.. to think this would blow some minds?

[BeepBoopBop]

….. standing next to my van, loading my stuff into it when a black Volvo pulls up behind me and the female driver asks if I’m leaving. I tell her no not yet so she thanks me and reverses back a little and stops and asks if the two men in a van (having a tea break) are leaving. They tell her the same thing, so she asks if it’s okay to leave the car in front of the van as she only needs five minutes. They say it’s fine and she says great, I’ll leave the keys in it just in case they need to leave and then off she pops.
Two minutes later, a car opposite starts up and the driver can’t manoeuvre out. as her car is in the way. Van driver jumps out and gets in her car to move it. At which stage, two startled heads pop up in the back. She had left the keys and her two young kids in her car.
Van driver lets the other driver out and neatly parks Volvo in the now vacant space.
Could you see this happening in the UK? By this time it was about 10 minutes - I wonder what she thought as she came back to the car park and saw her car wasn’t sitting where she left it?

Indeed. My favourite was the one where the poster berated folks in the UK for closing curtains and blinds at night. Where they live, there is no need! People benefit from the lit up houses, and aren't so uptight that they care about privacy. 🙄

That would happen here in central Portugal; probably not recommended in Lisbon.

Well it happened in a land where children don't get abducted or sexually abused, obviously. Oh, France you say? Uhmmm

I can imagine some small places where this would actually be possible. It must be nice to be able to live life with such a relaxed attitude.@Elanol you did make me laugh. I have never been in the leaving doors unlocked brigade regardless of where I lived. I was once on holiday in the Canaries with my DS when he was a little boy. I had hired a car and was parking in a busy unfamiliar street (probably a bit too slowly). A local policeman tapped on the window and got me and DS out of the car. He jumped in and parked the car for me and handed me back the keys. I remember the policeman was very handsome and I was much younger and somewhat attractive then so maybe that had something to do with it!

I live in rural Ireland and we don’t lock doors at night. But we do have a big dog who makes a right racket if anyone starts to come up our drive. The drive is over 200m long.

Don’t think I’d leave a small child in a car whilst I go shopping though. What if the child decides to go for a wander?

I live in Amsterdam and I remember one hot summer day when the local day care had all the kids running around the (enclosed, but shared with neighbours) yard in which they play. They were playing with water so had all their clothes off.

Little naked toddlers chatting away with one of the elderly men who lives there. (And I, also unknown to them, was there too of course.)

All completely innocent but people in the UK or US would be shocked.

(Disclaimer: obviously I’m aware that we have all sorts of dodgy and horrible people here too. In public places there’s at least one man who’s known to take photos of children 🤢 The police can’t do anything as it’s not illegal. My point is that in many countries people would be shocked at little kids being naked even in a setting where they were fully supervised and nobody was able to take photos.)

It might possible happen on the Isles of Scilly, as the only people with cars are locals. Tourists can't take their cars.
However, it is not something I would do.
In theory it might be OK, but you always have to plan for the worse thing that could happen.
So, no, that moment in the shop, could easily turn in hours, etc

Back in the 90s my mum used to leave us in the car while she shopped all the time - unlocked, of course, so we could get out in an emergency, and with strict instructions not to play with the controls... A confused elderly man once tried to get into the back seat with us (clearly thinking he was getting into the car he'd come in) which terrified us - I think mum had a bit of a shock when she came back to us in floods of tears and with a tale of the stranger who had tried to sit on us, but not so much so that she stopped doing it!

I never lock my doors. Once the front door is shut you can't open it from the outside without a key. I don't bother locking the back door.

I was actually thinking what a breath of fresh air to see people being polite, cooperative and helpful with each other to overcome parking issues. Until you mentioned leaving her children. She must live in a society with a great deal of trust for strangers. I mean, statistically it's highly unlikely and very unfortunate if the very men you decide to approach to give your car keys to happen to be dangerous to children, but still.

I live in the uk, frequently don’t lock my back door at night. How else is the dog supposed to let himself out for a wee?

I frequently don't lock my back door at night, but that's sheer incompetence/ forgetfulness... Mostly DH catches it!

a version of this happened to us a few weeks back. We were in an M&S cafe and there was a young lady sitting near us with a toddler and a baby she was breastfeeding. Her sandwich was delivered wrapped and my OH noticed and went and unwrapped it and cut it up for her as she only had one hand free. About ten mins later she asked (we both thought) if we would mind watching her bags for 5 mins. No problem he said and then got handed a baby and a toddler and off she went! The look on his face was very funny but it was absolutely fine (and she really was only gone for about 5 mins)

I live south east europe and never lock the front door unless we go away more than one night or DH is working away buy we are at the end of a small and very safe village.

I think the odds of the men being a) all predators who would collectively decide to harm the children in the ten minutes she's gone or b) including one predator who is able to come up with a plan to get the children away from the others without suspicion within ten minutes is indeed vanishingly unlikely. The more likely risks that would stop me doing this are that the children either get scared and upset at being left alone, or that they get out of the car and run off with no one watching them.

I'm in a rural part of Wales, UK and people often leave keys in car and even the engine running while they pop into a shop, tractors are terrible for it, but lots of cars too. Lots of people leave keys in the ignition with the car parked on a drive too. Back doors often unlocked. My city parents are regularly aghast! I've not seen anyone leave young children in the car as well though, not where they can't see the car from the shop anyway. Also, it still surprises me, and I never do it. The engine running is also terrible for the environment/everyone else breathing nearby, let alone anything else.

There must also be almost no time saving in it now - surely it's a habit from when cars had chokes and needed to warm up after being off? Admittedly, I don't know about tractor engines - maybe they are still more like this - but in a car it takes literally two seconds to turn the engine on or off...

My friend lives in Saudi Arabia. She never locks the house, cars, she leaves her bike outside no lock, her kids can roam around the shopping centres on their own for fun, she wears expensive jewellery and a nice watch without fear of them being snatched, same with her phone.

None of the above applies in European towns and cities. None of it. It is so much safer there.

Can you think why that is?

I don't lock my door at night...

Can he reach the handle?

Sure. Perhaps consequences work after all eh?

Fear indeed. Plus a very controlled society.

I was just thinking that this would totally happen in Jersey!

Was it the street beside the Aiguille du Midi or the Office du Tourisme ?