Oh. My. Word.

Apparently a preschool teacher in South Africa packed 19 kids in her car and took them on a field trip! What the?!? Her punishment was $170.

That's insane. Thankfully there were no injuries, one could only imagine the disaster it would have been if there had been a fender  bender.

So now that school is back in there is a ton of traffic around the schools come morning, lunch and afterschool. And with that comes the problematic question - do I leave the kids in the car by themselves or don't I?

I have mixed feelings. Personally I have been known to do that at their present age of 11 (next month) and 9 but technically I shouldn't until they turn 12. When they were babies and strapped into car seats I never left them alone. They're just so helpless/defenseless at that point.

With the dayhome kids I never left them alone in the vehicle either. Period. They're not my kids. In the winter months when I needed to pick up the big kids from school I'd wait as close to the school as possible and they would just walk to the truck. And by close I mean they didn't have to cross any streets.

Now this year I've seen the same dayhome mom park across the street, leave all the dayhome kids in her vehicle while she stands outside at the bus stop socializing for 10 to 15 minutes with the other moms while waiting for her kids. It just doesn't seem right. I don't know why it bothers me so much, they're not my kids. I wonder if the families know - maybe they do and don't care.  At the same time I just want to yell at her "you're at the PARK, let the kids out to PLAY"

Edmonton Police Service has started a campaign this year Vehicles Are Not Babysitters. According to the video clip I watched seeing kids unattended in a vehicle should warrant a 911 call. The babysitter is in view of the vehicle technically just not necessarily of whats going on thru the tinted windows.

Maybe I shouldn't judge, but its every single day, not just once in a blue moon during a rain storm...