At what age is it ok to leave your kid in the car while you are running errands?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is with pp sort of thing is there are children who have died because mom was doing a quick errand and just forgot about child. It happens..you get distracted. A young child in a car can overheat quickly. Also, a friend who is a police office says 11 is the most dangerous age for kidnappings for children. Parents think they can handle being off alone and they are still vulnerable. Thank god for busy bodies..it keeps wacky/lazy parents from doing dumb things.

Oh, for the love.... I read that Gene Weingarten article. I get it. But 90 seconds when I'm actively counting in my head (usually don't get past 40 seconds)? And I have ADHD. No. Just no.

In the article it wasn't moms doing quick errand, knowing they were leaving their kid in the car and just forgot. It was moms or dads out of their routine, taking the kid THAT DAY to daycare when they usually don't. And the baby falling asleep and the parent who doesn't usually do daycare drop off, just goes to work and forgets he or she has the child.

The key takeaway here is the REALLY dangerous situation isn't leaving your kid in the car knowingly for a brief moment. The dangerous time is whenever you do something with a baby in a car that is not your usual routine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is with pp sort of thing is there are children who have died because mom was doing a quick errand and just forgot about child. It happens..you get distracted. A young child in a car can overheat quickly. Also, a friend who is a police office says 11 is the most dangerous age for kidnappings for children. Parents think they can handle being off alone and they are still vulnerable. Thank god for busy bodies..it keeps wacky/lazy parents from doing dumb things.

Oh, for the love.... I read that Gene Weingarten article. I get it. But 90 seconds when I'm actively counting in my head (usually don't get past 40 seconds)? And I have ADHD. No. Just no.

In the article it wasn't moms doing quick errand, knowing they were leaving their kid in the car and just forgot. It was moms or dads out of their routine, taking the kid THAT DAY to daycare when they usually don't. And the baby falling asleep and the parent who doesn't usually do daycare drop off, just goes to work and forgets he or she has the child.

The key takeaway here is the REALLY dangerous situation isn't leaving your kid in the car knowingly for a brief moment. The dangerous time is whenever you do something with a baby in a car that is not your usual routine.

Right. We agree. Right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to be real honest. I leave my kid in the car to sprint into the post office/library/etc. to literally drop off a package (I'm talking errands that shouldn't be more than 90 seconds-- and so far, haven't been, because I'm counting).

She just turned 3. This is in/near DC proper.

I know know know I should be afraid of busybodies, but it's just so insane... It's probably not worth the risk (of busybodies, not anything else!) but I just can't not do this-- it's so much easier, and so low-risk.

Just a data point.

No way. In and out of a DC post office in 90 seconds? Please tell me which post office!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get nervous that someone will report me when I have to leave my baby in the car while returning the shopping cart to its corral.

It's ridiculous!

I used to work at a supermarket. It's someone's job to collect the carts around the parking lot. So I don't return my cart - if everyone does that, there's no need for that guy's job. I just make sure the cart isn't going to roll into someone's car.

No, you're just a lazy jerk. I worked at a supermarket before too. I would NEVER leave my cart in the middle of the parking lot. The cart collectors job is to get the carts from the cart return and bring them back to the store. Your job, if you choose to use a cart, is to return it to the cart return or the store, whichever is closer. You have no way of knowing that your cart won't roll into someone's car.

Noooo I'm not a lazy jerk. And I don't leave the cart in the middle of the parking lot. I leave it near yellow or white lines.

So, you leave it in a parking space where someone can pull in and hit it? Maybe you're right, you're not lazy, just dumb.

[Anonymous]

I remember someone was telling a story how he thought about leaving his kid in the car at the gas station while he went to pay inside, but brought the kid with him. When he returned his car was hit by another car. He was very happy he didn't leave the kid in the car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember someone was telling a story how he thought about leaving his kid in the car at the gas station while he went to pay inside, but brought the kid with him. When he returned his car was hit by another car. He was very happy he didn't leave the kid in the car.

Glad the guy and kid were ok, but ...

An idiot crossing lanes broadsided my mom's car in the grocery store parking lot while I was in the car. I landed up with stitches. Maybe she shouldn't have taken me to the store or kept me in a bubble. My point is things happen even when you're with your child.

[Anonymous]

My kid is 10y and it still makes me nervous.

[Anonymous]

Mine is 9 and we live in a condo with a doorman and we have 3 locks and he knows not to open the door and has a cellphone and knows how to use it as he is on it 24/7 when at home, but I'm still afraid to get arrested when leaving him for 30 minutes while we walk around the neighborhood.
I really need a specific age written out in lawbooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get nervous that someone will report me when I have to leave my baby in the car while returning the shopping cart to its corral.

It's ridiculous!

I used to work at a supermarket. It's someone's job to collect the carts around the parking lot. So I don't return my cart - if everyone does that, there's no need for that guy's job. I just make sure the cart isn't going to roll into someone's car.

No, you're just a lazy jerk. I worked at a supermarket before too. I would NEVER leave my cart in the middle of the parking lot. The cart collectors job is to get the carts from the cart return and bring them back to the store. Your job, if you choose to use a cart, is to return it to the cart return or the store, whichever is closer. You have no way of knowing that your cart won't roll into someone's car.

Noooo I'm not a lazy jerk. And I don't leave the cart in the middle of the parking lot. I leave it near yellow or white lines.

So, you leave it in a parking space where someone can pull in and hit it? Maybe you're right, you're not lazy, just dumb.

How about a compromise: pp is a dumb lazy jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Glad the guy and kid were ok, but ...

An idiot crossing lanes broadsided my mom's car in the grocery store parking lot while I was in the car. I landed up with stitches. Maybe she shouldn't have taken me to the store or kept me in a bubble. My point is things happen even when you're with your child.

It's not about a bubble, it's just you can't trust a preschooler's judgement when you leave him alone. A number of things can happen.

[Anonymous]

Since I work in a newsroom I probably get too much of the bad news daily that doesn't percolate up to the national level (you do not want to look up "infant", "toddler", "child" or "teen" on the state wires.) At what age do you feel confident of your child's ability to escape a carjacking?

[Anonymous]

I got screamed at by a bunch of huge men outside my favorite restaurant for leaving my sleeping children in a car 10 feet away from me. We had been in that ER for 5+ hours, all in our bathing suits, because my child had jumped and slammed into my head slicing it open at the community pool and I needed serious stitches. All of us were starving, tired, hot, and needed something to eat so they had asked for food from our favorite restaurant. I called an order to go and asked for them to meet me outside so I could pay by credit card. I get there, park in front, I have the car and ac running with a remote key (the kind that starts the car without it needing to be in the ignition, so no one could steal my car). Waitress comes outside, I step about 10 feet from my car, give her my card, wait outside by my car while she goes inside to run the card, she comes back out with the food and I sign the bill. I take the 5 steps to the car door and BOOM, about 5 huge men circle me and start screaming at me for a abandoning my sleeping kids. I am 5 ft tall vs their 6 feet, I have an enormous bandage on my forehead and head, I'm in a bathing suit with a towel around my wait and I have the ER bracelets around my wrist. I said "i have just gotten out of the hospital and I need to feed my children, they were not abandoned in a hot sweaty car, you are threatening me, please move". They said they would call the police, I said go ahead, I'm going home, write down my license plate, tell the cops to meet me there so I can put some freaking clothes on. It was awful. I will never forget it. Their yelling woke up my kids who then started crying and it wasn't until the waitress came running out of the restaurant to tell them me to leave me alone or she would call the police on them that they moved out of the way. I was so scared for months CPS would show up at my house.

So to make a short story long, people can be completely out of line, irrational and ridiculous. I would be careful.

[Anonymous]

My kids are 5 and 7. I would run in to 7 Eleven, dry cleaners, pick up take out after calling it in. Nothing that would take more than 5 minutes max and have view of car.

I would not leave kids to go grocery shopping or to target. maybe when they are 8 and 10. I think that is the age when kids can stay home alone for some time so they should be allowed to stay in the car for a few minutes.

[Anonymous]

I will run into UPS to drop a box or into the dry cleaner and leave my 3 1/2 yr d. I park in front of the store and they have glass window and doors so I have a visual. Leaving them to go inside say, the grocery store? 8? I'd rather leave them at home. If someone creepy approaches the car they are trapped and I'm pretty sure my 6 year old would panic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to be real honest. I leave my kid in the car to sprint into the post office/library/etc. to literally drop off a package (I'm talking errands that shouldn't be more than 90 seconds-- and so far, haven't been, because I'm counting).

She just turned 3. This is in/near DC proper.

I know know know I should be afraid of busybodies, but it's just so insane... It's probably not worth the risk (of busybodies, not anything else!) but I just can't not do this-- it's so much easier, and so low-risk.

Just a data point.

No way. In and out of a DC post office in 90 seconds? Please tell me which post office!!

Per my post "to literally drop off a package." I'm talking about packages that already have printed postage on them-- throwing them in the box.