Is it illegal to leave child in car for a minute in a very safe neighbourhood?
February 4th, 2010 | 
Author: We have two children — 3 years old and 18 months. We have not had to do this so far, but we are considering hiring a nanny. She would be responsible for dropping off my 3 year old to the day care. The nanny also has a 18 month old child. We’re planning to have her take all three children with her in a van to drop off my 3-year old to day care. However, I thought it would be ok if she left the two 18-month old children in the car while she dropped the 3-year old in the day care. This is a very safe area and both the 18-month old children would be buckled up in their car seats. The nanny shouldn’t be gone for more than a minute. I know there is always a small possibility that something could go wrong, but it appears to me that this situation is fairly safe. The day care has their own parking lot — so there aren’t a lot of people walking around there and this is a very safe neighbourhood.
Yes – absolutely.
I am shaking my head at this one. If I happened to see your nanny leave the van with the 2 children inside, I’d block her in, call the cops, and sit there until they came. That is absolutely wrong.
Posted in child | 
Tags: 3 Years, Car Seats, Cops, Day Care, Hiring A Nanny, Illegal Child, Neighbourhood, Parking Lot
34 Responses to “Is it illegal to leave child in car for a minute in a very safe neighbourhood?”
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Yes – absolutely.
I am shaking my head at this one. If I happened to see your nanny leave the van with the 2 children inside, I’d block her in, call the cops, and sit there until they came. That is absolutely wrong.
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Yes it is, even for 15 seconds.
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apparently not for white women
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They are too young to leave anywhere. You could go to prison.
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i don’t know if it is legal or not. i just wouldn’t do it. specially if the nanny is in charge.
1 mnute turns into ten and that is when the problems begin.
many things can go wrong.
I never risk my kids, even if it is for 10 seconds.
They are my life. i would never forgive myself if something went wrong.
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NO!! It is never acceptable or legal to leave a child unattended in a car. Safe Schmafe, there are creepy people everywhere and let me tell you they just don’t care.
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Unbelievable how many parents are willing to risk the children in the name of laziness!!!
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yes, its illegal.
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have the three year old walk to the open door where the instructor is standing…park as near the door as you can.have an arrangement for the instructor to stand in the open door and come out and get the three year old or have teh three year old walk to teh door….
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seems to risky to me but i see people all the time leave there infants in the car and run into a convenient store. very risky but it is your decision.
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Most day cares have a pickup/dropoff line for this reason. I guess yours does not?
Twice at my CHURCH’S preschool someone stole purses while the moms had run in for a minute. So I think it is wrong to assume safety-the reality is the bad guys know how these places work, and know it’s a great opportunity to get what they want.
I don’t know about the legality but I think it’s a bad idea. See if someone will take the 3 year old out of the car for you.
Good luck hiring a nanny-that has got to be tough!
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I hate the idea of leaving ANY child in a vehicle alone for ANY amount of time. IF she chooses to leave them in the car, she should have someone sit with them. Maybe she could work out a system with one of the other mothers. She’ll run your 3 year old and the other mothers children up to the building while the other mother stays with the kids in the car and vice versa. That’s my suggestion. NEVER leave children alone in a car for even a second. Who knows what could happen.
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It doesn’t matter how "safe" you feel it is.
Children should never be left unattended.
Bad things happen in safe neighborhoods too.
(Plus, if I saw that, I would be on the phone with the cops as fast as my little fingers could dial!)
Also, do not tell your nanny to do this as you do not want to put her in a position where she could get into a lot of trouble.
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I’m not sure it’s illegal, I do it occasionally and have since my daughter was a baby. (She’s 4 now).
I did have a college security guard say something to me about it once. He didn’t specifically say it was illegal, but he certainly wasn’t happy about it either. I bickered back and forth with him for a while and left.
In that situation, I should also mention that the car was parked BESIDE the security guard (could there be a safer spot?) and also the car never left my sight. I could see it at all times.
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NO SUCH THING AS A SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!
Get someone you trust to watch the babies while you go in.
Another parent with more than one child. You watch theirs and they can watch yours.
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Are you kidding?
You want to leave the nanny in charge of 3 toddlers, and have no problems with her leaving 2 of them alone in a car for a minute? What is the world coming too……and then we cry and feel sorry for people like you when your kids get kidnapped or killed.
Why can’t you or your spouse take the 3 yr old to day care whilst the nanny stays and cares for the other babies?
It may be less convenient for you, but a missing child will cause you to regret not doing it.
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It is Illegal to leave your child unattended in a car by themselves. What is wrong with you?
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not sure of the legality but it sure is stupid
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Ok I know how hard it is to haul babies in and out of some place but you have to do it. No matter how safe it is you need to take them all inside. I have four children and I have to take them in and out of the van everyday twice to pick up my 5 year old from school. It is hard but can be done.
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Mom of 4
ages 5, 3, 17 months and 3 months
No, absolutely not.
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If the neighborhood and daycare are so safe, why can’t the nanny watch the 3 year old walk into the school rather than leaving the two smaller children by themselves? The only time I’ve left my son in the car was when I left my phone inside my mom’s house and he was already strapped in the carseat in the driveway – and I still didn’t even go back inside the house, just made my mom throw me my phone!
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From me and all women struggling to conceive, we hate you.
1. Raise your own damn kids
2. You’re lucky enough to HAVE kids, at least treat them right. You shouldn’t ever leave your child in the car. EVER, under any circumstances. If three kids are too much for the nanny, then one of you two should drop the 3 year old off instead. And expecting her to leave her kid in the car while she tends to yours? Phhhhhhhhhhh! AS IF!
3. "I know there is always a small possibility that something could go wrong," Are you willing to risks the kids’ lives on that? This situation is potentially harmful (as you said you realise) and the whole thing can be avoided with proper behaviour. Minimise the risk, and therefor the harm.
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If you do, you should be beaten with a tube sock full of wood screws.
Take the time, and take the kids out of the car seat and take them with you. Better safe than sorry. A crazy psycho rapist, murderer or kidnapper can wander into any "safe" neighborhood.
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Im certain the last place a person out to kidnap a child would look would be a daycare center.
Look lady, its your kid. But i would NEVER ever leave one alone in a car for a few seconds. Do you know how long it takes to bust out a window, get in and drive off? a few seconds.
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I am not sure if it is illegal, but it should not be done ever!! It doesn’t matter what the neighborhood is like, scumbags are everywhere, and some even seek out places where people will leave valuables in their car unlocked. (Daycares!!!) This is not safe and even though it may be inconvenient for you or your nanny is it really worth the risk of losing one of your children? My guess is NO! Try a different plan!
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I would say it is illegal.
It only takes a second for a child to wind up missing or worse. You never know who is in the car over from you or hiding in the parking lot. Its a horrible idea. Hire a nanny that has older kids, or have her take all the kids out of the car to bring the 3 year old in.
It doesnt matter where you are, things happen everywhere, and everynight there is a missing child or something tragic in the news.
Its not worth the risk.
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You’re willing to risk your baby for "fairly safe?" First, invest in a television and watch the news for a week. There are plenty of grieving parents who thought that it was fine to leave their kids for "just a second" while they popped in somewhere. Kids are worth the "inconvenience" of getting them in and out of the car.
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It is illegal to leave any child in a unattended car no matter how long the time period.
Human beings are very unpredictable for two reasons. At first, a parent will be very cautious about leaving the child in the car, while running in for a minute to do an errand. Then complacency takes over and the parent will take even longer to get back to the car, not thinking about the unnecessary risks they are taking by leaving the child. It takes less than one minute to take a child out of a car, and two minutes to break the window and get in. Never in any circumstance, create any situation where predators out there can cease an opportunity to commit a crime. Bottom line here is, how much is the child worth to you? And to be protected by the you? I hope this helps.
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I am in Law Enforcement.
If you have a nanny why is the three year old going to daycare?
It is illegal to leave a child in the car even for one minute. It is child endangerment. A woman just got charged with this in MA two days ago for leaving her 18 month old sleeping in the car while she ran in some place.
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I don’t know if it’s illegal but it’s definitely not worth the risk.
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It’s very dangerous more than anything. There’s no such thing as a safe neighborhood. There are many people whom thought their neighborhoods were safe and their children ended up dead or missing.
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NO AREA IS SAFE so get that thought right out of your head now.
It only takes a minute to lose your child.
Don’t take any chances, EVER.
Children are the responsibility of adults to take care of. They cannot take care of themselves. It is our God-given duty to see that they are safe at all times. It is a child’s legal right.
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No. Even if it’s just for a minute there’s a chance that some man or woman could come up and kidnap your children or steal the car with your kids inside it. It’s just not worth the risk. If your not going to take your kids in the store then don’t bother going out. It’s just not safe in this day and age to leave your children outside alone anywhere.
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This is definetly not a good idea! I work as a nanny afterschool for two school age children, and have two kids of my own. (ages 2 years, and 9 months old) I would NEVER leave them in the car. Sure it can be kind of a pain getting them both out of the car, into the double stroller, and walking into the school, but it just isn’t worth the risk, SO many things could happen.
Also, as a nanny myself I don’t think this is too much to ask of her, she can hold your child’s hand and push a stroller. After all this is part of her job which you will be paying her for.
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nanny and mom of two