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

Yeah this is exactly what I’m thinking - surely children would be holding the adults hand not running around on the forecourt 🤷‍♀️

Yes exactly this!! It’s not rocket science - the older ones jump in first so you can buckle in the baby so nobody is standing around on the forecourt. Absolutely no excuse to leave a child (especially a baby) unattended in a car

Why? What's the benefits of unstrapping them and carting them into the shop.

What when you have 3 kids and 2 hands?

The benefits are it’s safer

Why is it neglectful? And what if the kids are asleep? Wake them up, drag them across forecourt, back to car and strap all back in again?

In what way? This is what I'm trying to figure out.

Well I have never had a problem with that - you just manage easy enough

And what if another adult was in the car with the kids? Would that have stopped that accident happening somehow. ?

Ok so how do you hold 3 kids hands at the same time then

Both leaving a child in the car to pay for petrol and taking them across the forecourt are of negligible risk.

They are likely far lower risk than the drive to the petrol station or a trip to the park or a child eating a meal.

Yes the car could spontaneously combust or be stolen but an armed robber could come into the petrol station or a lion which has escaped from the local zoo. Or a can of baked beans could fall on their head in the shop etc.

2 in one hand and 1 in the other hand - basic maths!

In what way is it safer?

Safer because you are not leaving your child unattended - left in the car your eyes are not on your child

In most petrol stations, you can see your car from inside.

Maybe so but your eyes are not on that child the whole time

Wouldve thought that would be easy for one of them to give you slip slip but if you say so

Do you have your eyes on your children 24/7 at home? After all that's where most accidents occur.

I still think they are safer in the car than dragging them across a forecort

Nobody has their eyes on their children all the time.

The risks of leaving children in a car alone-

someone tries to steal the car- highly unlikely at a petrol station due to high traffic levels and cameras.

child knocks hand brake off - forecourts are usually flat so unlikely to be a issue.

explosion/fire - doesn’t make much difference where you are in that scenario

parent becomes ill/dies - very obvious which car they own and can quickly be checked

car accident - again highly unlikely at a petrol station due to layout/ cars driving slowly.

Often there’s large windows so cars can
be seen anyway. But it’s not the same as leaving kids on a random road.

Do you not have child locks on your car?

Yes I did until my child got anxiety about being left anywhere at about age 3 so I took her. It would be a total nightmare if you had multiple kids and newborns, I would not take them!

I’ve seen lots of judgemental posts on previous threads saying it’s totally irresponsible though! In case you get car jacked or there’s a massive fire.

I definitely took mine in at that age. A toddler can cause havoc in minutes or feed baby something etc…

Never given much thought to getting small children out of a car?
I think perhaps some of you have short memories if your children are older. I have 3 under 5 and none of them can climb into the car by themselves so everyone cannot simply get into the car at the same time, is physically impossible so yes they are standing beside the car at either end of the journey waiting on siblings getting in or out.
As is the case for pretty much anyone else I’ve ever seen putting young children into a car.

So I feel extremely stupid now, but for some reason I actually thought it was illegal to leave them in the car! I am so relieved to hear I can actually go in without the faff of taking my 2 year old in with me. I always wished I could just quickly pop in and pay, as long as I can see the car the whole time