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Have you ever left a child in the car or elsewhere accidentally?


6packofun
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Leaving children in cars, behind, etc.  

266 members have voted

  1. 1. Have you ever accidentally left a child in your vehicle or at a location for at least 5 minutes?

    • No, never.
      187
    • Yes, but for less than 5 minutes. (once or multiple times)
      33
    • Yes, for approximately 5-15 minutes, but only once.
      28
    • Yes, for approxiately 5-15minutes, more than once.
      7
    • Yes, for more than 15 minutes, but only once.
      7
    • Yes, for more than 15 minutes, more than once.
      4


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Yes, more than once, more than 15 minutes.  But if you look at my sig, my kids are older.  I never left them at all until at least one was over 12 years and could open the door and get out of the car.  Never in the summer.  And for the past several years, I leave the car keys so they can start the car and a/c if it gets too hot.  And I don't leave them, they ask to stay.

 

 

 

 

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I posted earlier about forgetting my toddler in the car when I had altered the routine I had rehearsed in my head several times. I just remembered I forgot to pick my 17yo son up from his dual enrollment class the other day. Not a big deal (he is 17!) But unusual for me. Thinking back it was the exact same thing. I had rehearsed all my errands in my head several times but I ended up with an extra 15 minutes so I decided to stop home and drop off groceries. Once I got home I completely forgot. So for me it is the change from how I had scheduled things out in my head. Funny to just realize now that I do this.

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I have not, but my husband left both kids.  The first was when our oldest was a couple of weeks old.  He had taken her to Circuit City on their first outing.  He put down the car seat carrier and then walked around/ forgot about her, got out to the car, started the car, backed out, and then realized there was no car seat.  Went back in. 

 

With our oldest, she was older (five or so?) and they were at the park.  Older daughter hopped out and ran off.  He assumed younger had gotten out, too.  (She was fully capable of unbuckling and getting out.)  He followed older to the park, then realized younger was not there.  Oops.

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I've never left my child accidentally, but I did leave them purposefully and then forget for a while. I had newborn twins and was stopping by a friend's to get something. I left them in the car in a rural driveway, no neighbors or pets, visible from the house and not visible from the street, with the doors open on a mild day and went to the door. I expected to be right back within minutes. The friend and I sat on the porch and chatted and I totally forgot I had babies in the car! We were on the porch because I didn't want to come in since I had the babies in the car and we still forgot them.They were in no danger but it scared me when I got back to the car. In my defense, I was extremely sleep deprived and my friend wasn't and she forgot about them too. 

 

Since then, I've never said I wouldn't forget and I've been careful about counting for kids and looking for people. My parents forgot me multiple times and they were good parents. I can remember 4 times from the ages of about 2-3 and 9 of being left at restaurants, schools, and church. They only had 2 kids too! The first one I couldn't have been more than a young 3 because of when we moved and I was left at a Mcdonalds. I remember watching them drive away and hanging out with some lady until they came back. These days, the cops would have been called. 

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I have never left a child anywhere but this happened to me.

 

It was a nice day and I had my oldest (about age 2) and my youngest (about 8 months) in one of those low car carts.  They were both buckled inside the cart. For some sleep deprived crazy reason I decided to unload the groceries first, and then the older one and put him in the car. And I had trouble with the straps and it took forever. When I turned around to get the younger one from the cart, the cart was not there. I started running around like a crazy person screaming "my baby!!"  thinking a cart person took the cart. I still don't know what happened. The cart was in a cart corral and a nice lady took him out because he was crying and I ran over. I still don't know if  a cart attendant did it or if the cart rolled without me hearing it into the cart corral. Needless to say I was completely a mess. Cried for about five minutes in the car before I could drive anywhere.  I still feel guilty about it.

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Yes.

 

At the zoo several years ago, I had a three year old and a 9 month old. We were going to get on the zoo train, so I parked the stroller, grabbed my purse, my diaper bag, my three year old's hand, and rushed to get in line. I was standing there in line for half a minute and felt like I was missing something and realized I had left my baby in the stroller, about 20 feet away. I felt horrible.

 

Another time (which I forgot about when voting above but just remembered), I loaded my kids into our minivan to go get my dad from the airport. Ten minutes down the road, one of my kids asked where my then-eight year old son was. Whoops. He sits in the third row of our minivan in a spot I can't see well. We turned around to get him and he was just waiting in the house, looking out the window to see if we'd come back to get him. Not worried or anything. That was a couple years ago and I still make sure I check to make sure I have everyone I am supposed to have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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No. I did however "lose" a two-year-old at WDW once though....

 

I started to completely panic. My husband just stared at me like I had two heads. I was holding him at the time!!!!

should I admit I've done that twice? Not at WDW but at similarly crowded places.once I was holding her on my hip and the second time the baby was in a backpack.

Adding: I've also lost my sunglasses when they were on top of my head and my keys when they were in my hand. Motherhood has stolen my brain.

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