Being 100% responsible for a life of a vulnerable human being is scary. Just thinking about it makes me feel uneasy, but it is our responsibility to do our best to protect our children and keep them safe 24/7. This includes not leaving a child in a car unattended EVER! It can be fatal!
There isn't a law in place that states clearly, if it is illegal, but... technically, leaving a child under 12 for any period of time alone is an offence. 'The law says that parents can be prosecuted if they leave a child unsupervised in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health'. You can read more about it HERE. Most parents get a slap on the wrist, if they are caught leaving their child in a car, but if they happen to be caught by a police officer (who actually cares) or someone who immediately reports them, they will get in trouble and will have to deal with social services! YES! It is neglect/child abuse!
I wouldn't call social services, if someone went to pay for petrol for 30 seconds and left their child in a locked car within their eyesight, but there are cases of people leaving their children in car parks and going shopping for long periods of time. It's just WRONG and I would definitely call the police, if I saw it happen again. I saw it last weekend when we were driving out of Morrisons car park and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tell my husband to stop the car, but I am guessing that if I waited by the car for the parent to come back, they would think I am crazy. If they left their kids in a car, they must think it's ok to do it. It's such an awkward situation, isn't it? But nobody should feel like their being weird by caring about the well-being of vulnerable children.Things like this shouldn't happen in 2014. Every parent should know how dangerous it is. I am sitting here writing this post wondering if those kids are ok. I am assuming that nothing happened, because I would have heard about it, but... what if something did happen? I would feel guilty for not stopping the car and making sure everything is ok. Read this thread on netmums and you will be shocked with the cases described in the comments. There are cases of little kids dying in cars every single year, especially in America. If you search 'child left in car' on Twitter, you will read some absolutely devastating stories.... I did some research for this post and I am absolutely heartbroken for those poor kids, mostly little babies!
The photo above explains the dangers of leaving a child in a car. The temperature in it rises quickly and can actually kill a child in 15 minutes! 8 minutes will give a small child a heatstroke, which causes organ failure etc. It is not a matter of parents being too cautious or too protective, it is a life and death situation. I realise that some parents don't know how dangerous it is to leave their child in a car, but... I hope that after reading this they will never, ever do it again.
There is always a risk of a child choking to death or another emergency situation as well and if your child is locked in a car, there is no way of helping them. You never know what can happen. Someone can smash the window and kidnap your child. Is it worth it? I really don't think so.
Would you call the police or social services, if you saw a child left in a car by their parent? After all, it is neglect and it can end really, really badly.
Image source: http://www.kidsafesa.com.au/road-safety/hot-cars
Fortunatly i have never witnessed a child being left in the car cause i would be like you! I would have no idea what to do, but once i seen a dog left, it was panting really badly and looked like it was really suffering so i told a security guard and they called it over the tanoy and stressed that it was an emergeny and it still took them a further 10mins to bother getting to their car! The poor dog jumped out and panted and panted! It broke my heart - i would have loved to have been confident enough to say something to them cause people need to realise vunreable beings such ad children and animals canmot be left in a hot car, it just is t safe!
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you on this. The cases where people 'forget' that their child is the car... where did you think they were... shopping? If I saw a child or baby alone in a car, I would wait to keep to a close eye and give the parent a piece of my mind on their return. I don't care that it isn't any of my business when a little life is on the line.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant post!