Do you leave your kids alone in the car?

Ok, I seriously have to ask...where are people getting these random age rules from???

EVERY kid is different! Some kids can play with 6+ toys at 4 years old...some adults may still find them to be choking hazards...Some kids are mature enough to be left in a car for 2 minutes at 8 years old...Some adults might start licking the window because they can't stand the pressure of the responsibility.

Look at your child AS THEY ARE NOW and make your judgements. And, unless you see a toddler left in a car alone, don't judge other parents when you don't know anything about their kids.

Geez, people!

I definitely remember being left alone in the car as a kid. Nothing ever happened to me...

DISCLAIMER: NEVER on a hot day, and usually not with the car running

Also, your parents rode in cars with no seat belts, drank from the hose, had lead paint toys and they survived..

Ok, I seriously have to ask...where are people getting these random age rules from???

EVERY kid is different! Some kids can play with 6+ toys at 4 years old...some adults may still find them to be choking hazards...Some kids are mature enough to be left in a car for 2 minutes at 8 years old...Some adults might start licking the window because they can't stand the pressure of the responsibility.

Look at your child AS THEY ARE NOW and make your judgements. And, unless you see a toddler left in a car alone, don't judge other parents when you don't know anything about their kids.

Geez, people!

Ok, I seriously have to ask...where are people getting these random age rules from???

EVERY kid is different! Some kids can play with 6+ toys at 4 years old...some adults may still find them to be choking hazards...Some kids are mature enough to be left in a car for 2 minutes at 8 years old...Some adults might start licking the window because they can't stand the pressure of the responsibility.

Look at your child AS THEY ARE NOW and make your judgements. And, unless you see a toddler left in a car alone, don't judge other parents when you don't know anything about their kids.

Geez, people!

You aren't from Florida, are you? Florida is where all of the craziness happens.

:huh: :huh: :huh: :noway:

Check out the Orlando Sentinel for a week or two straight and then ask yourself if you'd leave your kid in the vehicle.

I think not!

That can happen anywhere. Not just Florida. Wow... :noway:

Oh, okay. Your baby is in serious risk anywhere. All the more reason to leave them unattended with freaks circling about like sharks. Because 1 in 1,000,000, right? Well, my kid will NOT be that 1.

Note: There has been a lot of talk around here about the insaneness of Florida, so if you think it was "wow" of me to post the Florida bit, it was in jest. And seriously, check OrlandoSentinel.com, the headlines are outrageous.

K.. *puts on tinfoil hat*

+1

She should take a look around her. Yet another ignorant statement in the public forums. Go figure.

Uhhhhhhhhh, okay. Take look around me? Sure, hence my bringing up of Florida (Orlando in particular) where the headlines read as:

RAPE
KIDNAPPING
MURDER
CAR JACKING
Also a shark is off the coast
MURDER
ROBBERY

So, a bit paranoid? Yes, totally paranoid. No doubt. Over protective? Completely. Sharks circling around cars?

a·nal·o·gy
əˈnaləjē/Submit
noun
1.
a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

ex·ag·ger·ate
igˈzajəˌrāt/Submit
verb
past tense: exaggerated; past participle: exaggerated
1.
represent (something) as being larger, greater, better, or worse than it really is.
"they were apt to exaggerate any aches and pains"

I was not in any way, shape or form implying that Florida is the only place bad stuff happens at, which if you read

Note: There has been a lot of talk around here about the insaneness of Florida, so if you think it was "wow" of me to post the Florida bit, it was in jest.

(not that it doesn't make Florida any less insane)

But, alright. If you want to leave your kid in the car all the more power to you. I certainly am not judging your parenting choices. :-) They are yours and yours alone.

I would never do it...not in this day and time. No way, no how.

You do realize that child abductions in 2014 are exactly the same as child abductions in, say, 1970, right? Statistically, it isn't any more likely now (less than 1% of all child abductions are by strangers) than it was when we were kids.

You just hear more about it now.

I feel so sorry for children now. They can't even go outside and play freely for a few hours anymore.

In the US, do you have any idea how many kids a year are abducted by strangers?

About 100. That's it. 100.

Every time I hear an amber alert, and find out it's an aunt or the estranged father or whatever, I shrug and think "nothing to see here"