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Multiples
Ruby_Tuesday
member
s/o to leaving them in the car
Ruby_Tuesday
member
in Multiples
At one of my grocery stores (Wegmans) they have triple carts (yay!). They are smart enough to keep them in the same spot at the less crowded end of the lot so usually I can park the van a few spaces in and run over and grab a cart.
So what's the safest way to leave them in the car? Car running and locked? I always imagine myself tripping and hitting my head and laying there with the babies stuck in the car until someone finds them.
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Re: s/o to leaving them in the car
Monty ~ We have the little car type at the Giant and I have not tried that yet. I'm planning on trying it when I have someone to go with us. Wegmans has this:
Sorry the picture is so big. They like shopping. It's fun and new to them. I just find it tough logisticallly between naps and meals and bottles. I find the hardest part is keeping them all settled once we get home while I run back and forth to the car and in the kitchen putting away the groceries.
when i have to get a cart i park as close as possible- then lock the car .. and walk very fast/run to get the cart.
thankfully i can usually find one fairly close to a parking spot so it's never a big issue.
But- our local grocery store will also have someone bring one out to you if you call as you are driving there or when you get into the parking lot - I haevn't had to do this but a friend of mine with twins +1 does it all the time at my local store.
I park next to the cart stall, turn off the car, and take the keys (with doors locked). Honestly, what I hate more than that part is figuring out how to climb into my van (Where my attention isn't 100% on the cart), put a carseat in the cart, then climb back in for the next... I hate that I can't keep my eyes on the cart well as it seems so easy to run off with the baby or for it to roll into the street. Makes me nervous.
I like the idea of calling ahead and having someone bring the cart out!
That part is hard too. I have two carseats in the middle row and one in the back. I do the guys on the sides first so I can keep a foot on the cart while I load them in and then I climb in through the hatch for the final guy when there's no one left in the cart. Sometimes people slow down and watch us which I HATE!
I guess Im the odd one out that never found this to be that hard. Not sure how I would have done triplets (MoM with triplets + amaze me!) but with my 1yr old and twin newborns I would put the infant carriers in the double stroller and carry my 1yr old in the store. I would then push the stroller and pull the cart.
As for carrying them in the house I would get both carriers out, get L out and then carry both seats in while directing L to go inside. Once the girls were out of carriers I would unbuckle both, sitting them in the floor of the van and then unbuckle L. By then he was 18months and would run straight inside and carry both girls at the same time. We did this until they girls were walking at 15months or so.
As for leaving them in the car. Im not going to lie. I did it. I have always had an automatic starter on my van so I would lock the van, and turn it on. If it was hot the ac was on, if it was cold the heat was on. I would then hurry into pay for gas (on the rare occasion it was a place without the card reader, I pay in cash exact change straight in and out, van was parked at the door, could see them then entire time, gone for maybe 30seconds. If you push the brake the van turns off. It can not be put into gear without the key so no threat of someone driving off. It would take longer than the 30sec Im inside to break in.) I think turing car/van off locking doors and going to a door of daycare is fine and over thinking the leaving the kids in the car. You are still in sight of the car and not even inside.
I also did the same to run in my own house, or my moms house.
As for now that my kids are older its not a problem except when we are out late and they fall asleep in the van. I wake L because I cant carry him anyways. I then carry one girl in at a time and lock the van. I walk all of 15ft inside and put her on the couch and go back out. I think it is crazy to be worried that someone is going to steal my van in the 30 seconds I am inside. Van is in my driveway locked with keys in my pocket. Plus we live in a very small tight knit community on a dead end street.
If I did not have an automatic starter I would most likely not have left them and gotten gas elsewhere. But the one place in town always has gas much cheaper but is pay inside only. They now have the pay at pump but that has been 4+ years ago when my kids were babies.
Over all I think there is a huge difference in leaving kids in the car to carry them in your house, pick up a child at the door of daycare, run back in your house to grab something, etc, when you are gone for less than a minute vs. leaving them in the car while you go shopping, get coffee, etc and can not see you vehicle and gone for more than a minute in a parking lot.
Maybe all of this makes me a less than steller mom and I put my kids at extreme danger. Maybe my kids were safe inside a locked vehicle while I did what I had to do and did the best I could. I most likely would have a different view point on this if I lived in a huge city. I will admit small town living has left me a bit sheltered.
Landon * Kaydance * Kennedy
5/13/05 ******5/24/06
* Baby is due July 24 2012 *
I park as close as I can, close the car, take the keys, grab the cart and put one in and then the next.
When they were little I would put one into a exersaucer while I got the other out of the car and then put the other into the exersaucer so I could take out the dog/ get all the stuff out of the car.