Your right, and my choice would be to not leave my baby in the car. I don't think doing what I feel is best for my children means I'm not a "practical" mom.

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Let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I know this. Was trying to inject humor to hopefully defuse the thread. Bowing out now.

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"When we are no longer able to change a situation — we are challenged to change ourselves."
— Victor E. Frankl

This has turned into a heated debate!! I just hope the baby in the stolen SUV is all right.

After reading the posts I have a question, at what age would you leave your kid in the car while you ran in & paid?

My youngest is 1 and oldest is 7. I've been doing their entire lives.

I leave my kids in the car daily. I do a big paper route where I deliver to stores. Since dh was put on mandatory overtime I have no choice but to drag 3 kids out with me at 1am. They are 5, 2 1/2, and 1. I am not able to carry 50 newspapers and 3 kids into a store so they stay in. I just take out the keys and lock it.

Personally I couldn't deal with the "what if " factor. Could you live with yourself if you ran in to pay and the baby was found later hurt or worse?
I pay at the pump period, and when this wasn't an option I took them in the store. That is my own personal decision. It's doesn't make me a better mother than those who run inside in my opinion. As a mom I hope we all do the best we can with what we are given at the time, and we have to live with the consequences if those decisions turn out later to be wrong.