<p>Not a hot car this time, but an air-conditioned shopping mall store:
<a href=“Mother Accused of Leaving Son, 7, in Lego Store While Shopping – NBC New York”>Mother Accused of Leaving Son, 7, in Lego Store While Shopping – NBC New York;
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<p>Your verdict:
<p>Inappropriate, I think – the difference between this and the leaving-in-a-park scenario is that she transferred child care responsibilities and liability onto other people (store personnel) without their consent. I can’t articulate why, but that feels different from the leave-in-a-public-park. </p>
<p>I’m not sure I agree that she transferred liability to the store personnel. If the child had been abducted, would the store personnel (or the corporate parent) have been liable? </p>
<p>I’ve always felt that toy stores are places where pedophiles hangout. I can remember a few years back, a mom left her daughter a few aisles over & someone tried to snatch the little girl. The reason he was unsuccessful? Another shopper intervened. It shouldn’t be so easy to procreate. It’s tougher to obtain a drivers license.</p>
<p>How long is a reasonable amt of time for a parent not to have his/her eyes on a 7 yr old in a shopping mall?</p>
<p>At what age is it appropriate to leave a child in a store unaccompanied for an hour?</p>
<p>This is child abandonment. You can’t legally leave a seven year old alone at home – and definitely can’t just leave them in a shopping center. Handcuffing seems overkill, but this lady definitely needs some social service investigation into her parenting, and probably some ongoing guidance.</p>
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<p>For any period of time?</p>
<p>What if the 7 year old became hungry or needed to use the facilities? She wasn’t at all worried that the child would wander off and get lost? </p>
<p>I worked in a toy store a few years back as a fun pt job, and was constantly surprised by the number of parents who would sit in a food court area outside of the store and tell their kids to go and play in the store while they sat and talked to their friends. They could not see the child and were not supervising them at all. The store owner put up with it as he did not want to alienate customers, but it put store employees in the awkward position of having to monitor these kids, tell them not to break things or open packages, etc. One time, a child fell and was injured, and the mother actually sued the store!</p>
<p>Children under 12 should not be allowed unaccompanied in stores, imo.</p>
<p>I don’t know anymore. I don’t think parents know anymore. At what age can she leave him?</p>
<p>I do hope the mother was not handcuffed in front of her child.</p>
<p>Would she have been arrested if it was 5 minutes, 10?</p>
<p>Would she have been arrested if she was in the store but in another aisle out of site? For 5 minutes, 10 etc?</p>
<p>How far away do parents let their 7 yr old play outside at home? How long before you have to see them?</p>
<p>Is there some federal age limit to leave your child unsupervised? No? If not, who decides at what point you are endangering your child? How old can a babysitter be?</p>
<p>I just don’t know anymore. If we are going to keep arresting people for endangerment then we better set some legal limits. </p>
<p>3</p>
<p>“You can’t legally leave a seven year old alone at home”</p>
<p>Technically, that may be true in NY where the story took place. Not necessarily true everywhere. Some states laws are written to take the maturity of the individual kid into account.</p>
<p>More detail would be helpful. Was the kid quietly playing and causing no issues? How busy was the store?</p>
<p>Depending upon the day, I could see my answer being any of the 1st three! </p>
<p>I would never have done this. I don’t like the mall, in general and never liked being out of sight of my kids when they were under 12. However, I don’t know that I want a one-size-fits-all answer either. </p>
<p>Remember the story of John Walsh and his son Adam? Adam’s mother left him unsupervised in one section of a Sears while shopping elsewhere in the store. Store security made a group of young teens who were getting loud leave the store, and Adam was caught up in this group, exited the store, and then he vanished. His body was later found.</p>
<p><a href=“Murder of Adam Walsh - Wikipedia”>http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Adam_Walsh</a></p>
<p>In Pa. there is no age limit for leaving a child unattended or an age limit for babysitters. It is left up to the parents </p>
<p>If someone else doesn’t agree with what they see then the police and child welfare are called. Then it is up to them.</p>
<p>It is actually ridiculous when you think about it.</p>
<p>I don’t know the legal side of this, but I think if the child had gotten hurt, maybe climbing up to get a toy, the store would be liable. Also, if he accidentally broke a toy- who would reimburse the store if there is no parent around. </p>
<p>I would never do it. I wouldn’t let a young child out of my sight at a mall. Parents can set different rules for pre-teens on up- and they are usually in groups with a parent driver somewhere accessible. This child was alone, and even if all he did was play quietly- there was nobody there for him if any thing happened- got scared, had to go to the bathroom. </p>
<p>Parents in that store had to be wondering- because if I had seen the child playing alone, I would have looked to see if his parent(s) were around, and if no parent or other adult with him appeared after a while, I would notify security. </p>
<p>@rockvillemom </p>
<p>That’s was popped into my mind immediately. Most 7 year old children still believe in Santa Claus & the Tooth Fairy/have missing teeth. How mature can a child all of 7 years old truly be? </p>
<p>When did parents stop being parents? I think it was quite ballsy of her to just drop her child off for 80 minutes and expect others to keep an eye on him. Though she didn’t ask, her actions showed that she expected the store personnel to keep him safe. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t leave a 7 year old alone, but then should parents that let their 7 year old play outside, ride their bike in the cul de sac while mom makes dinner be arrested as well? The number of kids that are unattended in their neighborhoods has always astounded me. Arrest all of them…jails would be filled.</p>
<p>I was never one to leave my kids outside, unattended. I guess I saw too many reports of kids being abducted while playing outside in close proximity to their homes. One little girl was on the front lawn while mom was in the kitchen cooking. Another was outside, playing with a group of kids on their bikes, a stranger approached, grabbed a 7-8 year old off of his bike, dragged him into his truck & the little boy was found days later raped, & dismembered in a shallow grave. It wasn’t going to happen to my kids, not on my watch. Call me crazy.</p>
<p>^ Yup! I would be a wreck if anything happened to my kids now, much less when they were little. If it happened when I could have prevented it by being more vigilant, I would probably have to be institutionalized.</p>
<p>That does not mean i am in favor of the government trying to make rules about it. They tend to be idiots about most things. Rather see the mall have a policy where ‘abandoned’ kids are rounded up and held until the parents come and get them and then pay a fee (about double the going rate for baby sitting) to get them out. If the parents do not return THEN you get CPS involved.</p>
<p>That is my point Nhctmom. Parents get upset at this mom but many of them put their kids in harms way on a daily basis in front of their homes.</p>