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Original poster

do you leave your baby in the car???

81 replies

Lisa78 · 10/09/2004 13:56

DS2 is 10 months old and after the Sainsburys shop, I called in at their petrol station. I left him in his car seat whilst I filled up, but then took him in with me whilst I paid. Obviously as I was holding him, this took a bit longer and the woman behind me was huffing and puffing a bit, but its hard to sign the slip and hold on to a wriggly baby!
Went back to the car, with her hot on my trail, and of course, had to strap DS2 into his seat, which yes, takes a couple of minutes. As I was doing this, she suggested that I should just leave him in the car whilst I paid - she wasn't really snotty or anything, just a bit exasperated with me, cos she couldn't get out until I did. I just said no, I didn't leave him unattended incase there was a problem but she acted like I was being stupid and said I could see him from the till anyway
But what if he started crying, or someone nicked the car or whatever, a million things could happen. I don't particularly want to hold people up, but its only a couple of minutes - and she shouldn't have pulled up so close to me if she wanted to get out quickly. I don't think I'm being stupid taking him in with me - do you???

OP posts:

Niecie · 12/09/2004 17:00

I must admit I leave mine (4 and 1y.o) in the car if I have no choice - I try to go when there is somebody else with us. Petrol station forecourts aren't very safe and I am sure that there are a few that say no children on the forecourt. I can always see them and the car is locked. It wouldn't take me 15 seconds to get back to the car if I saw somebody else trying to get into it, I can tell you. That said I worry about them the whole time and it certainly isn't something I do without thought to the possible consequences. However, we all have to do whatever we feel comfortable with and if that means taking them with you then you go ahead, I say.

As for the woman who was getting on your back about you taking your child, perhaps she should mind her own business and allow a bit longer to get to where she is going so that she doesn't have to hassle other people. She should know that you can't hurry small children and to do so makes everything go ten times slower. Plus getting on your back didn't get her out of the petrol station any quicker, did it? Some people have no manners!

suedonim · 12/09/2004 19:50

I've always left mine in the car, though if I used a large petrol station where I was further away from the shop, I might have thought again. I don't like mine getting out of the car when we buy petrol in case they inhale the petrol fumes.

Polgara2 · 12/09/2004 20:46

Haven't left dd's in car at petrol station but only because the one I go to means you either pay at pump or drive to pay window. Always left both of them on the drive asleep though because it was the only way to get them to have a daytime nap. Both of them refused to sleep in cot or anywhere except when driven around by demented mother! Spent the whole time in the house bobbing in front of the window or out of the front door tho so was usually twice as tired by the time they woke up!! In fact someone knocked on my door once to 'remind' me that my dd was asleep in the car!! Couldn't decide whether to be pleased that he was bothered or indignant that he thought I might forget my precious bundle!!!

coddychops · 13/09/2004 12:31

acne there is still a pay at pump option here!

dot1 · 13/09/2004 12:33

I leave mine in the car... oops...

coddychops · 13/09/2004 12:34

dot you have to remember to goand get thema gain!

woodpops · 13/09/2004 12:36

God no, I would never leave my ds or dd unattended in the car. I can't believe people actually do that. We plan it so dh goes and fills up in an evening when I bathing the kids. It's too much hassle getting 2 of them in and out of the car.

coddychops · 13/09/2004 12:38

and if you wer alone on a motrorway?

woodpops · 13/09/2004 12:40

Don't do motorways. In my 10 years of driving I have never driven on a motorway, never needed to.

Slinky · 13/09/2004 12:40

Some people, ie single parents don't have the option of having someone else fill up their cars and have to take their children with them.

coddychops · 13/09/2004 12:40

woodpops you weed!

woodpops · 13/09/2004 12:45

Yep, I'll admit it as well. I appriciate some people have to get their own petrol but my dad was a police man so I've grown up knowing the worse that could happen etc. I suppose I'm over cautious about anything like that. I didn't mean it to sound like I was being funny, honest.

MeanBean · 13/09/2004 12:46

I do. I can't believe anyone would think it was dicing with death to do so.

Neither leaving them in the car nor taking them out is ideal, but either is probably less dangerous than taking them in a car in the first place.

coddychops · 13/09/2004 12:48

grin woody

woodpops · 13/09/2004 12:49

Even crime watch scare me. When dh goes away I sleep with a baseball bat under my pillow, the landing light on and TV on mute ALL night!!!!

MrsDoolittle · 13/09/2004 12:53

I haven't read the whole of this thread so excuse me if I am repeating stuff
I would hate to think of myself as a paranoid mummy too but I wouldn't leave dd in the car either. Thats why I go to the Asda station because you can drive to the kiosk.
Sometimes I really think you just can't win. As you say if your baby was left crying in the car, someone would be sure to frown at you then.
I'm convinced someone would love to snatch my beauuutiful baby, anyway
I never paid much attention to baby stuff before I was pregnant but since then I have discovered alot about peoples attitudes to children that really makes me mad and honestly, I am a laid back sorta gal.

Thomcat · 13/09/2004 12:54

Yes, in a petrol station I leave Lottie in the car while I pay, car locked and me keeping an eye on her while in queue.

More chance of us being run over carrying her to the till than anything else!

aloha · 13/09/2004 13:09

Same as Thomcat, in fact when I tell ds that I am going to get petrol he says, "And I will stay in the car and listen to my music'!". In response to original post though, I would be v v pissed off if someone criticised my decision either way, and would not hesitate to say so.

I do think anyone who actively preferred to steal a car with babies in it would have to be absolutely raving. I imagine that having a baby in the car would actually be quite a good car crime deterrent

coddychops · 13/09/2004 13:14

I always hope so to
not only the kdis but hte choice of listening material!

when dhs car was stolen ( and later recoevred by tracker in essex!)
they binned all t he kids cds!

aloha · 13/09/2004 13:36

Oh dear, how sad

muminlondon · 13/09/2004 14:02

I think it must be illegal in the US - found a story here . I wonder what happened after that?

muminlondon · 13/09/2004 14:05

Oh, just found out here by googling...

KateandtheGirls · 13/09/2004 14:13

Corbin, I'm in the US too and I have on occasion left my 2 in the car while I ran in to pay for petrol. Almost all the pumps here have the option to pay at the pump (you use a credit/debit card and the machine checks your card first before you can pump, so there's no way to get gas without paying for it). But there have been a couple of occasions when the credit card machine wasn't working or something. (And, no, I don't have the option of having someone else in the car with me.) I vent the windows and lock the door, and keep an eye on the car the whole time. If my girls were upset at the idea it would be different, but they're perfectly content. It's much easier, quicker, and safer IMO, than getting them both in and out of the car, especially my 2 year old who hates the idea of having to hold my hand or be carried. (Of course the car "could" spontaneously catch fire. I could also get run over by a bus this afternoon.)

I will also leave my youngest asleep in the car while I pick her sister up from school (again with the windows vented and the door locked), but I make sure that it only takes a couple of minutes. I don't hang around and talk to the teacher or anything.

It's not a perfect world. We all have to go about our business the best we can, taking into account all sorts of factors.

I would never critisize someone for taking their kids into the petrol station to pay though. That woman was obviously having a bad day!

KateandtheGirls · 13/09/2004 14:15

muminlondon, crossed posts. I would never leave them for as long as 15 minutes.

KateandtheGirls · 13/09/2004 14:18

This happened near me just yesterday.

I guess that's why they have laws like that in the US. You do hear far too often about children suffocating to death in parked cars.

An entirely different topic to leaving your kids in the car while you pay for petrol though. Sorry.

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