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How is someone going to steal your car if it's locked, you have the car keys, and you're just a few feet away from your car?
Some parents have multiple children. My girlfriend has triplets.
You're making blanket attacks and accusing people of not being good parents without taking into consideration that there are parents who have many more children than you do. My neighbor had 5 children within 6 years. That's right, all of her children are under 6 years old.
You're evading the question because you know darn well your children would be safer inside the car while a tire is changed instead of having them stand on the side of the road if you had no way to call for roadside assistance because your phone died or didn't have service.
Most people have multiple children. Your point? It's called parenting.
When did I ever say someone would steal a car? Oh yeah I didn't.
I never attacked or accused anyone of not being a good parent, but thanks for saying I did. Just because I have a different style than you doesn't mean I attacked you or accused you of anything.
I would never change a tire!! I'd sit in the car and wait for AAA or Chrysler to show up. Whoever said I would do anything? I didn't! Since I plug my phone into my dashboard, it wouldn't be dead. I get excellent service through most of my state except when up in the mountains. And I certainly don't go off wandering around the mountains by myself.
I mentioned before that I don't let children out of my sight because of things that happened to me personally as a child. I caused a car accident! Literally. I somehow shifted gears from the passenger seat. The shifter was in the center console. My siblings were in the car with me while our mother spent over an hour grocery shopping in the summer. We hit the car behind us. Some guy came over and climbed in the car with us in it and put the car back into the parking spot. When we got home that night, I got a beating I've not forgotten. My mother left us alone in the car all the time while she shopped. It was NOT fair to us at all!
The other incident that sticks out was the time a man followed me around a store while my parents were shopping. All of a sudden he unzips his jeans and starts masturbating in the the middle of the store. He kept following me around. I finally went to a cash register and asked for my parents. They were pissed for being paged and yelled at me so I never told them what happened. I just said I was lost.
So NO I do not agree with leaving children alone!!! I've had crap happen to me that I would NEVER want a child to experience!
I mentioned before that I don't let children out of my sight because of things that happened to me personally as a child. I caused a car accident! Literally. I somehow shifted gears from the passenger seat. The shifter was in the center console. My siblings were in the car with me while our mother spent over an hour grocery shopping in the summer. We hit the car behind us. Some guy came over and climbed in the car with us in it and put the car back into the parking spot. When we got home that night, I got a beating I've not forgotten. My mother left us alone in the car all the time while she shopped. It was NOT fair to us at all!
The other incident that sticks out was the time a man followed me around a store while my parents were shopping. All of a sudden he unzips his jeans and starts masturbating in the the middle of the store. He kept following me around. I finally went to a cash register and asked for my parents. They were pissed for being paged and yelled at me so I never told them what happened. I just said I was lost.
So NO I do not agree with leaving children alone!!! I've had crap happen to me that I would NEVER want a child to experience!
Okay, while this is terrible, you're just projecting your unfortunate experiences onto entirely unrelated situations, where it's completely irrelevant!
Who on here has said it's okay to leave children in the car for HOURS while shopping??? The discussion was about less than a minute, and within eyesight. You would notice right away if anything looks remotely suspicious and be back at the car in an instant!
If YOU personally don't feel comfortable with it because of your personal experience, that's perfectly understandable. But you can't claim that these situations are anywhere near the same realm of danger as what you've described - or any danger for that matter.
Okay, while this is terrible, you're just projecting your unfortunate experiences onto entirely unrelated situations, where it's completely irrelevant!
Who on here has said it's okay to leave children in the car for HOURS while shopping??? The discussion was about less than a minute, and within eyesight. You would notice right away if anything looks remotely suspicious and be back at the car in an instant!
If YOU personally don't feel comfortable with it because of your personal experience, that's perfectly understandable. But you can't claim that these situations are anywhere near the same realm of danger as what you've described - or any danger for that matter.
My mother would "run in for a quick second" to a grocery store. An hour later we were still waiting for her. happened all the time. She never realized how long she was gone. She didn't worry about us at all while we were sitting in a hot or freezing car.
Our house was broken into when I was a kid home alone. I was home by myself because I was sick. Talk about a terrifying thing to have happen! I was in 5th grade. I hated being home alone after that.
I never used the word danger. Other people have. I did not.
As I said, due to things that happened when I was a child, I don't leave children alone. Period. I make NO apology for it either. Things DO happen.
My mother would "run in for a quick second" to a grocery store. An hour later we were still waiting for her. happened all the time. She never realized how long she was gone. She didn't worry about us at all while we were sitting in a hot or freezing car.
Our house was broken into when I was a kid home alone. I was home by myself because I was sick. Talk about a terrifying thing to have happen! I was in 5th grade. I hated being home alone after that.
I never used the word danger. Other people have. I did not.
As I said, due to things that happened when I was a child, I don't leave children alone. Period. I make NO apology for it either. Things DO happen.
What your mom did was neglectful. What we are discussing in this thread isn't.
We're not talking about 'saying' you'll be a minute and being gone for hours - we're talking about *actually* taking a minute, AND staying within view. I think we're all adults here and can differentiate between the two.
I think I answered at some point, but can't find it. So, no, when my kid was little it was out of the question. We all come from different places. One of my quick errand areas tends to have car jackings. And it does happen in Dallas, too often, that the bad guys take off with the car with child strapped in their car seat. Good news is the child is released unharmed. But could not take that chance. Did I read right that someone said something about a teen being left in the car? Really? My teen is driving herself, when I run into CVS I don't make her come with me. I think all the disagreement comes from people being from different areas of the country. What might be considered safe in one place could be considered iffy in another and downright dangerous in another area.
Good grief. I'm astounded by the snarky comments on this thread.
A five y/o can unbuckle himself and put the car in neutral and it can roll into a store. Nothing to do with leaving the car running.
He can also get out and take off.
The topic of this thread was do you as parents leave your kid(s) in the car while you run into a store to briefly conduct business and is this illegal.
The topic was not do you leave a few kids in the car while you run the other ones inside your house. Not do you leave the kids in the car while you stand there in plain view returning your Red Box videos or library books.
People have explained why they do not leave their kids in the car when the go inside a store, even for a brief moment. Others have explained that it is not only perfectly fine, but safer than hauling them in with them.
To be fair I would leave my child and go inside a shop quickly if it wasn't for the fact that there's always two adults in the car (as I don't drive) and if she would actually let me leave her alone in the car as its not really any different (with the mild climate here) than me leaving her outside the shop in the pram when she was a baby. I wouldn't do it if I was going in for a full shop but something that'll take, at most, 15 minutes, sure.
Also, drive-thrus aren't so common in other parts of the world - there's no such thing as a drive-thru ATM or pharmacy here, even drive-thru McDonalds are very rare, so weighing up the risk of having a kid loose near a road or secure in a car, in certain situations the car will win out (depending on the child of course, my kid is not a runner so there is very little risk having her loose near a road but other kids do make a break for it)
Never did it. Can't imagine anyone doing it if they love their children.
In Texas, it is illegal to leave a child younger than seven years of age and not attended by an individual in the vehicle who is 14 years of age or older.
Only while in my driveway and had to run back into the house to grab something (locked the car door), but hardly even that because they would freak out when they were 4 and I did that.
Never did it. Can't imagine anyone doing it if they love their children.
That's right, we all hate our kids. In fact, we hope that if we leave them in the car long enough, someone will take them off our hands.
Quote:
In Texas, it is illegal to leave a child younger than seven years of age and not attended by an individual in the vehicle who is 14 years of age or older.
You left out the part about "longer than five minutes."
Last edited by saibot; 09-09-2014 at 08:29 AM..
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