Let me paint a picture for you. You pull up to the gas station, just you and your sleeping toddler. You get out with your credit card in hand to pay at the pump, but the machines are down. (I hate when this happens by the way!) Rule of thumb is to never wake a sleeping baby, who doesn't know that? But you now have to go inside the station to pay for your gas. Running inside will take less than 60 seconds. And you can see the car from the inside register. What do you do?
Now let me be the first to say that I'm the person who would run inside to pay my gas without waking my son. If I can see him from the counter then I'm good. I'm guilty of doing this maybe once or twice. I hardly ever have this problem though because we have a service station right by my home and if I can't pay at the pump I'll just go there. But am I bad mother for this?
After hearing this story on the radio I didn't feel that bad, aside from the fact that it's breaking a Maryland state law. Otherwise I feel like if I'm watching the car the whole time and I am only in for less than a minute it's ok. But the lady being talked about on the radio was in the store grabbing snacks and from my knowledge couldn't even see her child from inside.
I hate to play good parent/ bad parent. Because I feel like it's hard to judge things like this. Some people go way too far to the left. Like shopping and taking your time is to much. People have even left their child in the car while going inside of fast food places. I would never do that. I don't even see the point. That has to be one of the main reasons for the drive through.
But you know what's scary about the whole thing? You never know what could happen. People turn their backs on kids for 5 seconds and they are gone. Vanish into thin air. So why would I not think the same about me walking 50 feet away from my son into a store. Literally anything could happen. This story made me think twice and gave me a serious reality check. I will never do this again. Plus you know once you are informed about something that can have a negative outcome, if you don't adhere to the information it's liking to be you it happens to.