Reply to Just got yelled at for leaving my kid alone in in the car while I went to the pharmacy

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If your car got carjacked…… !!!![/quote]

How many kids are getting carjacked?  In what reality is this a likely outcome?

[/quote]

It's not a likely outcome -- it's not even an unlikely outcome. But people will see one news story about a car with a kid in it being carjacked and assume that this is a thing that is going to happen. They don't pay attention to things like where that carjacking happened  or other circumstances nor do they consider the likelihood of this happening on any given day. The truth is that you are more likely to be in a fatal car accident on any day than your car is to be carjacked. But do people stop driving places with their kids in the car. Of course not.

Recently I saw a news story of a terrible tragedy where a bounce house at a minor league baseball game was blown down onto the field and a small child was killed. Absolutely gut wrenching. Literally the next week we were at an event with a bounce house. I had a moment of considering not letting my kid use the bounce house and then I reasoned that this bounce house was not up on a raised platform like the one at the ball game. I looked to see if the bounce house was staked into the ground. I hung out near the bounce house while my kid was in it. But I still let her get in it.

You can't just wrap your kids in bubble wrap until they are 18. You have to learn how to calculate risk and how to mitigate risk. And also what risks are ok -- my kid could get hurt bouncing in a bounce house or riding her bike or goofing off with friends but living a full and meaningful life carries inherent risk so I have to accept that.

The risk to OP's kid was practically nil. An incredibly low risk of a criminal approaching at just that moment and stealing her car. A similarly low risk of someone trying to abduct her kid. A higher risk of a bystander harassing her son or her out of a misguided effort to protect him (which is what happened).

On the other hand the risk of never leaving a kid in a car alone is that they will grow thinking they are incapable of being left alone for any length of time. They will lack skills of resilience and self-reliance. They will no trust themselves and may feel anxious when older when they are expected to do things on their own.[/quote]

If the only way you can think to teach your children resilience is to leave them alone in a car, you have much bigger problems. Not leaving a kid alone in a car will do nothing to harm them or their sense of self-reliance. What nonsense. [/quote]

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