Am I in the wrong here?

[Anonymous]

Seems like the distance she walked is about the same distance between a lot of parents and the kids they shove into the back of their ginormous SUVs. Next time I see someone strap a kid in the back of one- I'm calling the cops because in the time it takes to walk back to the driver seat- WHO KNOWS what could happen. Totally not worth the risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like the distance she walked is about the same distance between a lot of parents and the kids they shove into the back of their ginormous SUVs. Next time I see someone strap a kid in the back of one- I'm calling the cops because in the time it takes to walk back to the driver seat- WHO KNOWS what could happen. Totally not worth the risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:don't mean to keep this going, as it seems everyone said their piece... but just want to say that there are countless things that some of us would never do with their child (considering it too risky) that others do without worry. Some of you freaking out at what the OP did surely do other things with your children that the OP would never consider. So let's stop leaping to judgment. (ie, do you step out of the room with your four year old in the tub? Do you take the trash to the curb with the kids in the house? Do you leave the kids with a 14-year-old sitter? Do you drive with the kids in the car? Just read that 75% of parents have their car seats incorrectly installed or the kids incorrectly buckled. Surely some outraged posters are some of those parents, and that to me seems more dangerous than what the OP did. (Given that there are many more car accidents than cases of people getting waylaid when walking 30 feet from the car) I am betting every parent on this thread is a conscientious one doing his or her best.

The point is - it's against the law in Maryland. You can call it acceptable risk, but if I see you leave your kid in the car to go in to the pay the gas, as a law enforcement officer I will notify you that you've broken to law. We'll go from there.

And I'd pull out the Maryland statue that a previous poster put on here stating that if you can see the car, you aren't breaking the law.

MAYBE it's a law for a reason? Perhaps it's because we've had to comfort one to many stupid parents like you after their kids died in the back of car...

But hey - you're probably right. It could never happen to someone like. YOU'VE probably never forgotten anything. YOU are perfect!

I'm far from stupid. I never said I was perfect and admit freely that I've made a ton of mitakes as a parent. In fact that is why I try not to be so harsh on other parents. I think that a) maybe they are really trying and b) even if it is something I wouldn't do, I don't know the whole situation. I'm also the one who posted about watching kids in stores when they are by themselves. I hate seeing it and I watch to make sure the paretent comes back to them and if it had been 5-10 minutes with no sign of a parent, I would alert someone. So no I wouldn't watch something that I thought was incredibly dangerous and not do anything, but I would try and asses the stuation before making a judgment.

[Anonymous]

I routinely leave my 9-y-o in the car for quick errands (within my view) including running up to a friend's porch to drop something off, running back into the house to grab something from the front of the 1st floor, etc. My kid is autistic and getting in and out of the car is difficult for him emotionally. I try not to take him out that much anyway for errand type situations, but sometimes it's unavoidable. I lower the windows about an inch, take the keys and lock the car. He is happier and it works better for us and we have fewer meltdowns than when I would get him in and out. You never know what people have to deal with in their parenting and, sorry, sometimes I do actually have to return books to the library without hiring a babysitter for my son.

[Anonymous]

You son is 9. That's a bit different from leaving an infant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just ran out to get a newspaper with my son. The newspaper box is in front of Starbucks. I parked in a space in front of Starbucks, but about 5 parking spaces away from the newspaper box. I left my son in the car in his carseat while I went to get the newspaper from the box. I was out of the car for literally less than a minute, probably closer to 30 seconds. In the time it took me to walk to the newspaper box, get a paper, and walk back, an older man had called 911 on his cell phone to report me for leaving my son in the car. I was out of the car for such a short time that he had to have been standing there when I first parked and got out, so if he were so concerned, he could have said something to me as I was walking to the newspaper box. I heard him say, "Well, she's getting back in the car now," and then he continued to stand there giving me a dirty look as I drove away.

I was completely stunned. Should I really have gotten the Snap and Go out of my trunk, put the car seat in it, and wheeled the stroller to the newspaper box with me? It probably would have taken me longer to get the stroller out of the trunk and unfold it (while my son waited in the car alone) than it did for me to get the newspaper.

I'm sure this has been brought up, but you can't carry a car seat five cars away? You would really have to wheel a car seat for such a short distance? If you're otherwise able-bodied and not disabled in any way, that's just lazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just ran out to get a newspaper with my son. The newspaper box is in front of Starbucks. I parked in a space in front of Starbucks, but about 5 parking spaces away from the newspaper box. I left my son in the car in his carseat while I went to get the newspaper from the box. I was out of the car for literally less than a minute, probably closer to 30 seconds. In the time it took me to walk to the newspaper box, get a paper, and walk back, an older man had called 911 on his cell phone to report me for leaving my son in the car. I was out of the car for such a short time that he had to have been standing there when I first parked and got out, so if he were so concerned, he could have said something to me as I was walking to the newspaper box. I heard him say, "Well, she's getting back in the car now," and then he continued to stand there giving me a dirty look as I drove away.

I was completely stunned. Should I really have gotten the Snap and Go out of my trunk, put the car seat in it, and wheeled the stroller to the newspaper box with me? It probably would have taken me longer to get the stroller out of the trunk and unfold it (while my son waited in the car alone) than it did for me to get the newspaper.

I'm sure this has been brought up, but you can't carry a car seat five cars away? You would really have to wheel a car seat for such a short distance? If you're otherwise able-bodied and not disabled in any way, that's just lazy.

Yes, it has been brought up, but thanks for that insight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just ran out to get a newspaper with my son. The newspaper box is in front of Starbucks. I parked in a space in front of Starbucks, but about 5 parking spaces away from the newspaper box. I left my son in the car in his carseat while I went to get the newspaper from the box. I was out of the car for literally less than a minute, probably closer to 30 seconds. In the time it took me to walk to the newspaper box, get a paper, and walk back, an older man had called 911 on his cell phone to report me for leaving my son in the car. I was out of the car for such a short time that he had to have been standing there when I first parked and got out, so if he were so concerned, he could have said something to me as I was walking to the newspaper box. I heard him say, "Well, she's getting back in the car now," and then he continued to stand there giving me a dirty look as I drove away.

I was completely stunned. Should I really have gotten the Snap and Go out of my trunk, put the car seat in it, and wheeled the stroller to the newspaper box with me? It probably would have taken me longer to get the stroller out of the trunk and unfold it (while my son waited in the car alone) than it did for me to get the newspaper.

I'm sure this has been brought up, but you can't carry a car seat five cars away? You would really have to wheel a car seat for such a short distance? If you're otherwise able-bodied and not disabled in any way, that's just lazy.

Yes, it has been brought up, but thanks for that insight.

Sorry, have better things to do than slog through 10 pages of what is almost sure to be BS.

[Anonymous]

But not better things to do than add a repetitive post to the ten pages of BS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ironic thing is that your habit of NOT leaving your child in the car while you left briefly (for less than a minute) to return something through the outdoor drop off or to mail a letter or whatever, probably put your child MORE in danger of being accidentally locked in the car.

I routinely left my children in the car (within eyesight, as in legal in the state of MD) and because I did it routinely, I always had a mental checklist, number one was "Are my keys in my hand?" before slamming ANY door, EVER. (I did this even when putting a child into a car seat and then closing the door of the backseat.)

This is an excellent habit for everyone to get into, and would solve all cases of accidentally locking a child into a car.

As for how can any errand be "worth risking" -- well many of us believe that if you take proper precuations including developing SENSIBLE habits and routines, any risk is extremely low.

Read the Weingarten article. Almost all of the "forgotten" children who broiled to death in their parents' cars were children of parents who relied on sensible habits and routines. The comfort of the routine is part of how things can go so terribly wrong with a single, benign shock to the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just ran out to get a newspaper with my son. The newspaper box is in front of Starbucks. I parked in a space in front of Starbucks, but about 5 parking spaces away from the newspaper box. I left my son in the car in his carseat while I went to get the newspaper from the box. I was out of the car for literally less than a minute, probably closer to 30 seconds. In the time it took me to walk to the newspaper box, get a paper, and walk back, an older man had called 911 on his cell phone to report me for leaving my son in the car. I was out of the car for such a short time that he had to have been standing there when I first parked and got out, so if he were so concerned, he could have said something to me as I was walking to the newspaper box. I heard him say, "Well, she's getting back in the car now," and then he continued to stand there giving me a dirty look as I drove away.

I was completely stunned. Should I really have gotten the Snap and Go out of my trunk, put the car seat in it, and wheeled the stroller to the newspaper box with me? It probably would have taken me longer to get the stroller out of the trunk and unfold it (while my son waited in the car alone) than it did for me to get the newspaper.

I'm sure this has been brought up, but you can't carry a car seat five cars away? You would really have to wheel a car seat for such a short distance? If you're otherwise able-bodied and not disabled in any way, that's just lazy.

Yes, it has been brought up, but thanks for that insight.

Brought up, yes. Explained, no. 15:10, you are right on the money.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I am still stunned at the hyperbole of getting the stroller out to get the paper.

I want to be on OP's side because I think I would be comfortable doing what she did, even though I am pretty "anti-leave kid in car." However, given the exaggeration etc., yeah, I think she may have gone further/been away longer.

Or maybe she almost ran over the old man when she pulled into the spot or the lot and was too oblivious, so he decided to call about THAT.

OP is a twit, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I am still stunned at the hyperbole of getting the stroller out to get the paper.

I want to be on OP's side because I think I would be comfortable doing what she did, even though I am pretty "anti-leave kid in car." However, given the exaggeration etc., yeah, I think she may have gone further/been away longer.

Or maybe she almost ran over the old man when she pulled into the spot or the lot and was too oblivious, so he decided to call about THAT.

OP is a twit, I think.

You're "stunned" by the hyperbole? I think you're the twit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ironic thing is that your habit of NOT leaving your child in the car while you left briefly (for less than a minute) to return something through the outdoor drop off or to mail a letter or whatever, probably put your child MORE in danger of being accidentally locked in the car.

I routinely left my children in the car (within eyesight, as in legal in the state of MD) and because I did it routinely, I always had a mental checklist, number one was "Are my keys in my hand?" before slamming ANY door, EVER. (I did this even when putting a child into a car seat and then closing the door of the backseat.)

This is an excellent habit for everyone to get into, and would solve all cases of accidentally locking a child into a car.

As for how can any errand be "worth risking" -- well many of us believe that if you take proper precuations including developing SENSIBLE habits and routines, any risk is extremely low.

Read the Weingarten article. Almost all of the "forgotten" children who broiled to death in their parents' cars were children of parents who relied on sensible habits and routines. The comfort of the routine is part of how things can go so terribly wrong with a single, benign shock to the system.

No, I did read the Weingarten article. Almost all of the "forgotten" children were forgotten because theeir parents were driving to work and were NOT the usual ones to drop the child off at daycare. So they did NOT have the habits to remember to look for the infant before locking the car and going in to work.

One good thing to do is, when you put the infant in the car seat in the back seat, ALWAYS put your briefcase or purse there, too. ALWAYS.

None of this really applies to the person who is home with their child for the day (say it is a weekend) and is going out to return the library books, and leaves their child strapped safely in the car, taking their keys with them, car with windows down, and walks four feet away to drop off the books, then return to the car. Really. You really think aliens are going to kidnap you in that brief period of time, leaving your infant to die of heatstroke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just ran out to get a newspaper with my son. The newspaper box is in front of Starbucks. I parked in a space in front of Starbucks, but about 5 parking spaces away from the newspaper box. I left my son in the car in his carseat while I went to get the newspaper from the box. I was out of the car for literally less than a minute, probably closer to 30 seconds. In the time it took me to walk to the newspaper box, get a paper, and walk back, an older man had called 911 on his cell phone to report me for leaving my son in the car. I was out of the car for such a short time that he had to have been standing there when I first parked and got out, so if he were so concerned, he could have said something to me as I was walking to the newspaper box. I heard him say, "Well, she's getting back in the car now," and then he continued to stand there giving me a dirty look as I drove away.

I was completely stunned. Should I really have gotten the Snap and Go out of my trunk, put the car seat in it, and wheeled the stroller to the newspaper box with me? It probably would have taken me longer to get the stroller out of the trunk and unfold it (while my son waited in the car alone) than it did for me to get the newspaper.

I'm sure this has been brought up, but you can't carry a car seat five cars away? You would really have to wheel a car seat for such a short distance? If you're otherwise able-bodied and not disabled in any way, that's just lazy.

Yes, it has been brought up, but thanks for that insight.

Probably the infant was asleep in the car seat. So mom, hoping NOT to wake a sleeping infant, would take the child in the car seat and the snap and go, as opposed to carrying the baby in the car seat -- which for those of us with bad backs isn't an ideal thing to do.



Brought up, yes. Explained, no. 15:10, you are right on the money.