Kids in Cars

[PPBart]

I read a report today about a 1-yr old girl in Atlanta who died after being left alone in a hot car for several hours. It seemed like I've heard about a lot of such cases recently, and a bit of research found a comment online that "so far this year there have been at least 21 deaths of children unattended in vehicles, according to a study from the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University."

I can only imagine the suffering those little kids go thru before losing consciousness! And it may seem heartless, but I just don't understand how anyone can honestly forget their child is strapped into a carseat, totally dependent on the adults who are supposed to care about and for them -- those parents should suffer, too!!!

 

[edman87k5]

When my son was smaller, I always had a fear of doing this. I was actually relieved when he was old enough to unbuckle and unlock the door in his own.

 

[3fifty7]

A heart wrenching story. Seems I heard its predominately fathers who routinely do not drive with their children but only on occasion.
Believe me any parent who looses a child this way is suffering Far Beyond anything anyone here could come up with.

 

[olivs260]

Happens every summer. It's tragic, but in almost every case I've heard of the parent genuinely forgot. The parents suffer for the rest of their lives.

I have, and I will, called 911 whenever I've seen a kid stuck in the car seat with the parents nowhere around. Don't assume they just ran inside real quick.

 

[SVTFreak]

I'm one of those that do not have my baby with me that often, and I really don't know how I could forget when I do. When she's with me, everything I do is centered around her.

 

[olivs260]

I'm one of those that do not have my baby with me that often, and I really don't know how I could forget when I do. When she's with me, everything I do is centered around her.

Any given day, I either might or might not have my kid with me when I leave the house. Part of my routine when I park, before I kill the engine, is to look at the car seat. I've never forgotten whether she was with me or not, but it's not worth the risk not to take the 1/2 second to check.

 

[JNieman]

I'm one of those that do not have my baby with me that often, and I really don't know how I could forget when I do. When she's with me, everything I do is centered around her.

I used to think that way a lot. When I started having my son part-time, but regularly during weekdays, I'd drop him off at day care before going to work. This wasn't an every-day routine, though, and only happened some of the time. One day on my way to the office, I must have switched into auto-pilot, and he must have been very quiet that morning. I got all the way to the office, parked, turned around, saw my son there in the car seat and felt so stupid. Called the boss on my way to the boy's day care and told him I was going to be late.

Boss said he lost count of the number of times he's had to turn around and go drop his kids off at family/school after driving most of the way to work. At that time, he said he started putting a stuffed teddy bear on the dashboard when his kid(s) were with him. He read that in some magazine and said it always keeps him from forgetting.

I'd read stories of dads forgetting they had their child in the back seat because they normally don't, and the brain goes into "morning commute autopilot" unfortunately the children suffer and sometimes die.

My boy sits in the front seat now, so there's no issues at all, plus he never shuts up very long anyways so he'll never let me forget he's there, lol.

 

[zbaw]

Same thing happened to me when my first son was born. I got halfway to work before I realized that I had gone into autopilot and had to turn around and go back to the daycare. It was one of those times that my wife didn't take him and I needed to. He was quiet and I was just going about my daily routine. I don't think that I would have gotten out of the car and not realized that he was in there though. I obviously realized it well before getting to that point. Since then, I have two more that I take to daycare every day. All 3 kids are still around and doing great! Even if they do drive me crazy sometimes

 

[SeventhSon]

As was said above, a lot of the stories are fathers who dont usually have the child in the car and genuinely forget to check. I've been hearing a lot lately about ways to help people not forget their kid is in the car. One idea that I liked was putting a teddy bear in the car seat any time that the child is not in the seat. That way you have to remove the stuffed animal to put your kid in. Then you just put the stuffed animal in the front seat and in theory, that should help you remember when you get out of the car and see it sitting there.

For me, I really dont have that problem. Both my boys are pretty active and loud. That and I usually put on kids music when they are in the car. Thats changing now though as my 7 year olds favorite band is Iron Maiden.

 

[SpeedRacer]

It's more of a testament to our the level of brainless/drone/routine in our lives. I can't even count how many times I would be at work before *really* realizing I was there, the morning would be kind of a blur.

I have my kids in the car daily, so they are part of my routine. But I can actually almost understand how it happens. Even so, like Olivs I've always double checked the back seat due to an irrational fear of this happening.

 

[olivs260]

Thats changing now though as my 7 year olds favorite band is Iron Maiden.

I'll admit to playing the Disney Princesses station on Pandora when my daughter wasn't even with me once or twice when she was younger... but lately she's been digging classic rock.

It's more of a testament to our the level of brainless/drone/routine in our lives. I can't even count how many times I would be at work before *really* realizing I was there, the morning would be kind of a blur.

I have my kids in the car daily, so they are part of my routine. But I can actually almost understand how it happens. Even so, like Olivs I've always double checked the back seat due to an irrational fear of this happening.

Yeah dude. Every time. I don't think it's an irrational fear, either. It happens to people every damned summer.

 

[JNieman]

I've always double checked the back seat due to an irrational fear of this happening.

FTFY, imo.

 

[SpeedRacer]

I mean irrational for me personally, I bring the kids (5 year old and 10 month old) to school every morning, always have. It would take a ridiculously unlikely string of events for it to happen for me. Still check.

 

[Pas Tout La]

When my son was smaller, I always had a fear of doing this. I was actually relieved when he was old enough to unbuckle and unlock the door in his own.

I know how you feel. My son is 18 months old and me and the wife rotate between who drops him off in the morning, so it always scares me that one of us may go into autopilot and forget to drop him off. I even call my wife in the mornings to see if she was at work and ask how the little man is doing. She quickly saw through that and assured me that she will not forget. When it happend to a child in Lafayette last year, I actually cried hearing about that. I just couldn't imagine something that horrible happening to any child.

 

[SVTFreak]

I guess it's easier for me since I don't bring her to day care on my way to anywhere else. I work at 5 am so leave long before she wakes even. If I bring her on my days off, it's to day care, nowhere else so autopilot can't kick in.

I'm not saying it can't happen, only that I'm not in those situations. When I'm off an have her, there's nothing else I plan to do.