In all honesty, any sympathy I might have for the parent gets summarily cut off when I picture what it must have been like for the baby.
Toddler dies in hot car as mom teaches inside school
In case it is absolutely clear:
It's not the cars that killed these children, it's the parents and their absent mindedness.
The article gives a couple other examples of children dying in hot cars, and it seems that in all those cases, no one intended on leaving their children in the cars, thinking it was safe. Rather, the parents simply forgot their children were in the car. Parents must take care of their child! MUST.
This is why the new-ish (newer than when mine were infants), that infants and their infant seats have to be in the back seat is such a bad idea. It's much easier to not see and hence forget a quiet sleeping infant in the back seat, and usually an infant will fall asleep in a moving vehicle.
What a smart idea. And already there are "smart" car seats, so somebody's going to use the technology to come up with some "failsafe." And a national PSA campaign would be great.
Safest location in an accident.
This, and the front air bags.
The person behind the wheel of a car and in his carelessness hits another vehicle that results in the death of another, do they not face manslaughter charges?
I can understand how it happens. While I've never forgotten either of my children in the car alone (I have in a shopping cart for a few steps b4 remembering one of them, though) .. It has happened where they fall asleep in the car and i completely forget about them for a long while. I do remember by the time I get to my destination, though.
Seems an easy fix might be to just tie something to your inside door handle so when you open the door, it serves as a reminder.
I have a hard time believing this can happen as an accident. I understand it is possible, but i have a hard time believing it. Even if it were an accident, this woman caused her child's death due to her own negligence. I read that no charges have been pressed against her. As least not as of the writing of the article I have read. At the very least she should be charged with child endangerment or manslaughter or something. Intentionally or not, she killed this child, and this child suffered a terrible death.
Many people state that they won't believe this was accidental or how they would never do it. The truth is that it can be VERY accidental and a consequence of how our brains work. Routine and habit are huge in daily tasks and doing the mundane. So much so, that if you break routine you can easily forget what the break was and the brain just automatically makes decisions that follow the typical routine.
I've done this. I've take the same route to work over and over again. One day I had off and I was running errands near where I work. I'm on my merry way and before I know it, I'm taking the turn onto the road that goes to work, not the supermarket. Why? Because routine and habit took over. Even though I was aware I had off that day, even though I knew I was going to the grocery store, the brain overrode that and went with the routine.
How many of us have done that? That's the same process through which kids get left in cars. A routine is broken, but the automatic nature of our reinforced routine take over and you go about your day unaware that you forgot something.
Should they be charged with something? I don't know. Less it was purposeful, living without your kid is more punishment than anyone could enact. I certainly wouldn't call for jail time.
Taking a wrong turn and forgetting your child, especially that young of a child, are not the same thing. Not even close. Things that matter are easier to remember.
You'd think with all the great improvements in cars and communications that someone can come up with this.
Go to Invent Help and submit the idea. You may make a mint.:mrgreen:
The point is, the brain can override that. Taking the wrong turn and forgetting the child in the car is the same dynamic. Many times the parent that leaves the kid in the car is not the parent that takes the kid at that time.
If it is not something that you do regularly, your routine is already broken. You've gotten a child ready to go, which early in the morning in not usually an easy feat, and you took her to your car, strapped her in, and probably heard her at least initially. And during that time, whatever her plan to do with that child was in her mind. You don't leave the house to go to work with an 18 month old child if you don't have plan for someone to watch that child.
And simply forgetting that you have children is not a realistic suggestion here. I have been at work for a few hours today, i am well into my regular routine. I remember I am a parent. I know exactly where my children are, I know who is caring for them. Killing a child and then saying oops I forgot doesn't fly in my book. I hope to see this woman charged, and I hope she does pretty serious time. This is no different than parents who forgot to take their kids were in the bath, or forgot to put up the pills so the kid wouldn't ingest them, or forgot to not murder your kids and stuff them in a freezer, or forgot I took my kids to the park, or forgot there is a street in front of my house.
People say this, but the science says you're wrong. The article was linked several times in this thread already.
Ask around to parents you know. See how many can tell you where their children are, especially young children. See how many know they have kids. Its not something you forget.
Let me know when you have scientific data and statistic to back that up.
Ask around to parents you know. See how many can tell you where their children are, especially young children. See how many know they have kids. Its not something you forget.
It is common sense. Conduct a study with those you know. Parents don't forget they have kids. Decent parents know where their 18 month old is. Even less than decent parents know who is watching their kid. People dont forget their children.
It's not about "knowing you have kids". Ask them where their children are in the middle of a work day, but on a day where they changed routines. Maybe grandma or an aunt is taking them for the day rather than having their normal nanny. The very first thing many will say is "they are with so-and-so, their nanny" the majority of the time. They may correct that after with "no, wait, they are with their grandmother/aunt today". Unless they have that cue though, they won't think about the difference. I am a mother and I've said this before to people who asked "who has your kids" when there was a change in routine (such as when their grandmother was here but their uncle, our nanny, was not, a couple of weeks ago).
It is common sense. Conduct a study with those you know. Parents don't forget they have kids. Decent parents know where their 18 month old is. Even less than decent parents know who is watching their kid. People dont forget their children.
Ask around to parents you know. See how many can tell you where their children are, especially young children. See how many know they have kids. Its not something you forget.
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