From the article: "...two children – aged 2 and 5..."
If your mom left you alone in a car for 10 minutes, 20 minutes when you were 2-years old she'd be an idiot, chief.
You ever hear of child abductions?
Good God, the moronic posts that appear on Free Republic...
You got any kids, gaijin?
Well, consider there were different times and places. When I was that age in a small town of 6,000 souls, I doubt that anyone ever locked the car doors. Since virtually no one had air conditioning, the windows were always down in nice weather and kids sitting inside would have been as safe as kids playing in the park across the street, which I also remember doing while my mom was shopping. Maybe this just doesn’t fit into your view of the world, but it truly was a different place, and as I found out to my chagrin, every mom in town was de facto “your mom”. I can’t count the number of times I’d get busted by someone calling my mom to report one of my misdeeds, as most everyone knew everyone, or at least knew who their kids were and where they lived, since many people had lived there all their lives and there was little in or out-migration. And relatively few women with kids worked outside the home, so they had plenty of time to be nosy or observant, whichever you like ;-)
He said when he was young, and during late 40s and 50s it was true.
My mother would leave us in the car with the windows open and we were 100% safe.
If any adult would have tried anything, he'd have been beat to death {by my 5' tall Italian mother}. Times change.
That was a time when we played outside until dinner time, then back out again to play until dark, we walked to school by ourselves with other neighborhood kids, we walked to the grocery store three blocks away and home again with what mom needed to finish dinner, when ten year olds babysat other kids in the family while dad went bowling with mom to cheer him on.
Obviously, that was a time you never experienced and that's too bad. I'm sorry you missed it.
No parent wondered if their kids should see a movie, they were all rated G, there was one television station in town and if you didn't like Howdy Doody, you went back outside to play!
The infractions that got you in trouble in school were: talking and gum chewing! Sassing your teacher got you a swift trip to the principal's office, not for time out nor suspension but a good spanking where all the other kids got to hear you cry out loud!!!
Imagine!
Of course, no mother would ever have locked her kids in the trunk of her car to go shopping either.
We've come a long way baby but not in the right direction!