Does anyone leave their child in the car when shopping?

[opinionsrus]

Just wanted to know what the "proper" situation is with this as there seems to be no guidlines.

Is it ok to leave a baby in the car if fast asleep?

Is it ok to leave toddler in the car if happy?

Not including summer months when it is boiling of course, when you wouldn't or you make sure windows left open (which would present another risk as sm could get in).

Is there a "rule" that its ok to pop in to the local shop for milk, say, but not elsewhere (to leave in large supermarket car park), I don't mean to do an hours shopping, just for a couple of bits?

Just out of interest. Is it just your own judgement? My DS comes with me, but just wondered if it is supposedly ok to leave them too???

LOLOLOLOl at cats

so a beardy welsh mann wiht a t shrit on not too tall and GENERALLy brown haired but we wouldnt want to generalise

Harry Potter lookalike anyone?

ok so 90% of them have brown hair. and very thick eyebrows

" eyebrows"

psml

must go and do improper work

Do the eyebrows meet in the middle?

Dh says they have 'cow' eyes.....dunno what he means.

There is a small risk of all sorts happening if you leave kids in the car - but we all take risks everyday - otherwise you'd never let them leave the house. I lock them in while I bob in a local shop as to me that's safer. Might start taking older one in with me soon as my friends dd (9) took the handbrake off and rolled down a slope. Luckily a neighbours car stopped it

I'm another one who used to be left for 2-3 hours in the car with my brother while m&d were in the pub (we were about 7 and 5). Mum used to let us have a packet of crisps though so I suppose that's OK .

They usually have baby faces and chubby cheeks. And yes definitely brown hair. With a side parting.

Thanks for the Identikit mental pic of the typical peadophile. Seriously, it is interesting to read these things. Will look closely at charming men who are short with facial hair.

And interesting to her from someone who works in this line that a parent's intuition is so important. I am not a hugely protective mother to my sons, but in just a few instances over the years, I have felt so strongly that a certain man is not quite right.

Once we were at a war games exhibition and a man struck up conversation with my 7 year old. He was very well spoken and charming, but distinctly odd looking. I felt an overwhelming need to get my son out of his orbit and we moved on fast. The rest of the afternoon, ds and I spoke to dozens of war games enthusiasts,(many of them with facial hair it has to be said) but all of them seemed fine. I know that the men organising the war games tables at these exhibitions have to be police checked, so that is some reassurance.

War games enthusiasts. Alarm bells ringing.

lol at this whole thread

hi there dog

lol at this whole thread

hi there dog

no, honestly, they are lovely IME once you get talking to them. And don't worry, I had my antenna out a lot as the hobby has such a geeky, wierdo reputation (sorry wargamers out there, but IMO it has).

I know someone who organises these war games events that are open to the public. All the men running the games have to be police checked throughly.

I was talking to one of the men who had organised a particularly child friendly game - dinosaurs versus daleks - his other job is something very senior in strategy for the treasury office.

If I was a single woman looking out for a nice man, I'd be taking my son to war games exhibitions quite a lot

"his other job is something very senior in strategy for the treasury office."

tigermoth, I wouldn't expect his job to be anything less! But I admire your enthusiasm in teh face of all odds

hello codster

141 meesages and the OP hasn't replied funny that.

Probably scared off!

Tigermoth - my dh and ds1 and ds2 are all wargaming enthusiasts. I would like to point out that dh does not have a beard.

Well that opened a can of worms didn't it??

After having read all your comments, I would say that:

To take a child out of a car whilst paying for petrol is MUCH worse than leaving them in the car. We are talking a 2-3 yr old here, ie absolutely NO road sense whatsover, plus the instinct to break free and literally RUN at all times. No I am not that bad a mother but his father was/is an pre-olympic/commonwealth games 100m sprinter.

Not only that but the FUMES - I feel quite high when getting out the car at a petrol station so god only knows what it must do to a child. Lots more risks involved in taking them out IMO. I don't know cos I hate paying for petrol and kindly let DH do it. Its on my list of things I "don't do".

As for "popping into local shop for milk/bread" then realistically I think this ok too, but obviously as for a larger shop then no.

Is it very interesting though to hear your own childhood stories, and to realise how things have changed over the past 20 or so years. Those of you left for 2 or 3 hours, isn't that abuse/neglect?

I can remember being left in the car whilst my mum popped into a shop, but again not loner than 5 or 10 mins.

Would be interesting to hear where the line is drawn though in terms of legality.

Is it completely legal to pop in for milk and bread and completely illegal to leave for an hour whilst in tescos/morrisons? (Just to re-iterate not that I would).

Laughing at all paedo comments, although in reality also a very serious issue. I think in terms of car self combusting etc the chances here are very small. I think the major risks really are some undesirable getting in and harming children is some way along with a child managing to get out somehow. Again as someone mentioned you would have to constantly "review" the matter , and consider factors such as age/any siblings also in car etc.

I think to summarise then the general outcome from this discussion is:

YES TO LEAVE AT PETROL STATION WHILST PAYING FOR PETROL.

YES, DEPENDING ON INSTINCT TO LEAVE AT LOCAL SHOP WHILST RUNNING IN FOR MILK/BREAD,

A DEFINITE NO NO FOR ANYTHING ELSE, IE TO DO A LARGER SUPERMARKET SHOP, OF PARKING SOMEWHERE NOT CONSIDERED TO BE SAFE, IE LARGE SUPERMARKET.

I used to take DD1 into petrol station with me but by the time I had 2nd and 3rd babies it wasn't practical.

I sometimes now leave them in the car at local farmers market - it's private parking right in front of the shop window. They do love to shop though so mostly want to come with me

Probably another subject but I cringe when I see babys left in their prams outside shops or the bakery. I was never able to bring myself to leave them in their prams and I see it often even here in the middle of Berlin.

We used to get left in the car whilst mum & dad went for a drink on a Saturday afternoon. No kids in pubs in those days - we had to share a bottle of coke and a bag of crisps between the 3 of us.

Yes to the petrol thing but i always find a pump where I know I will see him at all times (and in all fairness mil is almost always working in there so she pops out to see him!!!)

Local shop - did used to until a couple of months ago, a woman did the same with her dd and a man tried to get into the car through an open window. Now there was no suggestion that there was anything untoward other than theft of a wallet and mobile but it did make me stop and think and now I take him in with me.

Big supermarkets or anywhere I'm not going to be able to see him - NO as I would never forgive myself if anything happened to him as a result of leaving him or he was sat feeling scared about being left on his own (I'm a bit soft that way!!!!)

I never leave DD (age 4yo) in the car alone. None of the petrol stations I use have paying desks in view of the cars, so not even then.

well that used to be common practice, when we were kids

x posts. ! i might get the hang of this, leaving buggies outside shops, was common practie when we were kids.!