Stupid question, but can I leave my baby in the car for this?

[Anonymous]

Most responders here are not worried that something will actually happen to the baby, they are worried that even if it is a remote risk the consequences are too great to take a chance on. Those consequences include the very unlikely possibility that something will happen to the child and the more likely possibility that someone will freak out about the risk you are taking.

The OP thought it was a stupid question before she even asked it but at least now she has a variety of opinions to consider in addition to her own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would do it, personally. I think the people saying you have to take the carseat with you are being overzealous. If the area is secure and you are within sight the whole time, I don't really get what the danger is supposed to be.

A mom did this at our preschool drop off and when she came back her key wouldn’t open the car. Huge huge ordeal w/ firemen, broken lock, etc to get back in and she was chews out by the first responders (head of preschool was obligated to call after about 20 minutes)

Sure, but this can also happen when you aren’t walking away from your car. My oldest locked himself in the car - I made the mistake of putting my bag with my keys and phone in the car first with him, then walked around to put his baby sister in her seat. He locked the car within 5 seconds. Thankfully I was able to signal to him how to unlock it, but I was about to find someone to help me call 911. Not sure why the mom at your school waited 20 minutes for someone else to call.

Because this story is completely made up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure any veteran mom of 3 or more is going to figure out a way to leave that baby in the car.

+1. I left the baby in the car in similar situations and all of my kids are still alive and kicking. And have never been carjacked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly everyone says no, you shouldn't.
And you shouldn't. But not because there is any danger to the baby. Of course there isn't. What you want to do is perfectly reasonable and in most other times and places would be what every mother does.

However... here in 2023 in the US, it is a dangerous thing to do not for the baby, but for you. Within just a few days of doing this, you will be called into the daycare directors office and chastised. You will also become the focus of mommy gossip and glares and judgement.
There is a non-zero chance someone will report you to CPS.

So, sadly, you need to take your baby out of the car.

This.

+1000 and you can see this by all the unhinged responses on this thread.

OP, I have three kids. I leave my baby in the car when I walk my kid to preschool. I also leave the baby in the car when I drop something off at UPS, or pickup my mobile order from Starbucks. It is not illegal, and I pity the person who ever tries to call the cops or CPS on me, because I'm not joking when I say I would ruin their life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would, and in the warmer months I’d leave the AC running.

And, I would call police if I saw this and so would most other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly everyone says no, you shouldn't.
And you shouldn't. But not because there is any danger to the baby. Of course there isn't. What you want to do is perfectly reasonable and in most other times and places would be what every mother does.

However... here in 2023 in the US, it is a dangerous thing to do not for the baby, but for you. Within just a few days of doing this, you will be called into the daycare directors office and chastised. You will also become the focus of mommy gossip and glares and judgement.
There is a non-zero chance someone will report you to CPS.

So, sadly, you need to take your baby out of the car.

This.

+1000 and you can see this by all the unhinged responses on this thread.

OP, I have three kids. I leave my baby in the car when I walk my kid to preschool. I also leave the baby in the car when I drop something off at UPS, or pickup my mobile order from Starbucks. It is not illegal, and I pity the person who ever tries to call the cops or CPS on me, because I'm not joking when I say I would ruin their life.

I have called police and reported someone who left their kids in a car while they "Just ran in for just a second!". There is no such thing as being safe to leave your child unattended in an automobile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly everyone says no, you shouldn't.
And you shouldn't. But not because there is any danger to the baby. Of course there isn't. What you want to do is perfectly reasonable and in most other times and places would be what every mother does.

However... here in 2023 in the US, it is a dangerous thing to do not for the baby, but for you. Within just a few days of doing this, you will be called into the daycare directors office and chastised. You will also become the focus of mommy gossip and glares and judgement.
There is a non-zero chance someone will report you to CPS.

So, sadly, you need to take your baby out of the car.

This.

+1000 and you can see this by all the unhinged responses on this thread.

OP, I have three kids. I leave my baby in the car when I walk my kid to preschool. I also leave the baby in the car when I drop something off at UPS, or pickup my mobile order from Starbucks. It is not illegal, and I pity the person who ever tries to call the cops or CPS on me, because I'm not joking when I say I would ruin their life.

The people who report stuff like this are the real jerks here. I hate them so deeply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly everyone says no, you shouldn't.
And you shouldn't. But not because there is any danger to the baby. Of course there isn't. What you want to do is perfectly reasonable and in most other times and places would be what every mother does.

However... here in 2023 in the US, it is a dangerous thing to do not for the baby, but for you. Within just a few days of doing this, you will be called into the daycare directors office and chastised. You will also become the focus of mommy gossip and glares and judgement.
There is a non-zero chance someone will report you to CPS.

So, sadly, you need to take your baby out of the car.

I posted above that I would leave the baby in the car, and agree with this post. People are insane. Do they think the baby will overheat in the 2 minutes it takes to drop off the toddler? Do they think the care will become sentient and drive away? Do they think a stranger will leap the fence, get in your car, and drive it away? Do they think the car may blow up? What exactly is it that people think will happen?

None of these things will happen, and it's awkward and annoying to have to get your toddler out of the car, make sure he has everything he needs, plus remove the car-seat, and then navigate a parking lot while holding a toddler's hand and carrying an infant carrier, and potentially also carrying the toddler's backpack or lunch or extra items he needs for daycare that day. But since that's just inconvenient to a mom, and we don't care about loading moms up with 6000 things to do and carry and we expect them to deal with it and never complain, society will collective force you to do this despite the fact that leaving a baby in a car for 2 minutes in a secure parking lot where the car is in sight is completely safe.

Tough. You shot have thought of the inconvenience before you had a 2nd child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way. Your baby could be carjacked in front of the preschool. The car could mysteriously roll away. You could have a heart attack and no one would ever notice your car in the line. YOU could be kidnapped.


/S

Or you could forget the baby is in the car and leave him in there for hours….

Yes, that is very likely to happen while dropping your child off at daycare. You might just randomly decide to walk to work.

Did you know that when children die in hot cars, it's usually because the parent did not realize they child was in the car at all? The baby falls asleep, the parent forgets it's their day for daycare drop off and not their spouse's, they drive to work and get out of the car and don't realize until later the baby was in the car. Especially happens with parents who are exhausted from sleepless nights.

It does not happen because a parent makes the intentional choice to leave a baby in the backseat of a car while performing a short errand during which the car is always in sight. Literally a child has never overheated in a car because their parent decided to leave them in the car while the dropped off a sibling, grabbed a coffee, picked up takeout, or similar. Never. There is zero evidence this is a danger in this situation.

Very strange that you put this paragraph in without realizing it describes the exact danger PPP is warning against. The issue isn't that OP will *decide* FTK I want to go somewhere without the baby. It's that she'll forget the baby is there. OP is has a toddler and newborn (exhausted) and is trying to decide whether to get into the habit of taking the baby every time she gets out of the car or sometimes yes, sometimes no. If she sometimes grabs the baby and sometimes doesn't, she's much more likely to forget about the baby when she gets home and goes in than if she goes around and opens the baby's door every single time, forming a habit.

Is it likely to happen? No. But when it does happen, as you acknowledge yourself, it's because the parent forgot about the baby. And parents that always grab the baby don't forget, but parents who sometimes get the baby when they get out of the car and sometime do not, are more likely to skip that step by accident if the baby falls asleep on the way home or something.

[Anonymous]

God there are a lot of bizarre takes here. Of course it’s fine, OP. In Maryland at least, the law is even 100% on your side, along with plain common sense. Within line of sight to your car? Totally legal, and fine. Make sure the windows are down and you’ll be back to your car , 30 feet away, in about 90 seconds. There is nothing illegal, or immoral, or even lazy about this. Don’t wake up your baby for this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would, and in the warmer months I’d leave the AC running.

And, I would call police if I saw this and so would most other people.

And I would hope that karma will come back at you hard.

You are far more of a danger to this family than the OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure any veteran mom of 3 or more is going to figure out a way to leave that baby in the car.

+1. I left the baby in the car in similar situations and all of my kids are still alive and kicking. And have never been carjacked.

That is so stupid. If your house has never burnt down, why do you need house insurance? There is always first time. That’s what you are trying to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly everyone says no, you shouldn't.
And you shouldn't. But not because there is any danger to the baby. Of course there isn't. What you want to do is perfectly reasonable and in most other times and places would be what every mother does.

However... here in 2023 in the US, it is a dangerous thing to do not for the baby, but for you. Within just a few days of doing this, you will be called into the daycare directors office and chastised. You will also become the focus of mommy gossip and glares and judgement.
There is a non-zero chance someone will report you to CPS.

So, sadly, you need to take your baby out of the car.

This.

+1000 and you can see this by all the unhinged responses on this thread.

OP, I have three kids. I leave my baby in the car when I walk my kid to preschool. I also leave the baby in the car when I drop something off at UPS, or pickup my mobile order from Starbucks. It is not illegal, and I pity the person who ever tries to call the cops or CPS on me, because I'm not joking when I say I would ruin their life.

I have called police and reported someone who left their kids in a car while they "Just ran in for just a second!". There is no such thing as being safe to leave your child unattended in an automobile.

Did the police say “hey lady, that’s not actually illegal, go away”? Because they should have. If you were that paranoid about the baby’s safety while the mom was 20 feet away, within sight of the car, then stand next to the car to guard the baby until she gets back 3 minutes later. But don’t call the police over things that you personally disagree with bht that are not actually illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would do it, personally. I think the people saying you have to take the carseat with you are being overzealous. If the area is secure and you are within sight the whole time, I don't really get what the danger is supposed to be.

A mom did this at our preschool drop off and when she came back her key wouldn’t open the car. Huge huge ordeal w/ firemen, broken lock, etc to get back in and she was chews out by the first responders (head of preschool was obligated to call after about 20 minutes)

And this could have easily happened in her driveway while she unloaded groceries.

People have lost all common sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure any veteran mom of 3 or more is going to figure out a way to leave that baby in the car.

+1. I left the baby in the car in similar situations and all of my kids are still alive and kicking. And have never been carjacked.

That is so stupid. If your house has never burnt down, why do you need house insurance? There is always first time. That’s what you are trying to avoid.

Except there wasn't a first time. My kids are now a lot older.