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I'd like to think I'd do this too. But honestly, I might not even notice this.
I live in the PNW, but I am a midwesterner.
Oh, I definitely don't check every car I walk by or anything. But in past 10 yrs or so, I've encountered a small handful of similar situations. Mostly insignificant. By that, I mean a parent/caregiver shows up minutes later and I haven't felt like something was amiss (not some creep coming along, not a drunk caregiver, etc) There was one time I picked my 5 year old up from from a little Y soccer camp and the counselors left a little girl in the parking lot. I don't know what the heck they were thinking, she was probably around 5 as well. I'd picked my kid up in a carpool line, and when I circled around, I saw that she was left there. I couldn't believe it that was what really happened so I parked to observe the situation. Sure enough, she was alone. She was waiting patiently and looked concerned but not scared. I didn't know what to do, and I was fuming. But I had my own little kid that I didn't want to scare, plus a toddler and an infant...So I just sat in the parking lot and watched until she got picked up. About 5 minutes later. I figured at least I was "monitoring". If she'd started crying or wandering off, or if someone tried to pull her into the nearby porta-potties, I could step in.
I'm not going to look for crazy situations, but if I come across something unsettling or someone that might need help that I am capable of providing, I couldn't live with myself if I just ignored it. *I'm sure you'd do the same*
Oh, I definitely don't check every car I walk by or anything. But in past 10 yrs or so, I've encountered a small handful of similar situations. Mostly insignificant. By that, I mean a parent/caregiver shows up minutes later and I haven't felt like something was amiss (not some creep coming along, not a drunk caregiver, etc) There was one time I picked my 5 year old up from from a little Y soccer camp and the counselors left a little girl in the parking lot. I don't know what the heck they were thinking, she was probably around 5 as well. I'd picked my kid up in a carpool line, and when I circled around, I saw that she was left there. I couldn't believe it that was what really happened so I parked to observe the situation. Sure enough, she was alone. She was waiting patiently and looked concerned but not scared. I didn't know what to do, and I was fuming. But I had my own little kid that I didn't want to scare, plus a toddler and an infant...So I just sat in the parking lot and watched until she got picked up. About 5 minutes later. I figured at least I was "monitoring". If she'd started crying or wandering off, or if someone tried to pull her into the nearby porta-potties, I could step in.
I'm not going to look for crazy situations, but if I come across something unsettling or someone that might need help that I am capable of providing, I couldn't live with myself if I just ignored it. *I'm sure you'd do the same*
This is a totally different situation. I probably would have sat with the little girl, asked if she knew her parent's phone number, etc. That is pretty surprising the counselors left the little girl alone in the lot and if I were the parent, I'd be mad.
Imagine you are in the parking lot of a shop that people come in and out pretty quick, usually under 10 minutes (sandwich shop, drug store, gas stations etc). You are heading in and walk past a car (average/decent looking) with an infant, baby or toddler in a car alone, strapped properly in their car seat. The doors are locked. It is 43F out with a slight breeze, no sun.
What would you think?
What would you do?
Where in the world/USA do you hail from?
What size town/city do you live in?
Do you think there is variation in norms about if this is acceptable?
I'd think the parent is foolish, and taking a big chance with their little ones well being.... the thought of child abduction in my mind.
I'd probably sit there untill parents returned, while I imagine what their reaction would be if they returned and baby was gone.
Near a town (small city) with approx 30000 people living in it....in very rural area.
I once sat outside a drugstore for 45 mins while some irresponsible parent shopped inside while her two tiny children sat strapped in their seats.....
It's pathetic that parents would consider their children their greatest asset (at least I think they do), and leave them there unprotected.....would they do the same if it was a suitcase full of their money?
This is a totally different situation. I probably would have sat with the little girl, asked if she knew her parent's phone number, etc. That is pretty surprising the counselors left the little girl alone in the lot and if I were the parent, I'd be mad.
I agree it's different. My point was that incident was the most egregious I remember. But my response to it was pretty much the same.
I wouldn't do anything. The baby isn't in any danger.
I would think that the parent ran in to grab a sandwich or medicine or whatever it was, and probably was even looking out the window and could see the car.
I've lived in cities in the midwest and East Coast. I live in an urban suburb of a large East Coast city.
You mean you THINK and HOPE "the baby isn't in any danger".
Lets HOPE the parent was "even looking out the window and could see the car"....though from the times I've run into this situation that hasn't been the case.
It's a risk with their little ones lives that they take.......scary in my opinion..very foolish.
I've been the mother in this situation one time. However, my son had just been diagnosed with chicken pox and was contagious, I was a single mother and he was running a high fever. I didn't have any tylenol or pedialyte at home. I had to run into a store to buy some. He was asleep, because he was feeling so terrible. I got out, locked the doors to my car and ran into the grocery store and asked them if they had a bagger who could keep an eye on my car for the few minutes it would take me to find and pay for those items. So yes, I left him alone in the car.
One other time, I was driving home on a rural road and he started vomiting all over himself. I had no paper towels, so I stopped at the first country store I came across, locked the doors and ran in and bought some paper towels to clean him up enough to get him home comfortably.
Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but try to do it in the very safest (for your child) manner you can.
Last edited by goldenlove; 05-05-2017 at 02:24 PM..
If memory serves, I did once leave my very sick child who had fallen asleep in the car after a doctor's visit as I ran into drugstore to fill a prescription for him. I hurried. He was probably in the fifth grade then.
Sometimes parents have to make decisions about how to handle difficult situations.
In my case there wasn't the same consciousness about this as there is now.
But honestly I don't ever think to look into others' cars when I get out of my own.
Faced this situation, called the police after 2 min's.
What's the point, just pissing off people and creating drama?
It wasn't hot.
The parent may have an eye on the child from store.
The chances are that the parent is back within 10 min. is 90%.
Once you go in the store and come back out and the child is STILL there, why not take actions then?
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