So does no-one else leave their baby outside the shop in the buggy any more then?

[KathyMCMLXXII]

Just wondered because I am the only person I know in RL that does this!

I wouldn't leave him outside Sainsburys for an hour or anything, but when it's a little shop and either I'm only going to be a moment, or I can see out of the window, it doesn't bother me a bit.

Surely it's the easiest thing to do?

No never i would not leave my kids anywhere, but i do leave them in a locked car when paying for petrol!

i think theres ways more chance of someone stealing your car at a petrol station with your child in the car than stealing your child from outside a shop

would you say it was a def no no or would you say it depended on the area or time etc etc

I tried leaving my DD in the car once whilst I nipped into the doctors for a few seconds but she screamed the place down so I had to get her out, go in the doctors, collect my Dad's prescription and put her back in the seat etc. A 30-second job turned into a 10-minute expedition but so long as she felt safe.... I wouldn't leave her on her own in a petrol station though. I'd be too worried that she'd take the handbrake off now (she's six).

I left her on her own in the maternity ward (whilst I rang my XP to let him know she'd been born) and my Mum happened to come in and find her unattended in her crib. Did I get a lecture for that!! In retrospect, I should have taken with me to the phone.

for me its a definate no no regardless of area, time ect because i just wouldnt think that he was safe on his own!
i cant believe so many people do this!

As ever I guess SN kids are a different issue. If your 6yo doesn't understand that they need to sit in their seat for 5 minutes then you have different issues from most (though presumably getting them across the forecourt without bolting etc also poses problems).

No I wouldn't but again, wouldn't judge someone for doing it - I just wouldn't feel comfortable.

I would leave DS in a locked car though if I were just nipping in to a shop and could see the car from the window.

Never, never, never - are you insane?

Chocolate - I'm laid back about leaving buggy outside shop, but I did not leave my baby unattended in the maternity ward! It was soon after that poor woman in Nottingham had her baby stolen.

I did last week, but I was in a village shop with noone else around and the glass shop door was half a metre from me at the butchers counter and I could see my fast aslepp DD.

Ladymuck

My DD isn't SN but often acts before she thinks. I wouldn't feel happy leaving her in a car by herself. My parents never left me in their car either as much as I begged to be sometimes .

Fair enough, but statistically she is more likely to have an accident on the petrol forecourt than in the car. I would have expected most 6yos to be able to obey an instruction never to touch the handbrake. Mine can, and he does have behavoural "challenges" shall we say.

Never! When DD was 15 months we were on holiday in a Georgian village where all the shops had steps either down or up to enter. Some doorways were too narrow. I couldn't get the MacLaren through so gave up and went back and left her with DH while I made another trip. I would never leave her locally either and the post office has a horrible step and heavy door!

Just come back to this thread after a few days off MN (MIL visiting). Well I must say all these posts about people who have forgotten their babies make me feel a lot better about having lost a bag of shopping (it had a Nice Ham in it) on Friday.

However judging by the replies on this thread I am beginning to think the greatest risk from me leaving him outside a shop is that I'll forget him and wander home without him .

Hi Kathy...was the ham from the farmers market on Fri?? I bought one and was wondering if you would be htere too at some stage during the day. I bought some sausages from the burtons stall...v. good they were too!

I would leave DS outside if it was a quiet street, asked the cashier to keep an eye on him at the supermarket the other day whilst i dashed off to get something i'd forgotten.

Dont have the petrol problem as i dont have a car but am fairly sure i would leave him in carseat whilst i paid.

Yes! It was a Redhill Farm one! And we got some fishcakes from our favourite fishmonger (Hebdens of Whitby) and they were in the bag too!
(We consoled ourselves with a trip to Brid yesterday though ).

BTW Thehairybabysmum, do you know of many other York MNers? I am wondering whether a York meet-up might be a good idea some time.

I don't think I have done it, when dd was wee she was usually in the sling, now I wouldn't want to leave her outside in buggy in case she started haranguing passers-by.

But this thread just proves what my lovely sister would say, 'some people are totally para man.'

what a bummer...still a trip to the seaside sounds a lovely consolation prize!!

Cant think of any others but i've seen others mention york on threads...a meetup sounds like a fab idea though. Im sure there would be familiar faces though...not like york is that big!

Do you go to the Spurriergate Centre when you're in town, HBsM? It's always full of people who look like they might be MNers.

LOL i always think that too!! Went on fri lunchtime in fact

Worst of both worlds - I do it and have done it, but feel crap and panicky throughout as in my view you certainly can't keep a total eye on them however brief the trip. It's largely laziness and desire for 3 seconds of freedom, but there is a part of me for which it is a kind of principle - I want ds to be independent, I want to trust other people and for him to trust other people up to a point. However, another part of me thinks it is actually highly unproductive as there are a lot of studies showing that children are more confident and independent the more available their parents and particularly their mothers are.

The one time I left ds (about 6 weeks, sleeping) in the house alone to post a letter, which is a 20-second walk down the street, I got so panicky about it that I forgot my keys and locked myself out. Totally pointless exercise all round. Our neighbour has a key so it wasn't a disaster, but there really isn't much point in goading yourself into doing more than you feel comfortable doing.

You never know who is about these days, was just reading something about a man who was called in to do some work for the council and because he wasn't paid kidnapped some children

Why 'these days', though, Confusedandignorant? The number of children abducted hasn't increased over the years.

Thehairybabysmum - we were there later on Fri afternoon, sort of 2-3ish, so we probably just missed you!

When DD1 was tiny, I used to walk with DH to the station every day for him to catch his train into work, then onto the shops where I would leave the baby in her pram and go home. I was hoping someone would take her because I didn't want her. I'd go home and do chores, crying all the time, until I came to my senses and would then go back and get her. On a couple of occasions, she was there for over 2 hours. I used to think no-one was taking her because she was so ugly. It makes me cry when I think about it now, because she is now 12 and so utterly utterly gorgeous.

gg