My parents would often leave my brother and me in the car for extended periods of time, more than an hour sometimes. We were instructed that, under no circumstances, were we to leave the car. We, of course, would still get into trouble, like turning on the emergency flashers and stuff like that. Now, I can understand if my parents went in believing they were going to be done with whatever business in five minutes, but you'd think that after 30 minutes, they'd go, "Oh, this isn't going to take five minutes. One of us should go out and check on the kids." To this day, I have no idea what it was they did that was so important, that didn't allow children inside, and once you were inside, you were not permitted to leave. My mom has recently expressed regrets about doing that to us, but I still don't know what it was they were doing.

The applicable law here: Sec. 6.30.320. Unlawful parking with locked doors.

It is unlawful for any person to leave standing or parked any vehicle when the doors of the same are locked in which there is a person who cannot readily escape therefrom.

So I guess I need to teach my son to pull that yellow tag and let himself out of the trunk.

Fayd, do you remember if the place had blinking red lights?

Whatever. The story to which Lenore is referring involves a 4-year-old left in a running car while Mom returned a purchase at a department store ("It took a lot longer than I had anticipated") and feels the need to assert "I live in a nice community."

Time and again we're told that "children are the most important things in the world." I bet that mom wouldn't leave an iPad on the front seat of a locked car -- and I bet she'd raise holy hell if she found out a minimum-wage babysitter left the kid in the car for "just a few minutes."

This woman broke Michigan state law. Cut and dried. She can deal with the consequences.

Last night 5 year old waited in the car while I bought milk at 7-11. Otherwise it would have been milk and a slurpee.

The longest I have left him is about ten minutes while I was in the grocery store. He was playing Fruit Slice on my phone. There is almost zero chance a child will expire in a hot car before you reach into your pocket or purse to check your phone and go, "Oh shit, where's my phone?" Just leave your phone in the car with the kid, problem solved.

Mom and dad left us kids in the station wagon for a couple of minutes at a store once. We were driving from Seattle (the car had been ferried from our home in Alaska) to the midwest.

Returning to the car they walked up behind a couple of biddies peering in at us as one of them said "My God ... they're WHITE!".

As in - Surprisingly Not Esquimaux.

Rather than believe them to be racially-insensitive morons, I'd rather believe that they were quite used to seeing Eskimo children in station wagons in the Lower 48.

4 Years old is way too young, outside an emergency. There's not being paranoid and there's being plain fucking stupid.

Wait- he left the kid in the car to go fuck a hooker? He should never see that child again, son of a fucking bitch. Not that I have anything against legal prostituion, but how fucked up do you have to be???

My mother frequently left my sister and I in the car when she did the grocery shopping -- weather permitting. This would have been late 80s/early 90s. Probably starting around when I was six or so.

I feel you on the "almost die of boredom" thing. Those pre-iPad days were rough. When my mom did take us into the store, if we acted up, demanded sweets or otherwise misbehaved inside the store, the first thing my mom would say is, "I'm leaving you in the car next time if you don't behave."

Yeah it doesn't matter how old your kid is, you don't leave her in the car while you go fuck a hooker.

I also think it's crazy that someone facing 90 days would go to court without a lawyer. Return some more shit to JC Penny and come up with the retainer, at least pay for a half hour consult.

I was left in the car with my little brother. He was just barely able to stand, so maybe between one and two, putting me between four and five.

My mother left the car while she ran into the vhs rental place. She told us not to touch anything and that she would be just a minute.

My little brother stood up behind the steering wheel, making car sounds, as he turned the wheel both directions. I told him no and in my attempt to move him from behind the wheel, one of us hit the car into neutral. We rolled backward into the ditch. My mother came running outside.

4 is not okay, past maybe popping in 7-11 to grab milk. Ie, a place with windows covering the front, so you can see the car the whole 2 minutes. And even then, you might get to watch your car roll into a ditch.

I give my 4 kids the option of staying in the car for things that will take 10 mins or less and I MEAN 10 minutes or less. The youngest is 4, but he's small so still strapped in a 5 pt harness he can't quite get out of. The older 2 are nine and trustworthy for short periods. Of course, I have to leave the keys in and car running 9 months out of the year here in Texas. I am okay with this because I lock the doors, and the older kids hit unlock when I get back to the car.

I believe in allowing kids a great deal of freedom in a not stupid way. This woman was stupid. Skenazy is every bit as militant and stupid about her subject as the antivaccers are about theirs. She's not doing a bit of good to the cause of stopping helicopter parenting.

I was left in the car more times than I could count growing up. I wasn't two or three, but maybe 6-10.

I don't get the hysteria. "Anything could happen," I'm told. What "anything?" I mean, assuming it's not 104 out or something, if I dash into the house after my kid is buckled in to get the grocery list I forgot on the table, I'm gone for maybe 15 seconds. Sure, it's technically possible that an older child who was unruly and had never been parented could get out and run in the street or something, but that's not a function of being in the car.

What about younger children? Anyone who asks that has NEVER had to deal with a modern car seat. I've been told by anxious mothers that "somebody could kidnap my baby," if they say, return the grocery cart after putting the kid in the car (which is the preferable place to be in 20 degree weather). I always ask them how long it takes them to get their kid unbuckled (or to unattach the carrier. Even when it's theirs and they know how (they're all a bit different), it's always at least 20 seconds (to 3 minutes). So, when there's nobody anywhere near you, and you are the closest person to the car, how can somebody kidnap the child?? This usually gets a counter, "they could have a gun." If that is the case, the car is not the issue, the kidnapper with a gun is the issue!

I once had a similar conversation with a mother who practically threatened to call child services because I took some errant mail to my neighbor's front door leaving my 2-year-old at home. "He could fall down the stairs and be screaming and you wouldn't be there." This was somebody who knew that I lived in a townhome and my neighbor's door was closer to the playroom than my kitchen was. For that matter, being "outside" or "away from the car" by more than 2 feet is considered negligent, but you could have a McMansion and have the kid on the other side without a monitor and that's somehow considered okay by the same people just as long as there's no illicit drugs on the coffee table.

Most of the arguments I've eheard are stupid. My kid is less supervised if I'm in the shower or on the toilet than if I'm in the front yard turning on the sprinkler for a minute. Heaven forbid I cook something and turn on the fan over the stove! I've even heard of people crying foul over going to the mailbox while the child is inside... sleeping... in a crib. Sorry, but most people are, I believe, more responsive when awake and 50 feet away than asleep 20 feet away! Also, the major point of a crib is that it's practically impossible to get hurt in one!

I've left one child or the other, or both, in my car to run back into my apartment to grab something or them inside while I ran out to the car. This took a max of two minutes. They are 10 months and 25 months. Both are fully strapped into a 5-point harness so they can't crawl around the car and I lock my car. I've also left them for a couple minutes inside the apartment to run next door to the office. My oldest, when I tell him mommy will be gone for a couple minutes to do something will climb up onto the couch (or into the playpen) and sit there with a toy until I return. The youngest I'll put into the jumperoo since he doesn't follow directions to know to stay put and out of things. I don't see it as a problem to leave them in the car for a few minutes as long as it's not left running and if they very young, strapped in so they stay in their seat. My mom used to leave me in the car to do grocery shopping as young as about 6. In fact, I would ask to stay in the car so I could read my book I never left home without. It was never a big deal and nothing ever happened. People are far too uptight and paranoid nowadays and also don't adequately discipline their children so that they do what they are told.

My Dad used to take me to an odd, dusty old drugstore, sit me up by the window, buy me a soda or sundae, and go across the street to the tire store for an hour (or so it seemed). This started when I was about 6.
When I was in my 20s, I learned that the tire store had a Bookie upstairs.

My parents never left my brother and I in the car alone until we were much older --- this maybe because my brother as a youngster liked to "drive" and I am told managed to shift the car into neutral a number of times (this would be before I was old enough to remember).

Skenazy is every bit as militant and stupid about her subject as the antivaccers are about theirs.

Look, there is a difference between "this is not a smart decision" and "this is such a stupid decision that the law should be involved." When it comes to "the children" people seem to uniformly fail to appreciate the distinction. At least Skenazy is around to remind them of the alternative from time to time.

My mom and/or dad used to leave us in the car, but never with the car running, unless it was a quick run into the store while we were on our way somewhere else. Of course, I also remember when my dad would let one or the other of us sit on his lap and "steer" the car once in a while (yeah, I'm old!) too. People are just ridiculous anymore. I rarely left my kids in the car, maybe a couple, three times, unless they wanted to be left in the car, usually to read. But never when they were infants or toddlers. Too many prying eyes wanting to get all up in yer business, because they have nothing better to do, and hey! snitching on yer neighbors, or people you don't even know, seems to be the thing to do anymore, so why give anybody any ammo? Mind yer manners, mind yer biz, and keep outta everyone else's way, is my thinking. Of course, you'll always encounter those idiots who think your biz is their biz as well, and those people need to be shut down from the get-go.

I left my 4 year old in the car last week (after a Dr appnt), while I went into the day care to pick up her sister. why?

(from Shannon) >>>>What about younger children? Anyone who asks that has NEVER had to deal with a modern car seat.

EXACTLY!!!!

Running inside to pick up the 2 year old while the 4 year old is strapped into the seat she can't get out of? 2 minutes max, with the car right in front of a gate where other children are playing in the yard. VS about a 10 minute operation to get her out of the seat, bring her inside, deal with the distractions (people and toys inside to stop and talk to - because everything is interesting! and she was at the DOCTOR! and there were SHOTS!) and then wrangling 2 kids into parking lot/car seats.

And yet, I felt uneasy about it. Not because I was actually worried about the kid (she had an ipad, she was THRILLED to stay in the car), but because what if someone saw and disapproved? I am annoyed that I sometimes make decisions based on what people might think vs what I think is OK for my kids, but I don't really want to end up with a visit from DPS either. SAD.

This is the "anything can happen" type of story that makes people crazy over kid safety:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/2013/06/03/sheriffs-office-white-center-mom-fights-off-would-be-kidnapper/