[camle]

you don’t leave infants in a car. you just don’t

[MeganC]

Read the damn article and don’t be one of the ninnies who inspired it!

[Red Badger]

Then it happened to me.

Oh, it was Okay as long as you weren't the one being targeted by the nannynazis.............

[Hieronymus]

If you are a parent, have you ever left one in a car in your drive way while running in to get something?

How about while going in to pay for gas?

If you are a parent and haven’t, do you live in a high-crime neighborhood?

I suspect that most of the people with the attitude of NEVER and who make these phone calls have no experience of actually raising children or are, if one digs deeply enough, hypocrites.

[alphadoggie]

I’m with you, no matter what other FReepers say. It appears that two of the children in this article were young enough to be in car seats. You don’t leave a child young enough to be in a car seat alone in a car, unless there’s another child in the car who’s at least of babysitting age. Should a mother’s life be ruined over it? No. Should it be a misdemeanor? Yes.

[KarlInOhio]

Infants, right. But by the time time kid is old enough to open the window when too hot it should be fine. I remember many times where I would rather sit in the parking lot reading or listening a radio. The problem with modern cars is that window are electric and your kid would need the keys, which they shouldn't be trusted with until well into their twenties.

[antidisestablishment]

An eight year-old is hardy an infant. Kids aren’t going to die in 5 or 10 minutes. The author obviously has Samaritans confused with Pharisees.

Never, ever talk to the police.

[JudyinCanada]

I used to leave my 2 kids safely strapped into their seats if it was perfectly safe.

For example, the feed store to get our chicken feed was a rural store, you can park right at the front where there’s a big window. I could see them from inside the store and the conditions were perfectly fine (not hot). I was out within 5 minutes. It actually would have been pretty silly to NOT leave them safely in the van.

[NEMDF]

Now, the one with the 8 year old, I don’t think I would do that, but maybe it was not a “crime”.

[subterfuge]

1. The State is incapable of caring for my kids more, or better than I can.

2. I, and I alone, determine how to raise my children.

3. The progressive, it takes a Village communists need to be destroyed.

[Boogieman]

This story isn’t about infants.

[magellan]

"You don't leave infants in a car. you just don't."

From Wikipedia "Infant" page:

The term infant is typically applied to young children between the ages of 1 month and 12 months; however, definitions may vary between birth and 1 year of age, or even between birth and 2 years of age.

Most will agree with you that it is wrong to leave infants in a car.

However, some of these stories are about 8-year olds left in a car.

The difference today is every state requires children up to 4 years old to be in a car seat, and in most states children up to 8 years old are required to be in a booster seat in the back seat of the car. In some cases, the child has to be in a booster seat in the back seat of the car until they are over 4'9" in height.

Increasingly, booster seats for older/larger children which use the car's seat and shoulder belt are being supplanted by giant car seats with five-point harnesses for children up to 6 years old, and booster seats are being encouraged for children up to 10 years old.

We have lost the idea that a child can get into and out of a car on his or her own. And we have abandoned the idea an 8, 9, or even a 10 year old can "watch" their 5, 6, or 7 year old, even for a moment.

[generally]

I agree. But I think there are MUCH better ways to handle the situation. Seeing your mother arrested by the cops cannot be a good experience for small children.