Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Original poster

What do you do with your baby at the petrol station

33 replies

Pinkdreams · 22/04/2025 22:16

I don’t drive, but I am really curious I don’t know why but I’ve been thinking about it the last few days.

if you have a baby/toddler and go to the petrol station, what do you do when paying? I’m not talking about paying at the pump, I’m talking about going in to pay. Do you get baby out and bring them with you?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
TomatoTrousers · 22/04/2025 22:16

Depends. If I can see the car well from inside and it’s not busy I might go in alone. But more likely I’d take the baby inside, in the car seat.

neverknowinglyunreasonable · 22/04/2025 22:18

I send them inside to pay. It's annoying if I want to get wine from the M&S garage shop because they're too young to get served. It's annoying because the cashier can see they're buying it for me, I even wave, but they still refuse. Political correctness gone mad

DanceMumTaxi · 22/04/2025 22:19

I used to actively avoid petrol stations where I couldn’t pay at pump when mine were little. If I had to use one, I took the baby in with me. This was very rare though.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
Hall84 · 22/04/2025 22:19

Pay at pump, 2 of us in the car and 1 stays in the car. Only now, DD is 5, will i pop in very quickly to pay and only when I have a direct line of sight to the car.
ETA If i couldn't have paid at the pump I would have taken the car seat in or taken Houdini inside with me as she got older

TheChosenTwo · 22/04/2025 22:19

I used to leave mine in the car. I could see the car from the window.

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 22/04/2025 22:20

Take them in. Anything could happen

Iudncuewbccgrcb · 22/04/2025 22:21

Just left them in the car while I went to pay.

Far safer than turfing a car seat or a wriggly baby across a busy forecourt

whatthehelldowecare · 22/04/2025 22:24

Pay at pump if possible, if not I leave him in the car

HeddaGarbled · 22/04/2025 22:25

Only used pay at pump for this very reason.

ICanTellYouMissMe · 22/04/2025 22:29

Leave them in the car.

SemperIdem · 22/04/2025 22:31

Leave them in the car.

It is far more dangerous to drag them back and forth across the forecourt than it is to leave them in a locked car.

midlandsmummy123 · 22/04/2025 22:32

hhmm - number of children mowed down on a petrol forecourt whilst being carried in a car seat or holding their parents hand compared to number of children accidentally kidnapped when the car is stolen, both are probably fairly low but yes pay at pump.

ayonoosh · 22/04/2025 22:37

Iudncuewbccgrcb · 22/04/2025 22:21

Just left them in the car while I went to pay.

Far safer than turfing a car seat or a wriggly baby across a busy forecourt

Same. Anyone who's taking a baby or small child kid is a bit of a moron (lighthearted). Far more dangerous than leaving them in the car for a moment. Petrol forecourts are busy, and you never see dads fannying about getting kids out the car. I have only ever once seen a mum do it in real life once and I internally rolled my eyes while she faffed about by the pump.

minnienono · 22/04/2025 22:45

Pay at the pump when mine were small

JustAnInchident · 22/04/2025 22:48

Leave them in the car. I tend to go when it’s a bit quieter and like to be able to see the car from the till but it’s so much safer imo to leave them be, take two minutes to go and pay and be back quick sharp than it would be to fanny about getting the car seat out, lugging it across the forecourt etc etc. I’ve had to rethink now my elder child is no longer in a five point harness and I have a newborn as well 🤔 pay at pump all the way now!

Screamingabdabz · 22/04/2025 22:49

Pay at the pump or take them in.

TheNightingalesStarling · 22/04/2025 22:50

I hadmine 18 months apart... it was definitely safer for them in the car.

However if you have an escape artist, its safer to take with you.

IdaClair · 22/04/2025 22:52

Left them in the car as babies, our car seats were the convertible kind that didn’t come out of the car. Took them in as toddlers (as they would cry if awake) obviously I wouldn’t let them toddle about on a forecourt so they would be in a carrier and then back into the car. I’ve never tried the paid at pump.

It’s harder when they are a bit older and whinging about coming into the shop with you and they are old enough to undo their seatbelts or take off a handbrake but young enough not to realise the full consequences of that, and there are way more of them than there are of you and they can all run in different directions on a forecourt.

the baby bit’s the easiest by far

shellyleppard · 22/04/2025 22:55

I always left them in the car.....🤔🤔🤐

nongnangning · 22/04/2025 23:07

I have a good story about this.
It's the 1970s, maybe '78 or '79, a provincial town somewhere in England. Everything is coloured brown or orange (including our car). Mrs Thatcher hasn't yet come to power.
My mum pulls up in the petrol station to fill up and then goes to pay leaving me, possibly age 10, my sister possibly age 8 waiting in the car.
But she hasn't put on the handbrake properly and the car starts rolling forwards.
I had no idea what to do. "The car's moving" I gulped.
Quick as a flash my sister, who's clearly been paying attention about how to drive, pulls the handbrake up and stops the car dead.
My mum comes rushing back - perhaps she's seen the car move - and showers praise on my sister for her brilliant response.

(And fast forward about 15 years and my sister gets a job as a Girl Friday in a car dealership.)

TheWibble · 22/04/2025 23:25

I've always left dd in the locked car. When she was in a five point harness, she couldn't have got out, even if she wanted to. Now she's nearly seven, and could get up to mischief, but she's very sensible. She knows what not to touch and why, and i trust her. I find it madness whe parents say on here that they cart their kids out of the car.

Worsthousebeststreet · 23/04/2025 11:13

I didnt realise I was in the minority here - i just leave them in the car!

Hoppinggreen · 23/04/2025 11:16

I left mine in the car - with a VERY strict warning not to get out.
It worked because DD (who is generally not daft) genuinely believed it was illegal for her to get out of the car at a petrol station until she was about 16.
Generally I used to fill up at weekends though or evenings, it was nice to get out of the house kid free to be honest

WorthyOtter · 23/04/2025 11:24

Pay at the pump usually, but I did have to go to a shop one the other day, son was asleep so I parked right next to the shop window, left him and ran in

Superscientist · 23/04/2025 11:37

I think I have only once had to pay in the petrol station in the last 4.5 years since having my daughter. Always pay at pump or by app. The one time I did I took her in but at the time she would scream if I walked to the other side of the room to her and didn't want her to get upset. If there wasn't a chance of her getting very upset I would have left her in a locked car. If I can I fill up when she's not in the car - she has been in nursery since 9 months and I only need to fill up my car about once a month so I typically filled up on my way to pick her up or on my to work having dropped her off.