Should I have stayed out of this?

On my way home from work today I stopped off to get some milk, while walking to the shop I noticed a woman get out of a car. As I walked passed said car I heard crying and noticed that two young kids has been left behind, one was about 5 or 6 and the other was only a little baby. The baby was making some noise and the window of the car had been left open. I had seen the woman walk into a KFC out of line of sight of her car.

As I had rode into the car park I had noticed a police car parked around the corner and I decided to tell them what I had just seen, ie, 2 unattended minors left in a car with windows open etc where their mum couldn't see them. Police attended and I carried on with my business. On my way back out of the shop woman is stood their shouting at the police telling them amongst other things that it is none of their business etc etc.

My question is: Was I right to get the police involved or have I been way too touchy and should have kept out of it?

Edit: Sorry for the title error, seems I am unable to correct it

Young children, unlocked car with windows open. Id say yes you did the correct thing.

[gruntygiggles]

That's a difficult one. Imagine the daily routine of the mother of a 5-6 year old and a baby, running around like a blue rrrsed fly, trying to get everything done, needing a snack on the run and you'll realise it could have been just an innocent "slip" in concentration by a very good mum.

I think in the same circumstances, I would have just kept an eye on the car from close by and done something if needed, but if the mother left them for a significant amount of time, i.e. genuinely neglectful, then yes, I probably would have asked the police to step in. I wouldn't want to get in the middle of it myself.

Id reckon that was most deffo the right thing to do, she might have been a bit irate with the officers but i wonder how shed've felt if some kiddie snatcher was about and when she returned to the car there were no kids there.
If id've seen it id prob enter stupid quandry mode thinking 'should i tell the bobbies round the corner' - 'should i tell the mother in kfc' - 'should i just sit here 5 mins and make sure there alright' and by the time i decided what to do the mother would be back and down the road.

Madeleine McCann's parents probably wish they had kept a better watch.

You have nothing to beat yourself up about.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Ed

Madeleine McCann's parents probably wish they had kept a better watch.

You have nothing to beat yourself up about.

Going to dinner leaving kids unsupervised in an apartment in a foreign country is a bit different to running into KFC, but I do get your point.

Ravingdavies...I think it's one of those things whereby your actions took away all risk of anything going wrong and that is never a bad thing.

My kids are 5, 8 and 11 and i've only just started leaving them in the car unnattended if the eldest is present as she's got a very sensible head on her. If it was the two youngest i'd still be reluctant to leave them as if they were approached or something happened they wouldnt know what to do.

Better to be safe than sorry imho!

[Bluepete]

You did the right thing, but the Bobbies were probably cursing you!

There they were, havin a quiet KFC and someone sends them into an argument. After all, who likes their parenting skills criticised?

Don't fret, your conscience is clear!

Pete

Cheers guys.

It's just one of those things where in an ideal world you should be able to leave your kids in the car without fear but personally I don't think that in our world you can. I cannot call anyone's parenting skills into question because I have no idea what it is like being a parent but the thing that would pray on my mind is what would happen if the next person that heard the kids in the car had less than honourable intentions.

I`d have probably done the same as you... how often do we hear of cars being stolen with young children in the back? it only takes a split second to steal the car. I do agree that sometimes the stresses and strains of everyday life with young children can grind you down but at the end of the day we have a duty of care to our children 24 hours a day and their safety should be paramount.