DH left kids in car

[eatsleepeatrepeat]

DH was driving back from kids club with DC1&2 (7mo & 2yrs) and stopped at the petrol station for a couple of microwave meals & wine for our dinner tonight, leaving both the kids in the locked car. When he came home I presumed he'd taken them in with him, but then I realised he didn't have the double buggy, so he eventually admitted he left them in the car briefly. He said he had eyes on the car the whole time he was in the shop.

We didn't really have an argument over it but I would just never have left them and was horrified he did, if only for a few mins. Am I overreacting?

Does it matter if he was getting wine or petrol??

I really do not understand the folk on here that say they take kids in with them. massive faff, unnecessary and time consuming.

I never took my dc out if the car on the forecourt, it's unnecessary.

As with all these tales of terrible risks faced by children in stationary cars, the most dangerous bit is taking them out in the car in the first place.

No, the car was locked.

@Growlybear83 and in minutes on a petrol
Forecourt with cctv it was stolen.

With the cctv, it makes you wonder why they didn't go for a car on the street or on a driveway?

Silly thieves

I have never ever seen anyone take children into the garage to pay for petrol. I’ve got 3 children age 12,14 and 16 and have never had to get them out of the car to pay for petrol. In the thousands of times Ive filled up with fuel none of my children have let off the handbrake, choked, spontaneously combusted, been stolen or any other accident. At most they have wound each other up.

it is all about risk. Leaving children in a locked, secure car within constant eyesight is less of a risk than taking 3 small children out of a car, getting them across the forecourt, control
them while paying and then back out to the car and all 3 strapped back in safely whilst avoiding the states and strops from the long line of people
waiting for your pump!

inwould always choose pay at pump if possible though.

Sounds like rubbish. Why didn't your friend run out when someone started breaking into the car? How could they steal it with no key? Assuming the car was less than about 25 years old, they can't just be hotwired any more. Even if they could it takes longer than a run across the forecourt would.

In reality the best way to avoid this would be to lock the car and remove the key..it's then impossible to steal at short notice.

Your child is much safer parked up on the forecourt than actually being driven to the petrol station. I actually can't believe people are taken young defenceless children on totally unnecessary journeys to petrol stations anyway. Get a babysitter and leave the child safely at home!

That's terrifying

Yeah. They didn't need wine so just take the kids home

Never have I once taken my child into the petrol station with me. She's now 6 and still going strong.

Where do you stand on unnecessary car journeys? They’re far more likely to come to harm as passengers in a car, so what do you think about, for example, driving your kids in the car to the cinema? The cinema isn’t a necessity, so surely putting them at risk by driving them there is a no go? What about travelling for holidays?

@moonspiral

It's not terrifying, it's bollocks.

One does not simply break into a locked car and magically spark the ignition in under 1 minute (or the seconds it takes for someone to run outside considering it was in full eyeline).

Either the woman left the car unlocked with the keys in the ignition/car running or she was in the shop for around 15 minutes.

You really wanted him to get a double buggy out the car, get both children into said buggy, wheel them across a forecourt, buy a bottle of wine, wheel them out, take both children out of the pram and into car seats, fold the pram and put it back in the car and then drive off.

Jesus I’m tired just writing it. What a fuss.

And 15 minutes is fucking generous, modern cars are incredibly difficult to break into, not like the days of poking a coat hanger down the doors.

Yeah I definitely remember being told this as a child as well

If it's true....

Indeed.

Something isn't adding up.

It’s bullshit.

So, you've never once used a car with the kids unless absolutely necessary?

Never once looked away from your kids for more than 3 minutes... You know... in case they choke...

Oh, you were there when it happened then?

In this situation I would have skipped the microwave meals and wine altogether and found a bag of pasta in the house. Presumably the children weren't having microwave dinner too.

I still remember watching a TV (warning?) program where a child somehow let the handbrake off and the car rolled down the hill - it had a profound effect on me. This child was clearly older than 2 and not strapped in. But... I've always been terrified that if I locked them in the car when they were little, even for a minute or two, the lock might break, or I might drop the key in a gutter , and not be able to get back into them and would have to call the fire brigade to get them out!

When they were little we would go to the petrol station with two adults, or with no children in the car, so that we could avoid this situation.

Well I’m horrified that both OP and her DH drank wine when they are supposed to be caring for two young children. What if one fell ill or got hurt and needed to be driven to A&E?

I’ve never heard of anything so irresponsible in all my days… 😉

This 💯

And all that salt in a ready meal? They'd be dehydrated and no doubt have a heart attack on the way whilst driving them.

How deep does this conspiracy go? I feel I should start a spin off thread to uncover the dark truth!