Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Posted by LFitzy79

Posted by anna

and for those of you that said you dont think anything was wrong. (and got defensive since you dont have children).

offer to a mom to babysit her 9yr old and then ask "oh bythe way, im going to leave them in the car while it's running and I do a quick shopping"...
see how that goes over.

just curious...why'd you do a poll? it seems like you have your mind made up about the situation?

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

I would have not called the police. I am a mom but it is none of my business what other people do with their kids.

Message edited 2/28/2007 8:14:24 PM.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

I probably would have waited around just to make sure nothing happens - even if the parents aren't going to be responsible doesn't mean I have to ignore a potentially dangerous situation.
I have a 9 year old and know that I would never leave him alone in the car, but I happen to be a very paranoid person like that.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Posted by CoopersMom01

I"m on the fence. I know my mom left me and my 2 sisters in the car on occassion but for no longer than 10 mins. Was it the right thing to do?... probably not. But when you have 3 small children, ages 4, 5 & 7 (let's just pretend that that's me and my sisters... they're 3 1/2 years between myself and the youngest) and a really small errand to run it's easier to just let the kids sit in a car THAT'S NOT RUNNING than to get them all unbuckled, get one in a stroller, make sure they're holding hands, usher them in the store where they will likely make a scene (my sister was a crier!) and then usher them out, break up a fight between them, buckle them back in.... a 10 minute in and out turns into a hour production.

Is this an excuse as to why it's OK to leave your kids in the car, No way.... but there are circumstances I think....

Like I said, I'm on the fence...

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Message edited 2/28/2007 2:41:24 PM.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Posted by anna


I wonder if his wife knows this...

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Posted by ThusSpokeLaLolita

Posted by anna


I wonder if his wife knows this...

no offense, but this comment confuses me.

what does it matter what his wife thinks?

not to mention he could be:
divorced, widowed, the manny or gay

Message edited 2/28/2007 2:52:06 PM.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

like i said, it was the assumption that A) she would be mad.... she may do the same exact thing & B) that he even HAS a wife

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

I too was left alone in our family car when I was younger, but to use that now is kinda silly. We live in a completely different world now, in some instances kids can't walk around the block without being killed/kidnapped.

All it takes is one story where some guy broke the window and poof the kids are gone. I mean people get carjacked all the time. I'm not sure if I would call the police or not, but I would of for sure gave the parent my opinion.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Well honestly I WISH I had a child. To say if we had children we'd feel differently HURTS!

Message edited 2/28/2007 4:24:30 PM.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

In my mind I would want to call 911 but I wouldn't have the guts to do it. I would probably wait until I saw the parent come back.

We can all say that our parents left us in the car but times are different now. A 9 year old can be mature but maturity isn't going to help them if god forbid someone wanted to abduct them or if they were horsing around and put the car in drive. They might be to nervous to know what to do.
I also do not think it is fair for child to have to come up with some sort of decision if something did happen.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Posted by Moehick

Posted by june262004

Well honestly I WISH I had a child. To say if we had children we'd feel differently HURTS!

I agree an idiotic comment that only an idiot could agree with

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

My DH almost got killed b/c his friends mom left him and his bf in the car by themselves at age 11....the car ended up in reverse and although no one was hurt, it really scared the shyt out of them!

so to answer your question - without a doubt I would have called 911!

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

I've stayed away from this one for awhile, but now I've caved.

I guess as a MOM, my opinion carries more weight (which I do NOT agree with) so I'll throw this out there.

I would NOT have called the cops. Isn't it a common rant on the parenting board that we as parents have the ultimate say in how we raise our children? Posters complain all the time about strangers&family making comments about how they're dressed, what they're eating, how they're raising their kids, safety concerns, etc. and the common reply is ALWAYS they should shut up and let you do as you see fit. Why doesn't that apply here?

Because "something could have happened?" I can't live my life in fear.
Statistics show crime is DOWN from when we were children, so its not such a "different world".

You don't know the ages of the kids, you don't know for sure whether an adult was there. The car could have been running on remote start, so it would not have been able to go anywhere, or shift into gear. At least they had heat!

I don't necessarily agree with leaving young kids in the car, but I wouldn't have called 911.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

To answer the original question, no I wouldn't have called the police.

Here's why:

Fact - you have no idea how old the oldest child really was. I see 175+ kids a day, 40 of them 11 and under - if you saw some of them, you would swear some of my 6th graders were 3-4th graders - they are tiny. Would I leave some of them in the car to babysit their younger sibling? Heck ya! Are there some I wouldn't trust for a moment? Heck ya. That's life!!!!

Fact - you have no idea how long the father was actually gone.

Fact - you have no idea if there was another adult in the car.

Now, what has transpired on this thread since the original question is absolutely appalling and disturbing to me. To make the argument that the moms have more common sense than the non-mom's is extremely hurtful, unnecessary and just plain WRONG. I am a non-mom (not by choice) but I am responsible for over 175 kids a day. Does my status of "non-mom" make me less of a teacher who is a mom? I don't think so.

Like someone else said - what exactly what was the point of this? Clearly you have thoughts one way, and are highly judgemental against anyone who doesn't think the way you do.

If you wanted to hear just the mom's opinions, then you should have just posted this on Parenting, IMO.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Message edited 2/28/2007 6:46:44 PM.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Posted by Lisa

I guess my question is....How old does a child have to be to "stay by themselves" ?

I think that children these days are protected just a little too much and are not allowed to grow up. I feel bad for them when its time to get a job or go off to college...they are not going to be able to do anything by themselves...

Im not saying that a 9 y/o should go and get a job but did you ever think this was the first time the mom or dad did this as a test to see if the child could handle it and maybe they were right there...watching the whole time???

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

This post became quite comical.

Well, all the
WELL IF THIS THEN THAT crap
is just completely unnecessary.
I wont even go into each one, and every other irrelevant tangent.

I do feel that being a parent, I will speak for myself, I may take something like this more seriously than someone who does not have a child of their own.
Yes, there are many things I see much differently now that I have kids.

and how the HECK does making comments on how one parents or dresses their kids relevant to seeing kids left alone and reporting it to the police?

and they didnt need heat yesterday. The "dad" (or nanny or butler or undercover cop) was wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt.

FACT- It was a pickup truck. There was a HUGE EMPTY space in the back and two small kids horsing around. I work with kids too so I can guess a child's age within a year or two.
Im 99.99.99.% sure they were the only two in that truck. They were flying around the back, where would the other adult have been, lying on the floor?

IT seems that more than one of us appears judgemental here, and ASSUMES a good deal just from hearing one statement.
and we ALL know pretty well how things get taken out of context, blown up and out of proportion in the online world.

ETA: the couple of people I just mentioned this story to responded in
just at the thought of leaving kids alone, never mind in a running car.
one girl said she recently called 911 because she saw a running car, with no one in it. and the cops came right away.
I wonder if there were kids in the car if they would have just said "oh get a grip, he might be 13 and just look 9"

Message edited 2/28/2007 10:26:16 PM.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

and I wasnt trying to get anyone to change their views or attack anyone that feels differently. I simply said that I noticed that those that had a stronger reaction were parents.
all other assumptions followed suit.

Message edited 2/28/2007 10:25:05 PM.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

I too am speechless. If the question is how old does a child have to be to be by themselves? My answer is older than nine.

Interestingly enough I agree that children today are somewhat over protected and that is not necessarily a good thing. But, the situation Anna described is just plain stupid. To believe otherwise you would have to be willing to say its okay for a parent or any other responsible adult to leave a car running; park five spaces away from a store; go into that store to shop where it is clear they cannot see the car or children; and eventually (maybe 20-30 minutes later) come back with a cart load of groceries. I can't reasonably condone that scenario.

In fact, I think this man is lucky Anna didn't call the police because alot of people I know would have. Than he would have had a completely different problem.

I have not decided whether or not I would have called the police, but I think I would have probably done what Anna did simply because I don't think bring the police or potentially CPS into a situation is always a good thing. After all people do make mistakes. I think Anna did this guy a favor by possibly handing him a dose of reality.

With reard to the question of whether he was testing the children, I think the scenario Anna described pretty much precludes that possibility. But even allowing for it, it is still stupid to test children in this way in a public place in a running car.

Re: POLL: Would you have called 911 ?

Message edited 2/28/2007 10:36:02 PM.