Take LOs inside or leave in car?

My sister and I were discussing this yesterday: When you have to run in somewhere for less then a few minutes, do you leave your LOs in the car? I was running errands the other day and had to stop and run into the post office. I took both babies in with me because I didn't want someone calling the police seeing my LOs in the car. Do you ever leave them in the car when you have to run in somewhere, granted it is not hot outside and it is for less than 5 minutes?

 

No, I am too paranoid about that kind of stuff. I always take them with me. It makes a short errand longer but I feel better having them there. I get paranoid when I have to leave one in the car while I am taking the other in the house!

 

The only time I leave them in the car is if I'm going in my house to pick up something that we forgot and they're in the car on the driveway. If we're out somewhere I always bring them in. I could just see someone driving off with my car and my two girls! I won't take the chance of that happening, they're too precious to me.

 

I would never leave them in the car.

 

I only time I too leave them in the car is if I'm very quickly running into the house to get something. Or when I am putting them in the car or taking them out I'll grab one and put inside the house then go back to get the other. Other then that I would not leave them in the car. I'm too paranoid too.

 

That's how I feel, there are too many crazy people out there that could take my LOs. My sister told me that her hubby had to run into the bank the other day and left their 5 month old in the car, granted he could see the car through the glass windows the whole time. She chewed him out pretty good about it!

 

I've thought about it before to just run into our small store and get some milk or something but I'm just to guilty feeling about so I've never done it! I've left them in the driveway to run back in to get something but we have an attached garage so when coming home I almost always leave them in and unload stuff before getting them out. I just know with my luck if I left them in there someone would steal my car with my babies!...although they would probably bring it back after they realized there was twins in there!!! LOL!!!!

 

I thought it was illegal to leave them in the car.

 

It's illegal in Texas (I saw that you're in Denton, I'm from Saginaw/Eagle Mountain Lake ) to leave children under the age of seven in a vehicle unattended for longer than five minutes. It's not a good idea from a safety standpoint. I hate leaving them just to quickly run into the house for something. It only takes a second for something to go wrong.

 

The only time I leave one of my boys in the car is while I’m taking the other into our out of the house. It’s not that I fear someone will take them, the odds of that happening are actually very low, it’s that I don’t think that a little convenience or saving a few minutes is worth the risk of someone calling the police or Child Protective Services and I don’t want to invite the risk of ever becoming distracted or having something happen that causes me to leave them in the car longer than I had intended.

 

When the boys were infants, I had left them in the car to run into the cleaners. :spy: I did not realize how bad that was.

Then on here there were threads about it and I was so upset with myself for thinking that was ok. So now, no. I never leave them in the car alone.

 

No I don't leave them in the car. Sometimes I'm tempted, especially if my 13 year old is with me, but even then I feel too worried that something will happen.

 

always take them with me.

 

I was thinking about this too. My DD is in preschool now and this requires us to sign her in and out, so the drill of getting them out of the car into the stroller, sign her in, navigate the foyer with a double stroller not to mention getting in and out the way too narrow doorway, out of the stroller and into the car and run home, listening the wonderful music of two overtired babies, because this cuts into nap time. Then repeat in 3hrs. I can't tell you how many time I have thought about how much easier it would be to leave them in the car, especially when its pouring (which will be for the next 6mos here in the pacific northwest) . But the preschool door is about fifty feet away and I wouldn't have direct vision of them for about 2 min so I haven't done it and probably won't do it. But this is the main reason why DD only goes to preschool 3x/week and not 5. I don't think I could handle 5x/week yet.,

 

I guess I am the odd one out here. I leave my boys in the car all the time. We live in a really small town and I am not worried about someone steeling them and my stops are always brief. If the stop is going to be long then I will take them in. Usually I try not to bring my kids with me at all and get a sitter even if I am just going for groceries because it is easier for me. Although when we go to the city I NEVER leave my kids in the car.

 

Never, never, never would leave them alone in the car.

Think of it this way, would you leave them in the safety of you own home if they were peacefully sleeping in their cribs and run to the convenience store on the corner for a quick errand? I hope you would say no. You never know what could happen, not just of the thought of someone breaking in and stealing your car with them in it but what if there was a car accident and someone hit your car with them in it? Would if you ran quickly into the post office and you slipped and fell and injured yourself?

 

Yup, always take them in with me even for those quickie trips. I'm super paranoid about crazies out there looking for an opportunity and like PPs said it only takes a second for something bad to happen. When I forget something at home and have to come back, I pull into the garage around back instead of leaving the van on the street and run in real quick.

Most parents would never knowingly put their children in harm's way, even for a second, as evidenced by the responses in this thread and it makes my heart smile. Then I hear on the news this morning about a local woman (Arlington, Texas) who purposely (!!!) left her baby in the car in 90 degree weather while she worked. She'd turn on the a/c for him when she went out on occasion to check on him. Well, la dee dah, wasn't that big of her. He died, registering a body temp of 107 at the hospital, :cry: and yes, she had prior dealings with CPS for child neglect. :gah: What the *bleepity-bleep* is wrong with some people. I am just so sad, disgusted and outraged about it. Ugh. I apologize for the rant.

 

I would absolutely never leave them in the car unless I was running into my house or a friend's house (on a quiet street). Never into a business. For one thing, someone actually could call the cops on you (it just happened in our town recently). For another, business districts are busier -- there are just more things that can go wrong if you're out of sight even for a minute or two. Also, errands always take longer than you think they will. I have certainly been tempted, but the risks outweigh the benefits.

 

Nope, never. Once when the girls were very sick and needed Motrin, I went to CVS and begged them at the drive-thru to sell it to me. They wouldn't, so I went in with two sick babies (oh, and I didn't have the stroller), to get some Motrin. Granted, I did give them a piece of my mind, but I would never leave the girls in the car.

Like pps, I do have to put them in one at a time, so one is always in the car in my driveway alone. I leave the doors open and run like a mad woman because even that gives me the willies (and I live in the country in a very safe area).

 

Not the babies themselves nope. The only time I have left kids in the vehicle is when I had 2 very sick older kids (7 and almost 3), I parked right in front of my drug store where I could watch the vehicle through the front window and literally ran in to pick up their cold meds (the dr faxes the script over for me) and ran back out. I couldn't handle dragging the babies (who were about 6 wks old and sleeping) out, plus 2 older sick kids into a place and contaminating everyone. That's only happened twice in my 7 yrs of parenting.

Other than the necessity of having to run one baby out to the truck at a time at home, I've never left them alone in there. I hate doing that, but have no choice, I have to go down 5 steps, just enough to make a stroller useless.

 

I am not a paranoid type of person but I would NEVER leave my babies in the car alone for any amount of time. I just recently started to leave my 10 y/o in the car alone for a couple minutes.

Yes, it's a hassle but I really don't see any other option. I don't see it as someone will take them or hurt them (which is possible) but what if they started choking on their saliva or something like that?

 

I saw on Dr. Phil once a lady who left her toddler and baby in the car while parked in the fire lane at Walmart while she went with her older girls to give to the Salvation Army bell ringer. Her DH was in the car behind hers. She was arrested b/c someone called it in. After seeing that story, I vowed never to leave them for a minute. If I have to run inside the house and the boys are in the car, I make sure the garage door is closed (and I never leave the car on unless I'm in the driver seat).

 

Never, never! Too risky for alot of reasons.

 

The thing is that you SHOULD be able to do those quick in and out errands and leave them in the car. The reality is that you can't. I have two stories that keep me from doing so, even in my drive way. I get upset with the fact I can't go to the ATM or run at night too. More than likely it would be okay, it's the one in one hundred chance is what we are all trying to avoid.

 

Okay, I just have to say something here. It's not a one-in-a-hundred chance that something will happen. It's one in a million or so that some wierdo will drive off in your car with your babies. Do you know anyone that that has ever happened to? You might say, 'yes, there was this time in 2004 in Arkansas that --' You heard it on the news. Or was it in a movie? What you didn't hear was the 999,999 thousand times every day that someone left their kid in the car and nothing whatsoever happened. We live in a culture of fear, created by many factors including sensational news reporting, ridiculous lawsuits and 'competative' parenting.

Be sane, be sensible, do not leave your baby in a hot car, do not leave your baby in a car and go to a movie. But spending all your energy worrying about the most unlikely of scenarios saps joy from your life, your children's lives and leaves you paralyzed and with fear-riddled, cotton-wrapped kids.

I may be alone in thinking this, but for the next generation's sake, I hope not. :tomato:

 

The odds may be really small that someone will drive off with your kids, but in today's society the odds are not that small that someone will call the police & report you for leaving your kids in the car. In most areas, there are laws against it and most of us probably don't want to risk an investigation by protective services because we wanted to be able to buy our milk a little quicker. ardon:

 

I agree with this but I don't think taking your kids with you for a 2 minute trip fits into that category. WHY would you leave them in the car? Convenience? Is that a good enough reson to risk harm coming to your child? Any risk at all?
I said earlier that I never worried about someone taking them as much as them getting upset and crying and then chocking or something like that. It's just not worth it. It takes a bit more effort to take them with me but aren't they worth that extra effort?

 

You’re not alone, an in principle I agree with you… yet it’s not the 1 in a million chance of abduction that is the issue.
Just like I wouldn’t leave my babies at home alone, and it’s not about fear (for me) it’s about taking responsibility. Ignoring the chance that another vehicle hits your parked car, or a ‘do-gooder’ calls the police. Little ones left alone are little ones that might get themselves into trouble… might swallow something dangerous, choke on something, might hurt their sibling by throwing toys, who knows. No, I don’t worry about all the what-ifs every day, but babies can’t take care of themselves and it IS my job as a parent to take care of my little ones. I’m not doing that if I’m not there because I left them in the car while running some errand or another. When they are old enough to be left on their own it’ll be a different story, but until then one does not have to spend energy worrying or be paralyzed and fear riddled to act like a parent.

 

:clapping: Well said.

 

absolutely agree!!!

The only time I've left the kids in the car (other than in my driveway or my mom's to run in the house) was one time I ran into use an ATM when they were asleep - the same song was on the radio when I restarted the car - thats how long I wasn't in there!!

I remember being left in the car as a kid while my parents ran into the corner store for cigarettes! (of course I also remember running in and buying those cigs for them too LOL)

 

I agree that we all probably obsess about our kids' safety a little much and I too remember being left in the car as a child, when i was old enough to fend for myself. However, would that 1 in a million statistic make you feel any better if you were the 1 in a million? Just sayin'...

 

DITTO! I never leave my children in the car unless my car is in my own driveway and I need to run into the house for something. I would never leave them in the car while I ran into the grocery store. I am also in Texas (houston) and if I saw a baby left unattended in a car I would most definitely call the police! There are too many crazy's out there!

 

Big Ditto for me! I don't ever leave my almost three year old in the car either.

 

You're not alone! We also live in a very small town. I leave the kids in the car if I have to run in somewhere and I can see them out the window (the car is literally 10 steps away), I leave them in the car in my driveway with a movie playing and the doors locked long enough for me to run inside grab the diaper bag, my coffee, and whatever else I may have forgotten etc.

I dont however leave them if they cant be in my sight in public or its going to be longer than just a couple minutes.

 

Have you ever locked your keys in the car? What if you did that with the child in there?