Parents Debate Leaving Kids in the Car During Errands To ‘Protect Them’ From COVID-19

The coronavirus has really changed many of the ways of daily life, especially for parents. But does that mean that we should be allowing more and more risky behavior as a way to minimize the risk of getting sick, as we try to navigate a way through? One person wondered if now, as a way to keep kids out of potentially contagious public spaces, it might just be OK to leave them in the car while they ran errands?

The mom wrote in to the Care and Feeding advice column looking for thoughts on if it's better to just leave them in the car now?

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Slate

As she wrote in her letter, the mom was wondering if it was acceptable to leave "a 7-year-old in a locked and properly ventilated car while quickly running into the store?"

"Has the societal wave shifted back to 1970s parenting on this topic?" she asked.

Some people thought it was perfectly fine.

"I leave my kids in the car (ages 10 and 5, never the younger one alone) while I run into a store if it's going to be ten minutes or less, if it's not terribly hot or cold," one commenter wrote. "Windows cracked for air. And I did this before the virus as well. My older child will sit in the driver's seat and knows to honk the horn incessantly if someone bothers them."

"I preferred to stay in the car as a kid, personally," someone else added. "If the weather is fine, who cares? What's going to happen? A pedo will smash through your windows in public and steal your child? Yes I'm sure that's very likely!" 

"How old are the kids in the car?" a third person asked. "I imagine if they're a toddler you really need to bring them. If they're a little older than it shouldn't matter. My mom left me in the car loads of time, but I was old enough to just chill in the car and read a book while my mom ran in the store. Also my siblings and I tended to 'act up' when in the store all together, so it was best to just leave us at home anyway lol."

However, at least one commenter pointed out that this is never safe.

"Please don't leave your child in the car. Even if it's locked and you think there's enough ventilation, even 5 minutes can be long enough for something terrible to happen," one commenter wrote. "And most people passing by can't just assume you've gone into the store for only 5 minutes and the next thing you know the police are showing up. I know it's not convenient and it seems a lot better than potentially exposing them to COVID but it's still not worth the risk."

The truth is that it can be deadly to leave your child alone in a warm car, even for a short period of time. As Kidsandcars.org reports, the problem is that a car can heat up to "125 degrees in minutes," and "80% of the increase in temperature happens in the first 10 minutes," the website states. And because children's bodies are so much smaller, they can overheat 3 to 5 times faster than adults.

And columnist Jamilah Lemieux agreed that it's a non-starter, no matter the circumstances.

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Slate

Although Lemieux admitted that she's personally been guilty of leaving her child in the car, she wouldn't do it for a task that can't "be completed in fewer than five minutes while my own 2013 model remains in my line of sight and close enough for me to get to her in seconds."

And P.S. " I still feel like the worst parent on the face of the Earth each time," she added.

Sure, it's not ideal to bring your kids into stores right now, but you can at least use things like masks, gloves, and observing social distancing rules to keep them safe. 

"If you leave them in the car and something goes wrong, the dangers are the same as they ever were. Let's just both agree not to do it anymore," she wrote.