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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Saw another CM today Leave one mindee and her own child in car ..

55 replies

EvesMama · 05/07/2006 14:59

whilst she picked up second mindee from school!!!
her child is just over 3 and mindee looked about 5 ish..parked on main road and took 2 minute walk through (lockable after you) 2 lots of gates and waited outside until class was opened by teacher...good ten minutes with two kids(one her own) sat in car on own...am very

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

SenoraPostrophe · 05/07/2006 20:03

...so leave the windows open, then. I still don't believe it though.

SoupDragon · 05/07/2006 20:07

How do you park right outside the gates of school?? Don't they have no parking zigzags??

thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 05/07/2006 20:11

when I was about 8 a friend of mine managed to take the handbrake off whilst parked on a hill . It was fine - mum was near enough to stop it but not a very nice thought! Also recently a friend left her 4 year old in the car in the supermarket carpark while she rushed in to get one thing and he got out and was found wondering round teh car park looking for her. I think if I was parked right outside the chip shop like em describes and I could see the car and it wasn't a busy road I'd leave them for 5 mins (assuming it wasn't on a hill!) but not if I was a childminder and not ever in the situation em first describes. (and I'm quite a laid back person)

nicnack2 · 05/07/2006 20:23

the story about the grandma rings a bell with me but it was used on a programme on the bbc if gobally warming increased and we had temperatures of over 30 for a long time, it was a serie of What if programmes i think, included plane collision over London etc.

MrsSchadenfreude · 05/07/2006 20:52

When I lived in Israel it was fairly common practice for people to leave their children (esp babies) in cars while they went into shopping centre. In the summer there were stories most weeks in the paper about children dying from the heat while being left in the car.

I do leave mine in the car when I am running to put trolley back or nipping into chemist's though.

Elf1981 · 06/07/2006 06:55

SD - lots of the schools around me dont have zigzag lines outside the gates. The roads do get quite heavily congested, I think that zigzag lines are to be introduced (done so in some schools already).

agalch · 06/07/2006 07:10

We have zig-zag lines at our school and parents park on the zig-zags so doesn't really stop parking outside schools.

NannyL · 06/07/2006 09:54

I too think its terrible that the children were left for what is quite a long walk AND out of eyesight...

Im all for NOT making them get out at EVERY oppertunity.... ie yes i WILL park in the space rigth outside the Co-Op and run in and use the cash point OR by 1 thing etc...

also at petrol stations (saying that i use pay at pump when its working) Children are also not allowed on the forecourt at 'my' petrol station so impossible to take them in anyway.

I think if its just for 1 minute (and the car is locked etc) and you are in easy seeing / hearing distance than fine.... but for a good 10 inutes when you cant even see the car is outragouse.

Also in this weather cars get hot VERY quickly.... unless it was clearly a very shady spot i would be reluctant to leave them at all

Children can die in hot cars too

ayla99 · 06/07/2006 10:34

An Ofsted Inspector told me mindies MUST be within sight OR sound of the Childminder at all times. I agree with this - how can you possibly ensure the safety of a child you can't see or hear?

I don't think its a problem to leave mindies in the car at the garage cos you can see them easily at all times. But just to be on the safe side I prefer to use Tesco pay at the pump.

One childminder was very proud to explain why she left her mindies holding the buggy outside the corner shop (next to the road, lots of cars & delivery vehicles) while she nipped inside alone. She thought this showed she was a fantastic childminder because she'd taught them to behave well & be trusted. Well hats off to her but even the best behaved kids can be run over or abducted.

DumbledoresGirl · 06/07/2006 10:37

I have to say, in the village (large) I used to live in, leaving mindees in the car and going to fetch other children was the absolute norm. It never worried me, even if I thought one of my children was the mindee. But I can see it might worry others.

riab · 06/07/2006 12:48

I think the grandma story is a bit scaremongering.
Children get knocked down and killed every day crossing the roads (with adults present) yet we let them do that, its about managing the risks effectivly.
Having said that I would only leave my own child in the car and only for 2-3 mins.

I have however left him in the house asleep while I went to the corner shop. He can't get out of his cot yet and certainly can't get out of the room. Someone said to me - what if he fell over? well it takes me less time (5 mins) to get to the corner shop 6 houses away than it does to put a load of washing on and hang out the last load in the garden (15 mins)- and I can't hear him in the garden either!

(and yes if its going ot be longer than 10-15 mins I take the monitor with me)

HandlebarMoustache · 06/07/2006 12:50

Isn't it illegal to leave a young child alone in the house, even if you take the monitor with you?

Cloudberries · 06/07/2006 13:03

Going back to the OP, a childminder near me does something similar - don't know about school pick-up time but I have often seen her leave a car-full of mindees plus her own child while she "pops" into the shops. Now there is a very good corner shop at the end of our road which she could walk them all to, if she had run out of something and couldn't wait until they had all gone home, so I don't see why she does this. I have also seen her coming back from a trip to Ikea with the little ones in tow - poor things! I personally think it is one thing to do this with your own children but another to do it when you are acting in a professional capacity.

Ladymuck · 06/07/2006 13:03

HBM - do you really think that it is illegal to leave your sleeping baby in the house whilst you hang the washing out?!

The mind boggles I'm afraid!

HandlebarMoustache · 06/07/2006 13:10

No of course not, I do that I meant the going to the corner shop - I wondered whether that was illegal. I thought it was, but I'm not sure.

riab · 06/07/2006 13:12

HBM, alot of people think this but actually it isn't illegal to leave a child in the house alone, it depends on the circumstances.

For example if you left your child alone to go to the pub and something happenend to them the fact that you were 2 miles away getting pissed would be taken into account while they decided whether to take your children into care or not.

I can't honestly see how leaving my toddler fast asleep, safe in his cot while I am out of earshot for 5-10 minutes is such a big worry.

DevilsAdvocado · 06/07/2006 13:33

Same as me re: clothesline. I wouldn't hear mine wakening if I was hanging clothes out.

Lakota · 06/07/2006 13:52

Local paper ran this story recently - admittedly person involved had left engine running, but still, you never know what kind of person might take the opportunity to grab children while out of your sight...

As for popping to shop versus being outside in the arden, personally my fear would be a fire. Unlikely I know, but I wouldn't like to be out of sight of my house. But that's just me

Lakota · 06/07/2006 13:53

sorry, garden.

alibubbles · 06/07/2006 14:51

According to the NSPCC, it is NOT illegal to leave a child of any age alone at home for a period of time. It is just not reccommended, and if your child came to harm whilst you were absent, you could be prosecuted for neglect.

It is, however illegal to leave a child under the age of 5 in a room with an open fire.

There is no legal age for a babysitter, only a reccommended age, you could leave a 6 year old in charge of a baby, but it wouldn't be sensible.

All the rules do is make you consider what is safe and realistic for your child, the circumstances and yourself

All the facts can be found in the NSPCC leaflet 'At home alone"

These guidelines are for England, I believe it is different in Scotland.

alison222 · 06/07/2006 14:52

I know of a mum who did this with her own child in W London. She was gone less than 5 mins. Baby was asleep. A passing policeman reproted her and the child was put on the as risk register of SS. as they declared her behaviour to be "abandoning" the child

nicnack2 · 06/07/2006 15:15

alibubbles it is different in scotland but i cannt quite remeber, ages are differnt and the age for babysitting is 16.

ssd · 06/07/2006 16:21

a childminder near me always parks a car with about 3 toddlers in it and walks to the school gates to collect her own son, sometimes she can't see her car from the gates. she does this all the time, also drops off before schoolers near gate and drives away before they have reached the gate and walked into school safely.

and you know what she makes a fortune, almost full all the time.

I wouldn't leave a dog with her, don't know what she tells the parents.

Original poster

EvesMama · 06/07/2006 19:21

thats shocking!

i saw a mum (i think it was anyway) leave her child, must have been 5, at the car and told her to go into school..she drove away before she even got into first gate, which was open and staright off a VERY busy main road..god is getting to work more important than making sure your childs safe!

OP posts:

zoeuk1 · 06/07/2006 20:14

im just wondering, do any childminders walk to and from school any more?
i walk with all my mindees.

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