Yes, You Can Leave Your Kids in the Car for a Few Minutes

I have left my daughter in the car to pay for gas, and it still upsets me just to leave for a few moments. I think it's okay to leave a child in the car if it's running with A/C on, just for a minute. But, I still feel horrible the whole time she's left there. :/ I also think it's different for older children when they can amuse themselves, not to mention understand your only going to be gone a minute.

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Having a hard time siding with you on this one. It's still not a good idea, even for a "minute", considering that temperatures in a car can heat up to 20 degrees in only ten minutes (even with windows cracked -- shown to have no effect on interior temps). Children and pets are also MUCH more prone to heatstroke (hyperthermia) than adults, it CAN happen in minutes.

(Search: "Beat the Heat, Check the Seat" for more info.)

The thing is, well-meaning passer-bys don't know how long your child has been in the car. They can't tell if it's been 5 minutes or an hour.

I don't leave my son in the car, even for "just a minute". Same goes for my dogs. Just bring them with you -- better safe than sorry.

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Thank God my experience had nothing to do with children or pets but I vote for "NEVER leave your child alone in a car". I left my stove for what I thought would be a few minutes. A pan was on and I thought it was on "low" but it was not. It was on HIGH, with a little oil in it. I was going to just send one quick email and got distracted by other emails....our son called and screamed "why is the kitchen black"? It was on fire! The microwave oven melted, the stove top melted, too. There was smoke damage through that part of the house but the structure was still there. What a close call! How much more dangerous is it when you THINK you'll be right back to your car, only to have something side track you and disaster happen. Keep them with you (and never leave a stove on, unattended!)

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OMG people!!!!!! What is wrong with you? People that leave their - I will call them children NOT KIDS - in the car for even a minute are NOT responsible parents.

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I do data collection on cases where children have died or have been seriously injured from being left unattended in or around motor vehicles, and yes even for just one minute. You wouldn't believe the number of children who die in this manor. Many parents believe it is ok. Why might you ask? Because our Federal government has not done data collection on these tragedies until just this year. If there isn't any information on how often this happens, then let's face it, in our society that means no problem, right? Why did they start collecting this data? Because KidsAndCars.org (a non profit org.) has spent the last 10 years collecting these data and brought it before the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Admin) and showed how serious and large of a problem this really is! It happens folks, so take some advice from someone who has been collecting/researching this issue for years....DON"T DO IT! It is dangerous, even for just one minute! Not one of those parents who lost their children thought in a million years that one of those so called "freak accidents" would happen to their child...but it is too late for them now. Trust me, you don't want to be one of them.

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"Each year, as many of us learned from this heartwrenching article by Gene Weingarten, 15 to 25 children die from overheating in the car."
In response to that...the average per year is actually 37 vehicular heat stroke deaths and there have been 35 already this year.

"Children are not getting snatched out of cars, the way we see on "Law & Order." And most parents are leaving the windows cracked and their errands short."
Actually, children have been abducted after being left alone in vehicles for just a few...it is also quite common that vehicles are stolen with children inside, many times the thief didn't see the child until after they stole the vehicle. Contrary to popular belief, majority of vehicles can be set into motion without your foot pressed firmly on the brake. Power windows have strangled or mangled many children simply because they wanted to play with the buttons. Children have also been known to try to drive like mommy and daddy, even those little turkeys who "always follow the rules." Another danger is that children don't want to be left behind...they many times will get out of the vehicle, then they face a whole new set of dangers.

The goal is not to label parents who momentarily leave a child alone in a vehicle as "child abusers." These laws are set in place because parents are not sufficiently educated on just how dangerous 1 minute alone in a vehicle can be for a child and therefore think it is safe to leave them to run in and pay for gas or dash into the store to grab a couple items. If the general public had a clue about the many things that happen (many times unreported by the media), they would never think of leaving their child in a car for a minute. The laws are set in place as a preventative measure for these tragedies not to happen.

"Any death of a child is tragic -- horrible! But the odds were were overwhelmingly in her favor."
UMM..WOW! I wouldn't want to risk my child's life on the odds being in their favor!! I appreciate all those supporting not leaving children alone. It is those individuals who have the mentality of "this wouldn't happen to me" that these things happen to EVERY SINGLE DAY! Please use this opportunity to learn a bit more about this topic before you write to other parents educating them in a way that puts their children in harm's way.

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My mother left me and my siblings in the car all the time growing up. I was reading my baby book a while ago, and saw that she noted that she left me in the car on my first shopping trip! She actually noted that in the book. Granted, this was a small town in the Midwest 35 years ago, but it was the middle of summer!

My younger sister and I were sitting in the parked car (not started) on our down-sloping driveway once when she decided to see what the gear shift did. The car ended up careening down the driveway. I tried to put the brake on myself, but couldn't get over to it in time. The car ended up in a ditch pointed upwards. Luckily, we were wearing our seatbelts, but it was scary nonetheless.

I can't even leave my dog in the car during cool weather for a second. I'm pregnant with my first kid, and I can't imagine leaving them in the car, at any age, for any reason.

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I guess I'm in the minority. I have left my kids in the car before. It has never been longer than 5 minutes, but I've done it. I have what I think very good reasons each time, but I won't share them here because I shouldn't have to justify why I do or don't do something

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How many children die while running through parking lots every year? If they'd been left in the car for a short time, they probably would be alive right now.

I agree with using your judgment as a parent. Until my kids were about 3, I never left them alone in the car more than a minute, because they would have gotten scared. In the past year, I have done it a couple of times, when I know it's going to be a very short time and my kids and I can see each other the whole time (e.g., going into a store with a big window while parked in clear view of said window. Yesterday evening, I did it because Panera had forgotten to serve my latte that I'd paid for. We were in a hurry, my kids totally understood what was going on, and I found a parking spot right across from the store window. Although I took all reasonable precautions, I worried about what someone might think / do if they saw my kids in there "alone."

To the argument that people don't know how long your kids have been in the car - if they appear to be happily chatting with each other (or otherwise amusing themselves) while securely belted into their car seats, chances are they are OK! But if you are still concerned, maybe hang out by the car for a couple minutes and give the parent a chance to come along and explain.

Once on a topic like this, someone posted a link to a Website that purported to offer evidence that it's "never" safe to leave a child in the car. The Website has dozens of heart-wrenching stories about kids dying in hot cars. However, every single one of those incidents involved kids in the car for far longer than 10 minutes, when the temperature outside was quite high. So although those stories are tragic, it is misleading to imply that every time you leave your child in a car, she is in grave danger. And "better safe than sorry" only applies if there are no dangers outside the car, which there are.

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This reminds me of the recent story from here in Atlanta where a carjacking occurred with the weeks-old infant in the car! the mother was dropping off her other child at daycare and left the baby in the car for "just a minute". Well, that was all it took for someone to take off with her car and baby. Fortunately the baby was safely reunited with the mom.

Extreme examples, but the bottom line is WHY RISK IT?

Frankly, I'm shocked that this website would allow you to publish this opinion piece without doing a little more research on this subject. The odds are clearly against you. You must live in a city that is much cooler than our current heat wave!

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You are the only one who knows if your kids is going to decide to play driving you can lock the window and doors.

Leaving a child in the car is not the same as forgetting a sleeping baby.

If your 6 yr old wants to read a book in the car while you run into papa murphy's let them.

The laws are stupid because it is hot a few months a year but the law is around all the time. Plus since these parents who caused deaths all forgot or were extremely negligent having a law won't save the kids.

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