Leaving Kids in the Car

[danielle82]

I have a three year old and a 5 year old. I have heard that even going in the gas station to pay for the gas is illegal. I was always very careful, never leave the babies in the car, only get gas when I can pay at the pump, drag the child and the baby/carseat in with me when I run in somewhere to pay a bill etc. But as theyve aged, I realized that I live in a town of about 1,500 people and no one is going to "report" me if I run in the gas station to pay and leave them in the car for 1 1/2 minutes. But I seem to have gotten in the habit of taking them with me no matter how quick a trip it is, so a ten second-run-in-and-drop-it-off has always been an ordeal hhahahaha. I don't think its a big deal, but I don't do it very often. Maybe 3 times in my 5 years of motherhood.

 

[SarahFair]

Quote:
I was going to say duck tape them to the wall, but sure that works too.

Actually my sister was arrested for leaving my kids in the car when she ran in to pay for the gas cause her card was declined at the pump. However, WE were ALWAYS left in the car!!!!

Sometimes I think people are TOO uptight.

WHAT are we moms suppose to do?!
I always check to make sure there is not odd character in the parking lot and park right infront of the door.
I then lock the car and take the keys with me.
As Istand in line I watch the cars and the people in the parking lot..

 

[dntd]

People leave thier kids in the cars all the time to pay for gas. I personally wouldn't take all 5 of my kids into a gas station, it's way too busy to have 5 kids running around LOL. Apparently cps doesn't like my kids playing across the street in a park 10 meters from my front door, don't tell them that they don't come into the gas startion with me, I might get all the kids taken away!

 

[Julie08]

I agree that it is never okay

 

[farmerlor]

I've been "Momming" for 34 years now. When the oldest was little we lived in a town with 400 people I kid you not and since I was raised in that same small town it never occurred to me to take her in if I was just going in for a minute and she was sleeping. Then I moved to the big city and I never, ever left the kids in a car. I was terrified that someone would take them, that they would get overheated, or something. Then we had foster babies and of course by that time it was illegal to leave them alone at any time. Now we're back in the country and if I absolutely have to I'll run into the post office to get a package only if there's no one else there so I don't have to stand in line and leave them for very long but most of the time I arrange my errands for times when I don't have the kids along. Taking five special needs kids ANYWHERE is like going on an expedition to the Congo or something.

 

[chixie]

I won't even leave my teenagers in the car alone... to many crazy people out there..

 

[Picky Chicky]

It's sad that this day and age is so different than from when I was a kid... my Mom would leave me in the car and go shopping. Goodness knows I would torture the car by turning and flipping every button/knob/etc - this way when she'd get back in the car, windshield wipers etc would be going nuts.

In all reality/in this day and age, it's probably not a good idea to leave them in the car. I have an 8 year old DD and I'm sure she wishes I'd let her stay in the car, but if someone ever took her, or if she wandered away in that split second, I don't think I could ever live with myself.

All of the above being said... obviously at some point they should be of an age that they can sit in the car by themselves - shoot, by 16 they're old enough to drive. So what would be a realistic age that everyone would say is safe?

 

[onthespot]

I think thirty years ago, people caring for children weren't NEARLY as stressed out, overworked, multi-tasking, under supported, sleep deprived, rush rush rushed like they are today. I think today's people are just a hundred times more to forget or lose track of time than decades ago, when life was slower for most. I think the laws have come in response to the rising statistics of kids left in cars with bad outcomes, which are just a reflection of cargivers being taxed to the max and sometimes past. There is just no room for a mistake these days, or someone's baby dies. Cars are more airtight, seat restraints harder to get out of, locks harder for a kid to undo. We are stressed and strapped from day one. I don't like it but there's no going back and no way to fix it from what I can see. The only solution I see is for more of us to be able to do what we need to by drive-up windows, to pay bills, buy groceries, gas, food, lumber and hardware, Walmart. Can you see it now? Make your order on line, drive through a will-call to pick up your neatly stacked order, pay with your debit card... the wave of the future, no kids get left alone in cars.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
I'm not sure what the age limit is, but there have been a couple of people arrested for it in the last few years. It always seems to make the news.

 

[Countrywife]

Quote:
I don't leave my teenagers in the car cause they are liable to drive off and leave me there. Slimey little things, teenagers are.



Seriously, I would leave mine in the car if I could hit someplace and leave the door open, right in front of the car, with the car locked. I WILL let my 15 year old son sit in the car if he doesn't want to go in a store and shop, but not my 13 year old daughter. Girls are more vulnerable. They DO know NOT to open the door for anyone, not even my husband.