I agree with PP. People need to learn to discuss issues in a mature manner without getting all snidey and nasty to eachother. We're all supposed to be grown ups.

i think it very much depends on the area and type of place you live in..if its a busy city i would never for a second leave mine alone in the car cos there are crazy baby snatchers/car thiefs ect..i however live in a coastal small city where everyone knows someone who knows someone and if its an area im familiar with and i can see the car while i go in i would do it..but if i had to go upstairs or inside where i had no view of the car i would definatley not..having one eye on the car means if something were to happen it could be stopped instantaniously..this subject varies so much there is no reason to disagree..if i lived in a tiny country town im sure it would be fine!!

I don't think anyone has attacked anyone else here though.

The OP was startled by something that she has never considered doing and so didn't realise that others were happy to do it.

She posted and said something like "is this the done thing?" but I think she genuinely wanted to know if it was something others did and why or didn't and why not but not so we could criticise everyone else for their choice.

I mean, one person posted to say she didn't do it but her DH has and I bet she doesn't think he's a terrible parent because of that one thing they do differently for their child. Sorry I forgot who said it so I hope you don't mind me commenting on your post without quoting it properly.

I think everyone has been quite good here in posting why they chose to do whatever they do without criticising anyone else.

For example the lady whose car caught fire, I'm sure she knows that's rare but that wouldn't make it any less terrifying for her to think what could have happened. But for someone who hasn't had that experience the idea of it happening to them seems remote enough that it doesn't worry them in the same way that an accident crossing the road might.

In that way, my car was hit by a driver when it was parked outside the house and the other driver didn't stop. If that had happened in the minutes or seconds I had chosen to leave Joseph sitting in it alone while I went somewhere else I would have felt so guilty and upset that he was alone so that's one reason I choose not to leave him even though I know the chances of it happening again are tiny. Last weekend we were hit by a car while we were driving him to the zoo and although that was also very distressing we were together and I was able to immediately get him out and check him and comfort him so I don't have the guilt that I would if he was alone.

But just because my experiences have made me worry about this and act in a way that I feel is best for us it doesn't mean I think anyone who does leave their baby for a minute while they take back a trolley or pay for their petrol is a bad person/parent and I haven't seen any posts that say that they are. In fact, when we look at the people posting all I can say is we've seen a lot of mums who genuinely care about their children and who are great parents discussing one tiny bit of parenting in quite a mature way. Makes me pleased to know you all.