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We're turning normal everyday parents into criminals and it's disgusting.
We really have a big problem in this county where cops can do whatever the hell they like, but an otherwise lawful parent leaves their kid in the car for 4 mins and they are charged with a crime.
Laws are getting out of control. This trend of creating laws saving us from stuff the "lowest dumbest people" do is unbelievable.
This. I find it ridiculous to think that one should pull the kids out of the car at every instance.
What if they're asleep and you just need to run inside and pay the clerk $20 for the gas pump? What do you do? Unbuckle them, drag them in just for the 30 seconds you'd be out of the car?
Yup.
When I was a kid, the car would always soothe me to sleep, so my mom often ran quick errands while I napped. Occasionally, I would wake up and panic, but she was back inside the car within minutes. Nothing ever happened to me...
Nowadays, with my little sister, we never leave her in the car. My mother is paranoid that someone is going to break the car windows to get inside and "save" my sister. Or worse, call the cops.
Like me, my sister always falls asleep in the car. This time around, my mother wakes her up, which causes an uproar and a nasty tantrum, before heading inside to do whatever it is. Like most children, my sister gets very grumpy when she's woken up. So she'll be wailing for 20-30 minutes until someone manages to distract her. During this time, people shoot my mom vicious glares and looks that scream, "Get out".
No doubt, that the people who hate loud, wailing children are also the same ones that would call the cops if they saw one sleeping in a car.
I remember discussing this particular story on the parenting forum here on CD and there were some (not the majority of posters but still a small handful) arguing that it wasn't even ok to leave a child in the car while you returned your grocery cart to the coral at the grocery store or dropped a book in the library book return slot or paid for gas at the gas station, etc. All things that would take a minute or two and all things where the car was in sight. It was eye opening and a little bit frightening to know that there are some who take things to that extreme.
When I was a kid our parents would give us the choice to come into the grocery store with them or wait in the car. We often chose the car. It was common back then (70's, 80's). It's weird to think how much attitudes have changed regarding this in just a few decades.
I remember the ridiculousness of that particular thread.
I also would stay home alone for short periods of time pretty frequently.
My brother and SIL won't leave my 13-year-old nephew home alone while they run a quick errand. One of them has to be home with him. When I was 13 I was babysitting other people's kids in the neighborhood.
If you don't like the laws, try and do something about changing them.
The thing is, most of these laws have been around for a while, they've just been interpreting them differently and applying them to far more situations than they were intended for. Delinquency of a minor? I don't think that was meant to be applied to leaving a child in a car for 3 minutes, or letting a child play in a park unsupervised, even if its only 50 feet from their front door.
My brother and SIL won't leave my 13-year-old nephew home alone while they run a quick errand. One of them has to be home with him. When I was 13 I was babysitting other people's kids in the neighborhood.
At 13?!? No kidding! Unless you really don't trust your child (and if you don't, you probably have a reason not to), treating them like that age 13 is kind of insane. But hey, that's just me. I guess I can't judge as I don't have kids of my own yet.
My brother and SIL won't leave my 13-year-old nephew home alone while they run a quick errand. One of them has to be home with him. When I was 13 I was babysitting other people's kids in the neighborhood.
That's ridiculous! At 13 I came home to an empty house, and stayed home by myself during summer vacation!
I grew up in the 90's and it was common then too. My parents would leave me in the car all the time (obviously not for long periods of time or in hot weather). I also would stay home alone for short periods of time pretty frequently.
I grew up in the 90s and my experience is totally different - my mother would never have dreamed of leaving either me or my sister alone in a car. I'm talking about when we were actually kids mind - at 14 you are often deemed mature enough to look after younger children for extended periods, so you are certainly old enough to be left alone in a car. When I was that age, I used to pick up my younger cousins from school if their parents asked me nicely, and yes, I was left home alone for hours on end. This was in the 2000s.
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