What would happen if you tripped (in your 'rushing in' - eye rolls) and rendered yourself unconscious? What if she woke up and got afraid? FGS, it's a nap, just wake her up.

No would never do this. Car bumps. Flashers. I'd call the police if I saw a sleeping child left in a car

Can you please explain how you’ve calculated the likelihood of each scenario? A sleeping child behind tinted glass being stolen, as opposed to a distracted mother carrying that child walking out in front of a car?

Also, you need to learn to accept that people can disagree with you, without you feeling compelled to name call, as it rather undermines your own argument.

I'm guessing as he's disoriented and drowsy, having just woken up?