children in car

Why Would You Leave Children in the Car?

Why would you leave children in the car? The other day I went to a supermarket and I noticed a car with two children probably between the ages of 4 and 8 who had been left in the car in the parking lot.

 

children in car

Whoever it was that drove the car was definitely not in the vehicle or nearby. I noticed that the key had been left in the car’s ignition (perhaps to leave the air conditioning on for them). The younger child was leaning across from the backseat to the driver’s seat fiddling with the gear.

I hung around for a little bit hoping that perhaps whoever left the children in the car simply popped into the store for a quick second and was surely coming back to the car in no time. However even though I delayed by the time I finally left, the driver had not returned to the car.

All I could think of was what an accident waiting to happen. There are a million, okay perhaps not exactly a million scenarios, of the dangers in such a situation.

Danger

The children could have decided to try and move the car. It might surprise you how much our children notice and they could easily have figured out how to turn the key, move the gear and drive. They could have locked themselves in the car and be unable to unlock the car. They could have been kidnapped? Harmed? Assaulted by a stranger or people with devilish thoughts. Leaving children in the car is just dangerous!

It might be tempting to run in for a second without the kids to get an errand done. However, in reality with kids sometimes it is indeed within that second that the mischief can happen and they could harm themselves. It is just not worth the potential for danger or an accident to leave the children unsupervised and then to be left alone in the car for that matter? please take them with you. You can always pop them into the shopping cart to reduce their wandering in the store.

I do not know for sure who drove that car. It might not have been the parents; it might have been a driver and a nanny who decided to leave the kids in the car. Parents, please highlight the dangers of leaving children unsupervised (even if just for a second) to your domestic staff. If it was a parent who left his or her children in the car – DON’T! It is dangerous.

In the western world, it is not uncommon to hear of a passerby who would call security to alert them of such negligence. Even if you were lucky to get away without incident this time; it shouldn’t give the impression that it is safe. God forbid the day that they are left in the car in a less secure compound or they are bored enough to try and move the car.

Read more in our Diary Adventures of LagosMums category 

Scroll to Top