New Fad is Parents lock their children in a hot locked car to die?

[poodlecamper]

Originally Posted by jacqueg

I hope you're right! Although it's pretty hard for me to imagine someone forgetting their kid, I guess it does happen..

TWICE my father in law took my then 3 year old sister in law to the bakery with him , and returned home without her. Mother in law,"Where's Susie?", then he realized he left her there. Twice.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by jacqueg

I hope you're right! Although it's pretty hard for me to imagine someone forgetting their kid, I guess it does happen..

Read the article. The first time I heard about this (probably 20 years ago, a man in my area was supposed to drop off his baby at the daycare, a task his wife usually did. He completely forgot, just went on auto-pilot and drove to work as usual, and the kid died in the car) I was so angry. I had a small child of my own, and I could not for the life of me understand how someone could so easily forget their own child.

But last year I read the Washington Post article or something similar, and reading Lyn Balfour's case, I could see too well how it happened. "The perfect storm" of a situation that led to her so believing that she had dropped off her son that she even thought she remembered talking to the babysitter that morning.

My kid is grown, and my "daycare" was my parents, so if I'd gotten to their house without my kid, they would certainly have noticed! But even these days, it's so, so easy with all that's expected of us in the way our society's work work work mentality rules us, to think we did something when we didn't. Last week I was driving to work and reached for my cell to plug it into my car charger, and it wasn't in my purse. I KNOW I put it in there. I "remembered" putting it in there. But I hadn't. I must have THOUGHT about it, and that was where my "memory" came from. This happens all the time. I make a lunch the night before, I take it out of the fridge in the morning and place it on the counter, I put it in my tote bag, go brush my teeth...and I look and there's my lunch back on the counter, not in my tote bag. What? I REMEMBER putting it in the bag, but I didn't.

Now I can hear the caterwauling beginning already, "But it's a CHILD, not a lunch or a cell phone!!!!"

It doesn't matter. It's the belief that you did something that you do as a matter of routine, when you didn't actually do it that matters. No matter how much you love your child, getting them dressed and to the babysitter becomes part of your morning routine. The reality of life is that you might be driving to work thinking about a meeting or task that's weighing on your mind, and no matter how much you love your child, the pressure of what you have to do that day isn't blotted out by some constant thought of how much you adore your kid. This is just reality.

There are suggestions in the articles about what to do as a reminder to check car seats. For example, even on auto-pilot in the morning, you know you are going to need your wallet or purse, if only to have an ID to enter your workplace, right? Put that in the back seat so you have to look back there.

[10-23]

Any parent who does that (leaves their child locked in a hot car) should not be allowed to ever breed again.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Actually, that's hard for me to imagine, too. I can be spacy, but I never, ever left my kids in the car unintentionally. However, back when my kids were little and I was in a babysitting coop, a mom was very late picking up her child b/c she forgot about the child, who I was watching.

My mother used to forget about me ALL THE TIME in Kindergarten. All the other kids would be gone, and my teacher would tell me she was going to take me home and I could be her little girl. My mother usually was just caught up yapping on the phone and would not notice the time, but my little sister would start to bug her because she wanted me to come home and play with her. When I got older, I was the last kid at Girl Scout meetings or birthday parties or school events. Eventually I got old enough that I just walked home.

It wasn't just me--she forgot my siblings, too, once with dire consequences. When my sister was 7, my mother forgot to pick her up from Brownies and my sister started to walk home. She was hit by a car when crossing the street and spent the next month in the hospital. I know she used to spend hours on the phone, but I wonder now if she had trouble keeping track of time.

[suebee123]

I think the general public is much more aware of watching for children and animals locked in hot cars in parking lots. When more people are watching, you will hear about it more on the news as people get arrested or as people break into cars to rescue animals/kids.

[suebee123]

There is something seriously wrong with a parent who "forgets" their children for any reason. Maybe a mental disorder or they are drunk. An animal too.

[helenejen]

Originally Posted by suebee123

There is something seriously wrong with a parent who "forgets" their children for any reason. Maybe a mental disorder or they are drunk. An animal too.

Try reading the Washington Post article. Your way of thinking is what keeps parents from thinking that this could ever happen to them.