I wouldn't go any distance while leaving him in the car, but I do sometimes leave him in the car outside the local shop as long as I can get the space right in front of the door and as long as there is no queue. I also don't take him out of the car at petrol stations as I don't like him breathing in the fumes.

Each to there own

I'm the same. It's too much hassle to take the kids out the car, wrestle them into the shop, drag Kaya away from the sweeties etc when I can lock them in the car for 1 min while I nip in for a pint of milk.

I do gardening while LO is napping...that is practically the same...

How often do you recieve calls from parents who have stepped across the road with their LO and have been hit by a car, or have had nasty car accidents? statistically, other things are far more likely to happen. Car jackings are massivley unlikely to happen in my area.

my friend left her baby in the car around the corner from a cash machine while she went to get money out, or pop in the bank something like that...anyway her partner who was intown at the time walked past their car and saw their little girl in it, he took the car and drove off to teach her a lesson!! Lesson learnt!

OMG!!! Why would an OH do that???? It is one thing for him to disagree, but that takes it too far IMO.

Its not really - your baby being safely asleep in its cot, in a safe environment, cant be compared to being unlocked/locked inside a potentially moving object that can also be struck by other vehicles

I used to do this., but not anymore.
Here is the reason. One Saturday my mum took my oldest boy out to the supermarket. She drove a band new Astra Sport with very few miles on the clock. They arrived home and she unpacked the shopping and went inside. Within 2 minutes she heard a loud bang... looked out of the window at her brand new car.... and it was on fire. Investigations showed an electrical fault. had she pulled up and run in the house leaving James in the car he wouldn't be here today
To scary that could happen to a brand new car... I drive a 10 year old one and IMO that makes it more likely to happen
Be careful xx

Those risks are there if you are in the car driving it, its just as likely I could have fell over on the ice or in the snow when it was really bad I cant think offhand of any harm a child can do to themselves while strapped in a carseat asleep? Like I said each to their own, I dont even do it anymore they are both in nursery now!

I wouldn't leave Joseph alone in the car if I could avoid it in any way possible.

I'm the sort of person that tells dog owners off if I see a dog alone in a car, I've had it announced in shops, left notes on windscreens and even fetched a policewoman to one dog. If I thought a baby had been left and I couldn't see the parents anywhere I'd probably be calling the police or smashing the windows.

Our vet gave us a very stern talking to when we took our dog in for her first check up as a puppy and I've never gotten over the scare. Dogs can die or become very ill within just a minute or two and die in less than six minutes on a hot day and even on a cooler day in twenty minutes and even with windows open or in the shade.

So a baby would be vulnerable to all of that too and I'd not be able to do it unless something unforeseeable happened but so far nothing has and I can't think what might. Plus there are so many other things that could happen, illness, injury, choking, just being scared on their own, I don't know, perhaps I am more over protective than I realised. I admit that because of my losses I am perhaps more worried than I might have been about even simple, little things and I know that's not good for either of us but I try to get the balance between healthy risks and dangerous ones because I know Joseph won't benefit from me being too nervous.

I appreciate that some people find this hard, the lady having twins and other small children, that must be impossible to work around in any other way so you really don't have a choice but to leave them in the car and I admit it might be easier and safer to do that than struggle back and forth though a car park with lots of little ones. It's much easier for me with just Joseph to take with me.

I try to avoid situations where he might be alone, I fill up with petrol when I have someone else in the car with us or nip out while my mum has him at her house. At the supermarket I do the same thing as Blah because the parent and child spaces are too far from the trolley bays and the best trolleys with baby seats or room to attach a car seat are inside the store, no way I would leave him and go back inside. When we go out and are alone I sit Joseph in his high chair while I put the things in the car or I make sure I load the car while someone else is there to watch him.

The thing is I know nobody is perfect and no doubt I do some things as a mum that other people would be shocked at but to me this is a risk I can't take. Others might see this as a small risk but see having a dog in the house with a baby as a big one for example.

As someone said, each to their own, but to answer the OP I wouldn't leave Joseph unless I had absolutely no choice, I would have been shocked at seeing the baby left alone and worried enough to wait until the mum came back, even if just for my own peace of mind.