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Do You Leave Your Kids Alone in the Car?
When my oldest son was a baby, I sometimes stopped at Blockbuster with him in the car. If he was sleeping, I would use the automatic car starter (a Hanukkah present from years past) to start the car, turn on the heat, then lock the doors (keys in hand). With baby Declan tucked safely inside, I was free to browse the New Releases, unencumbered by my offspring.
What the hell was I thinking?
My sister and I have argued about this before: I am a reformed leaver of kids in the car, she a proud leaver of kids in the car. She doesn’t actually do it often, but she is a vocal proponent of it–under the right circumstances.
My sister’s also a devoted poker player, but not even she would do what this Pennsylvania woman did.
Police say that 26-year-old Naomi Bryant left her two children in the car for two hours so she could gamble. That’s right, Naomi left her 6- and 8-year-old daughters in the car while she went into the casino, from 7:37am to 9:30am last Thursday. What, you thought kids were in school at that time on a weekday?
For the record, my sister insists that she would only leave her kids in the car (with the doors locked and windows up, natch) if the car was within her sight at all times and the weather fairly temperate–not too hot or too cold inside the car. She’s not too particular about where she does it, though; she’s okay with it at the bank (when you really need to deposit your paycheck) or at Starbucks (when you really need a double latte).
But not at the casino. As for Naomi Bryant, she’s been charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of children.
Do you ever leave your kids alone in the car?
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4 Comments
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Word Searches For Kids Sports And Cars, Top Ten Sports Cars Sold In 2007 Shown On A Circle Graph, Used Sports Cars In Pa « Aura Dallas commented on Jun 06 09 at 5:18 pmMarj commented on Jun 03 09 at 10:20 pmI’m not into being investigated by CPS, so I think I’ll try to avoid doing this. One report of this and you could be in big trouble. With cell phones everywhere, some good samaritan could report you easily.
Ri-chan commented on Sep 16 09 at 10:16 pmNo, but he’s only 1, when he’s about 5 it’ll be ok if it’s just running into the gas station or something.
kat commented on May 16 11 at 7:50 pmI have on several occasions, though my kids are only 2 and 9 months. Most recently they were both sick with the flu and we had just moved to a new town and it was pouring down rain (but not cold). Baby was sleeping soundly and her 2 year old brother was in a mellow feverish haze. I ran inside the store (tiny natural foods store with maybe 3 cars in the parking lot) to get medicine and a few groceries. The trip took less than 15 minutes. There was a mom who took it upon herself to come inside the store and inquire who’s kids they were as I was in the checkout line, which I was definitely ok with but felt her judgement as I hurried to explain the circumstances. Wake up a sick, sleeping baby for a 10 minute grocery trip in the rain? Maybe that’s the right thing to do, but I didn’t do it and I still feel torn.
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