Do you leave kids in car whilst paying for fuel?

[elm26]

I’m not saying which one of us does which but here’s the scenario, 9 month old and 3 year old in car. You cannot pay at pump (we have one of these which is miles from us).

You’re only paying for fuel, you’re not choosing drink/crisps or anything else, literally in, pay and out.

YABU - you’d take both kids in with you
YANBU - you’d leave them in the car

Yes. She is disabled and getting her in and out of the car was a complete pain in the arse.

I’m shocked at people leaving the children in the car and never would have expected that most people would answer advocating that.
I just wouldn’t go for fuel when they were with me/ no other adult was there.

Are you easily shocked?
Do you really see parents and smal children crossing the forecourt every time you fill up?

In a standard UK petrol station?
100% leaving them in the car.
Safer and easier than dragging the across the forecourt with cars driving in and out and no footpath.

Always left mine in the car.

Shocked? Really?

It's safer to leave them in the car, I'm not sure why you'd find it shocking that most parents choose the safest option.

How do you function if your answer is you just wouldn’t go for fuel though?
You’re running now on fuel and you would forgo a food shop or your child’s medical appointment until another adult can accompany you to fill up your car?
That bizzare outlook is far more shocking.

I leave mine in the car (21months and 4y). Wouldn’t take them in the car with me if I was going in for something else from the shop or I would take them in if I really needed something there and then.

I know … what a travesty, yet for some reason people still keep flooding here … maybe we should tell them about the awful pumps!!!

Just go at another time!!!

What do you think single parents should do, then?

I’m a single parent with six very young children and I manage just fine!!!

You realise sometimes you’re just going to need fuel or need to go somewhere in the car?
Your perspective on this is incredibly strange.

If you have 2 or 3 kids with you do you put your shopping in the boot then you take the kids back across the car park to put the trolley back then back across the car park to the car after?

It must be amazing to be so perfect. Have a gold star.

Thank you, that’s made me smile on a day when it’s much needed!

At 62, while also being married? Interesting.

I took them on in very difficult circumstances. Long and tragic story unfortunately.
They are my blood relatives but not my birth children.

With one child I took her in with 2 I don't. I mostly use pay at pump so only occasionally took them in.

You are not single nor the parent to 6 very young children therefore it’s ridiculous to use it as part of your argument that other parents should just wait however long until another adult person could accompany them to buy fuel. Any actual single parent or even parent would know how utterly ridiculous that is.

I always brought my three in. Now that my eldest is 10 I leave them sometimes- but only if it’s the petrol station with no queues and where I can see them all from the shop till.

I used to leave my kids on the car. It felt safer than getting them all out and crossing the forecourt. It didn’t cross my mind to take them with me. I’d be quick and I’d keep an eye on the car.

It is the laziest option to leave children in the car not the safest option

I sometimes took mine in, sometimes left them in the car. It depended on whether I could see them from the pay point and how busy it was. If I knew there would be a queue, they came in with me. There is a 4 year age gap between my two, so I felt ok leaving them in the car if I was going to be quick, once the youngest was well past the baby stage. The pay at pump stations only became a thing after my youngest was born and I tried to use those as much as possible. Still do as it means I don’t have to interact with people😅

In what way is it safer to walk children forward and backwards across (often) multiple lanes of cars driving through the pumps?
Whatever risks you’re afraid of happening while a child is still in the car will be significantly less likely to happen than the likelihood of them being hit by a car.

Of course its safer to leave them in the car. They're far more likely to trip or hit by a car on the forecourt than something happen to them while they're sitting in the car.