Leaving kids in the car?

I did the unthinkable. 

Yes. 

I left my daughters in the van so that I could run into the store. 

I did it. 

I went to the grocery store. With me were my 14 yr daughter, 12 yr daughter, 9 yr daughter, and my 4 yr daughter. I ran in to get a prescription for my 15 yr son leaving my girls in the van. 

I had called ahead for the refill for the medication and expected it to be ready when I walked up to the counter, but, of course, because this is MY life, no, it wasn't there. I now must roam and mill about the store for 15 minutes waiting for the pharmacy personnel to pure 30 tablets into a bottle for me. 

Fine. Whatever...


My 9 yr old girl decided she couldn't wait out in the van so she runs into the store, stops in the bathroom, then finds me so she can be doing whatever exciting things she imagine her mom could be doing in the same boring grocery store she's been in so many times before.


Everything is fine, we see all the fruits, cans, frozen containers, pens, perfumes, chips, drinks, shampoos, lotions, and cosmetics, we walked the whole store and did so in 15 minutes. I wasn't shopping just walking passed all the items displayed...it was just so exciting. 


I get to the counter, pick up the meds and pay zero dollars for our co-pay--because we have totally used up our family deductible at this point in the year--and walk out to the van so the girls and I can get on with doing other things we enjoy much more that waiting.


When I sit in my seat and start the van my 14 yr daughter tells me that during the time her sister and I were in the store a police officer pulled up behind our van, came to the window, and started asking her identifying questions because someone in the parking lot of this grocery store called the authorities worried about the "kids left in the car unattended". He asked her why she seems nervous (Duh?) and then told her wasn't going to worry about it because the air conditioner was going and she seems old enough.


Really?


Now, I understand we can't be leaving our babies in the car when we walk off, but I always thought that was because wee ones are generally secured into car seats and can't, you know, OPEN  WINDOWS or A DOOR should the car prove to be an aspiring oven without a turkey to bake.  

I also thought the reason for not leaving small children in the car was because they're LITTLE and aren't capable of tending to themselves all that awesomely or make dependable--or predictable--decisions. 

I didn't really think this also applied to big kids who can read, lift 40 pounds, ride a city bus alone, baby sit, open doors, and do algebra.


So here's my question. Are teens just not big enough to sit in the car alone? If a young person is old enough by law to be given the responsibility of watching, tending, and protecting younger children in a house--or any other building, at a park, or any other place for HOURS at a time, could it be possible that the same young person is incapable of sitting with siblings in a van for the enormous amount of time that 15 minutes has proven to be?


Maybe it was an appearance thing. Perhaps the person in the parking lot thought my daughter in the front seat looked like she was five or something. But...


My 14 yr daughter is the size of an adult--she's as tall as my older sister and TALLER than the mother of her best friend. My 12 yr old daughter is even taller than my 14 yr old.

I don't get it.

What's the youngest age you would leave your child in your car while you run into the store?  

What do you consider the criteria for being old enough? (maturity, physical ability to open the door if the child gets hot, a driver's license, etc...?)





 

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