Kids left in cars

To be honest, I have wondered why the incidents have gotten more and more frequent. Are the parents distracted by thoughts/talking on cell phones? I also have to wonder how many of these poor babies were in backfacing carseats? I know it is safer while driving, but have to wonder if it is a contributing factor?

We had one here in SC this last week except in this case the 3 year old had wandered out of the house while his Mom was taking a nap and got in the car and was trapped in there.

They have been really covering this issue a lot here on our local news stations. Apparently the number of incidents of this happened increases greatly when people started putting the carseats in the back seat due to the dangers of airbags in the front seat.

I swear, I just don't understand how people can forget their kids! It absolutely blows me away. I was stressed too, I got distracted too, yada yada yada, but I still can't comprehend anything taking precedence over the well-being of my child, I just can't.

I remember a car with a sleeping toddler in it bursting into flames outside the school where my children went. The mother was dropping her children off and thought it would be perfectly OK. There were people about that she knew etc so she assumed he would be safe. She didn't factor the unexpected into the equation, and someone's Dad had to smash the window with a rock from a nearby garden to get the child out. It isn't just heat issues that make leaving a child in a car not a good idea.

I don't understand it either... MAYBE I get that if you don't normally drop your kid off at daycare maybe you forget, a one in a million chance of that happening.. but you keep hearing story after story about the same thing happening. Just blows my mind. I would hope to God I would have enough sense not to do something like that!! Seems like someone could invent something simple to put in your car to remind you to get your kid out, right? (How sad it that?)

There are sensors in my front seats to alert me when I/my passenger don't have a seatbelt on, they should develop something similar when there is weight in the back seat but the key isn't in the ignition. A little beep could save so many lives.

If you haven't read this award winning article: link, I think you should. 

Obviously each case is different (there are true neglect cases or in this new case, murder), but for most of these cases, I just feel sadness for everyone involved. I can't imagine the guilt, pain and devastation these people must deal with daily. 

I'm not not a religious person, but "there but by the grace of God go I" pops in my mind every time I hear one of these stories. 

I can't even imagine, those poor children. I know how hot it is when you just get into a locked up car, I can't imagine dying in one.

I don't think it's just cars either.

When I was 18 I was driving on the main st of my town I lived it. I was in the right hand lane and it was dark. I seen this kid fall/crawl off this curb. I didnt see the kid before that because it was so dark and he was so small. I slammed hard on my brakes and turned wheel (thank God there wasn't another car in that lane!) I got out and picked the baby up...to this day I still have no clue how old he was but he was still wearing diapers (that's all he had on) and you could tell he was just learning how to walk....so whatever stage that is is how old he was (I have no kids so I'm clueless) this all happened right in front of the laundromat so just left my car on the road with flashers on and took the kid to the laundromat. My aunt was working there and said the kid looked like one of customers washing there so we walked over and there was the mother (and I use that term lightly) smoking a cigarette talking to some guy and she looked and me holding her kid and said "oh I totally forgot I brought him with me (laughed while saying this)" I flipped out on her telling her how her kid almost got hit and was found in the road. She had nothing to say but "well he needs to learn to stay put"
My Aunt did call the cops. I don't think anything happened from it because she came back other times to wash my aunt said with her kid.

My husband is a police officer and he was patrolling and found a baby hanging out by the side of the busy road. The mother was in the house and didn't know the kid got away. Crazy thing is the mother was the local town doctor! If I recall the kid was 2.

I saw something on FB about taking off your shoe and putting in the carseat with the child. You are not going to go off to work or in the store without your shoe. You can leave without your bag or your purse, but not likely w/o your shoe. But you have to do this everytime and that, I doubt, people will be bothered to do.

I too am not prepared to be vindictive when loving parents make a horrible mistake. There are plenty of accidents we don't hold people criminally responsible for.

The guy in Georgia is a whole other story. He is (appears to be) a murderer.

Agreed, an excellent article, thank you for the link.  I have a bit more understanding, but I guess my basic feeling is when you make a decision to have a child,  anything and everything else becomes secondary to the responsibility of that child's well-being - physically, emotionally, etc.  I dunno, maybe I just think differently.

My heart does go out to the parents in these situations, though and there too, I can't even begin to understand or imagine the devastating pain and guilt they must live with.  It's just tragic all around.
 

I can absolutely see how it can happen accidentally. The guy that did it on purpose should rot in hell.