Maybe more grocery stores and shopping malls should offer free childcare to customers

[apples and oranges]

Perhaps 1hr max per customer? That might stop some parents from leaving their kids in cars while they shop. This won't help the parents who simply forget or are absent minded, but it might decrease the number of parents who do it on purpose.

[NCTraveler]

1. Didn't the guy working for Home Depot...

Have a childcare facility on-site? Parent's aren't going to take the time to "check" their kid in if they are willing to leave them anyway.

[dilby]

2. Why? I have two kids and have no issues with shopping without childcare.

If you can't manage a grocery run with children you probably should not be a parent. Here where I live Fred Meyers offers childcare while you shop and I would never use it, I doubt they run background checks and the people working it are probably making minimum wage.

[apples and oranges]

3. Judgment from other parents doesn't help either

What about the parents who have a harder time controlling their kids?

[dilby]

5. That is still a parenting problem.

If you can't control your kids you probably should not have them. People should probably start out with a dog before deciding if they want to be a parent, if the dog is out of control and lacks discipline their children will be worse.

[laundry_queen]

11. Not all kids are the same

and you cannot possibly predict what your child's temperament will be in advance. And kids with certain disabilities can have more issues with behavior that even the best parent in the world may have problems controlling (and it's not like you can decide if your child has a disability or not). But, by all means, let's judge parents and go back to the days where children should be seen and not heard. The republicans are trying to drag the country back to the 1800's anyway, why not help them along a little.

[dilby]

12. If your children have special needs the last place you should be leaving them is

at grocery story daycare. And if a parent can't possibly manage their child's temperament while grocery shopping what makes you believe that a free day care service in a grocery or shopping center will be any better at it? If a parent is unable to manage their child it would make them an even worse parent to go drop their problem off at the feet of someone else and say deal with it.

[laundry_queen]

13. That wasn't what I was addressing in my post, now was it?

I was addressing your comment about parents being unable to 'control' their children and your judgmental attitude towards them. That is all.

[dilby]

15. So your post had absolutely nothing to do with my post then.

Because I was specifically saying parents who are unable to control their children while shopping. Or to be precise the idea that Parents need daycare in a grocery store so they wont leave them locked in hot cars.

[laundry_queen]

16. LOL. You may want to re read the post I replied to

Says nothing about shopping in it, or even about controlling kids while shopping. It says that some people shouldn't have kids if they can't control them. Period, no 'shopping' caveat there. Maybe you should edit.

[hamsterjill]

17. No, people should start out with a plant.

Then graduate to a goldfish perhaps, and then maybe, maybe, maybe a dog.

I do animal rescue and we've actually told potential adoptors before that they might perhaps do this. We suggest this when their application and interview process reveal that they don't know anything about taking care of a living, breathing being.

I'd rather not use cats and dogs for parental training classes.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. I've never seen child care at Freddy's but that's a Union employer so their wages are probably

a bit better than you'd think, they have a 75% retention rate. Just saying.

[dilby]

8. It's called Playland and they are usually located by the Rest Rooms.

I am pretty sure all of them have them, well I don't remember seeing one at the Hawthorne location but as large as that one is I think it should.

[LanternWaste]

9. I used to pretend I have absolute knowledge of who should or should not be a parent too.

"If you can't manage a grocery run with children you probably should not be a parent..."

I used to pretend I have absolute knowledge of who should or should not be a parent too.

[uppityperson]

18. Did you read the joke books also? The ones that told parents how to

manage their children at all times so everything would be coming up roses? Those came after the joke books about what a pregnancy and delivery would be like.

[Swede Atlanta]

4. I appreciate the sentiment but......

as another poster has noted...I wonder if parents who would simply forget they had the child in the car would remember to remove them and drop them off @ childcare.

I do believe we as a society need to be more supportive of families that includes more than just a bumper sticker. We need to ensure the fetus and mother receive appropriate pre-natal care. We need to ensure the infant (and the rest of the family) have a safe home, access to healthcare, sufficient funds to provide nutritious meals for their families, good, safe schools that turn out young people prepared for the challenges of today. A society that considers the need for paid maternity (shared with paternity) leave. A society that considers no parent should have to work 3 jobs to provide for their families. The list goes on and on.

That said, I believe where child care is provided it should be considered as a value add and paid for by the parents. Having a child or children is an awesome responsibility in ways too numerous to list. As someone who has chosen not to have children but do have dogs I don't expect a business to provide free dog care. If they were to provide that type of care I would expect to pay for it. The same should apply for parents of human children. It would be great to have child care available at more places such as large malls which have the volume to make such a service feasible but the cost needs to be born by the parents and not the public or the rest of the customers.

[PoliticAverse]

6. "Day care centers going where the shoppers are"

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/print-edition/2014/02/28/day-care-going-where-shoppers-are.html?page=all

[Retrograde]

10. IKEA has a childcare center in the local store

Don't know if it's free or not, but it's there to get parents to spend more time and money in the store.

Of course, parents can and sometimes do forget the kid in childcare!

[PasadenaTrudy]

14. Plus,

it would keep screaming brats out the aisles. I'm all for it!

[hamsterjill]

19. I agree.

I doubt ours will be a popular viewpoint on DU, but as crowded as the larger grocery stores are in my city, it would be a big benefit to the populace at large if (when possible) either mom OR dad, and not mom, dad AND "x" number of children, did the grocery shopping.

I have nothing against children in general, but many children get cranky, tired and unruly at the grocery store.

[PasadenaTrudy]

20. Personally, I can't stand children

I try to shop late at night or early. I'm good at avoiding families