Monday 14 February 2011

The "do you leave them in the car at petrol stations" debate...

This seems to crop up time and time again. Here is my take on it... I have the choice of 2 scenarios:

Scenario 1 - I take the girls into the petrol station with me.

No, no. NO! Put it back, PUT. IT. BACK. Phoebe come here. Clara get out of that woman's way! Keep your fingers to yourself... NO! Do you want me to count to three? Ok... One..... Two..... Thre thank you now stay here. STAY HERE. Clara get up off the floor. No you can't have crisps. Phoebe come back here! No you can't have sweeties. I can't afford it. Don't touch that. Put it back. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.  PHOEBE stop strangling your sister. Clara you aren't dead get up please. No there is no Prince Charming to kiss you. What are you talking about apple? Clara you don't LIKE apples whether they are poisonous or not. I don't know why that lady has hair... why do you have hair? Clara it isn't nice to point. Maybe she likes it like that. Phoebe, put it back. Stop wailing. Stop it... Phoebe, STOP. IT. Stop now or there will be no pudding. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.  I SAID NO. GET. IN. THE. CAR.

Scenario 2 - I leave them in the car.

Enter Petrol Station
Pay
Leave.

It is a no brainer surely?! In my5 yrs of parenthood and 30something years of life I have heard of very few petrol stations blowing up. Also in my 5 yrs of parenting not one person has tried to take my children out of the car. Perhaps I should leave the doors open to encourage them...

Anyway, lugging either a carseat, a child, a child and a carseat or two children across a forcourt knowing you are entering Tantrum Paradise is not appealing. So I leave them. Call me a bad parent, call me what you like... I like an easy life!

4 comments:

Bryony said...

I leave them in the car too. Always have!

I had to chuckle at the apple bit though.... x

Cally KR said...

Vix you are so good at writing about the children - you should put it together for a book - "surviving under 5's and other stories"! X Cally

Muddling Along said...

Not a debtate in my view - I'm not dragging them out of the car, dodging other cars and fighting around the kiosk with them in case there is a teeny tiny chance that the petrol station might blow up

I mean really???

I refuse to live my life controlled by silly fears about remote possibilities

l'optimiste said...

good grief - if the petrol station blew up, it wouldn't matter if they were in the car or not! you ever see a petrol station explosion? not a pretty sight.

leave them in the car - all that 'no-ing' - eek! plus they could get squashed by a random motorist... ;)