Reason # 982,372 why you should never leave your child in a car alone.

SCBride2007 · December 2012

Aside of pumping gas (and getting right back in), I can't think of many other reasons why I would leave my child in the car while I got out to do something. Here's a reason why:

On our local news tonight, a woman left her toddler in her car, at the pump, while she "just ran in to pay for gas". Aside of the fact that I could never do that, no matter where I lived, I cannot imagine why she chose that particular area to do it in. She did it at night in a very high-crime area.

What happened? Her car was carjacked and took off with her child. Thankfully the car was found abandoned 10 miles down the road (which was outside of city limits) and the toddler was still in the car unharmed.

I don't care if my child is asleep or whatever, it's never worth it in my opinion.

bmoscowitz · December 2012

A couple from Massachusetts left their 3 year old in the car today to go take a picture at the old World's Fair site in Queens, came back and he was gone. Police ha e been searching for 7 hours now, the little boy is still missing. Horrible.

SCBride2007 · December 2012

bmoscowitz:
A couple from Massachusetts left their 3 year old in the car today to go take a picture at the old World's Fair site in Queens, came back and he was gone. Police ha e been searching for 7 hours now, the little boy is still missing. Horrible.

That's so terrible.

sed8611 · January 2013

I would rather wake my child to run into the store for 30 seconds and have her screaming for hours than to never hear her scream again.

I hope the little boy is found.

Runaway22 · January 2013

As scary as that is, am I a horrible person for laughing on the inside at imagining the look on the carjacker's face when s/he realized there was a KID IN THE CAR?! Bet it was priceless.

But really, I agree with OP. There is no real excuse to ever leave your LO in the car... ever. Not every carjacker is *just* a thief. This mom got lucky.

Runaway22 · January 2013

bmoscowitz:
A couple from Massachusetts left their 3 year old in the car today to go take a picture at the old World's Fair site in Queens, came back and he was gone. Police ha e been searching for 7 hours now, the little boy is still missing. Horrible.

How awful! I hate knowing that things like this happen every day I hope they find him soon.

alilovesmatt08 · January 2013

My husband needs to read this. That idiot has left our son in the car more than once. He just doesn't get it. Recently he did this exact thing. DS was sleeping in the car so he ran into the gas station to get a drink. He just doesn't understand that this can happen. He is getting another "talking to" today! Scares me to death.

dande2129 · January 2013

alilovesmatt08:
My husband needs to read this. That idiot has left our son in the car more than once. He just doesn't get it.

Does he know that it's illegal? I'm not sure where you live, but in my state, if someone sees that you've left your baby/toddler unattended in the car, they can call the police with your license plate number. It basically equates to the same thing as negligence.

diana.filipi · January 2013

dande2129:
alilovesmatt08:
My husband needs to read this. That idiot has left our son in the car more than once. He just doesn't get it.
Does he know that it's illegal? I'm not sure where you live, but in my state, if someone sees that you've left your baby/toddler unattended in the car, they can call the police with your license plate number. It basically equates to the same thing as negligence.

That's true for Virginia too. Recently there was a mom that left a sleeping 3 or 4 year old in the van asleep while she went in to Walmart to return something. Kid woke up and started crying for his mom and someone heard. They got the kid to open the door and they called the cops. Mom was charged with something though I don't recall what.

JaneDoe968 · January 2013

dande2129:
alilovesmatt08:
My husband needs to read this. That idiot has left our son in the car more than once. He just doesn't get it.
Does he know that it's illegal? I'm not sure where you live, but in my state, if someone sees that you've left your baby/toddler unattended in the car, they can call the police with your license plate number. It basically equates to the same thing as negligence.
 

I'm willing to bet that in more rural and northern areas that you are more likely to get called in for taking them out of the car than for leaving them in it with the car running. 10 with 40 mph winds is dang cold.

dande2129 · January 2013

JaneDoe968:
dande2129:
alilovesmatt08:
My husband needs to read this. That idiot has left our son in the car more than once. He just doesn't get it.
Does he know that it's illegal? I'm not sure where you live, but in my state, if someone sees that you've left your baby/toddler unattended in the car, they can call the police with your license plate number. It basically equates to the same thing as negligence.

I'm willing to bet that in more rural and northern areas that you are more likely to get called in for taking them out of the car than for leaving them in it with the car running. 10 with 40 mph winds is dang cold.

If you live in a cold region (which I do), then the proper protocol would be to dress your child for the weather. Is it convenient? Eff no. I don't want to take my toddler out in the ice, snow and freezing winds any more than I want to go out myself, but it sure as hell beats potentially having the police called on me, as well as something happening to my toddler while I just "ran inside."

This is ridiculous logic.

animalcrckr · January 2013

dande2129:
JaneDoe968:
dande2129:
alilovesmatt08:
My husband needs to read this. That idiot has left our son in the car more than once. He just doesn't get it.
Does he know that it's illegal? I'm not sure where you live, but in my state, if someone sees that you've left your baby/toddler unattended in the car, they can call the police with your license plate number. It basically equates to the same thing as negligence.

I'm willing to bet that in more rural and northern areas that you are more likely to get called in for taking them out of the car than for leaving them in it with the car running. 10 with 40 mph winds is dang cold.
If you live in a cold region (which I do), then the proper protocol would be to dress your child for the weather. Is it convenient? Eff no. I don't want to take my toddler out in the ice, snow and freezing winds any more than I want to go out myself, but it sure as hell beats potentially having the police called on me, as well as something happening to my toddler while I just "ran inside."
This is ridiculous logic.

I do not advocate leaving your children in the car but if you do live in a climate with extremely cold temps and you are concerned about car seat safety as well, your children are not wearing coats while buckled into their car seat.

We get gas at a gas station that does not offer pay at the pump and we always make it a point to fill up my car when both DH and I are available to go. Our boys do not wear their coats in the car and it is pretty cold here.

Five_letter · January 2013

How about you don't leave your car unattended and running.

The opportunity at an unlocked, running car is a bit too perfect for a thief.

Also, if you have your child with you, why wouldn't you just pay with your credit card at the pump?

I'm from NJ so this is a non issue for me.

WorkinWeezel · January 2013

animalcrckr:
dande2129:
JaneDoe968:
dande2129:
alilovesmatt08:
My husband needs to read this. That idiot huas left our son in the car more than once. He just doesn't get it.
Does he know that it's illegal? I'm not sure where you live, but in my state, if someone sees that you've left your baby/toddler unattended in the car, they can call the police with your license plate number. It basically equates to the same thing as negligence.
 

I'm willing to bet that in more rural and northern areas that you are more likely to get called in for taking them out of the car than for leaving them in it with the car running. 10 with 40 mph winds is dang cold.
If you live in a cold region (which I do), then the proper protocol would be to dress your child for the weather. Is it convenient? Eff no. I don't want to take my toddler out in the ice, snow and freezing winds any more than I want to go out myself, but it sure as hell beats potentially having the police called on me, as well as something happening to my toddler while I just "ran inside."
This is ridiculous logic. 
 
I do not advocate leaving your children in the car but if you do live in a climate with extremely cold temps and you are concerned about car seat safety as well, your children are not wearing coats while buckled into their car seat.  
We get gas at a gas station that does not offer pay at the pump and we always make it a point to fill up my car when both DH and I are available to go.  Our boys do not wear their coats in the car and it is pretty cold here.   

Leave coat on seat while child is in car seat. Put coat on said child before removing from car.

Cold kid is preferred over kidnapping, negligence, etc

mom2bemk · January 2013

Sounds very scary. If I had to run inside, I'd bring the baby. I usually pay at the pump so it's not an issue. One of the wonderful perks of our tecnologically obsessed society.

nyki06 · January 2013

Yeah, I live in Minnesota where it seems like it's cold most of the time. I have a 21 month old and although I get annoyed every time I have to take a quick trip in somewhere, I would never leave her in the car. This has become slightly more annoying since finding out that it's not as safe to let your kid wear their coat while in the carseat so I just make sure to put it on her backwards after she is clipped in and then if we go into a store I put her coat on the right way. She's got to get used to cold weather now if she's going to survive here!

LadyDelilah · January 2013

My BIL and SIL leave their kids sleeping in the car all the time. I have a good mine to call the cops on them just to scare the crap out of them one day. They have done it with all their kids. We have gone to a family farm type place for years to pick pumpkins for halloween and they were going to walk across a dirt road while their DD slept in the car. JUST LEAVE HER THERE! I offered to stay in the car with her and they didnt even blink an eye at my concern for leaving their DD alone in the car. Idiots.

Mama-Bear · January 2013

We pay at the pump for this reason. Some gas stations around here offer several cents off per gallon if you pay cash, it's not worth it to me to take in 3 kids, and I would never leave them in the car.

To DH and I, we'll go to a fast food place and spend 3x on a drink than saving and going to a gas station.

Honestly, if DH ever left our children in the car, I would never trust him to drive them around when I wasn't in the car. Sorry, but if his laziness/negligence ever harmed our children, that's one of the very few things I could never forgive him for.

Reason # 982,372 why you should never leave your child in a car alone.

Re: Reason # 982,372 why you should never leave your child in a car alone.

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