Another Child Left in Car Death - MoCo
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Anonymous
You have not read the Weingarten article. Yes sometimes (less commonly) it is women too. It is about someone being on auto pilot and just going about their normal day. As someone who has to say to myself out loud not to turn right into 495 and instead keep going straight even when my teen is in the front seat with me this definitely could have happened to me. We nanny shared though so I did not have daycare drop off duty ever. The advice about a shoe in the backseat is good but I had not heard of this issue when my kids were little and also thought I could never forget them. They were in elementary I think by the time I read Gene’s article. |
Anonymous
| ^ go straight and not turn because that’s the way to my kid’s school and turning is what I do to go to work each morning otherwise. |
Anonymous
People forget their kids year round. When the weather is colder they come out and find a living child, and it doesn’t make the news. |
Anonymous
| I started driving to work the other day, when my middle schooler piped up from the back seat. Usually her dad takes her to school. I don’t have adhd or anything else and am a very responsible person. I’d never make it onto a jury in a hot car death case because unless there were circumstances clearly indicating it was intentional, I could never vote to convict someone. |
Anonymous
It could and does happen to mothers. But not mothers who are the primary default parent. They don’t forget they have the kids - they always have the kids. For me it felt weird to drive to the grocery store and NOT have a kid. They were always with me. When you read the stories you can always point to a lapse in judgement, a non primary parent, a deviation in routine, or an outright neglectful parent on occasion. It still doesn’t just randomly happen. |
Anonymous
Unforgettable article. Thank you for sharing it. |
Anonymous
I mean, whether you buy his theory or not (and I’m not sure I do) it doesn’t appear to have helped much. |
Anonymous
Data also does not support this claim, proving the PP’s point about denial. |
Anonymous
It happens to people who are outside of their routine. Primary default parents can also be outside of their routine. I posted above, that I did the reverse, driving to my kids' school, parking getting out, walking in to find the door locked, panicking and then remembering it was the first day of spring break and the kids were with grandma. I was definitely the primary default parent, that doesn't mean that I didn't have routines that could change. |
Anonymous
Leaving you child in a car has nothing to do with luck. You’re a horrible human. |
Anonymous
I'm a horrible human because I protect my children, and you're a good human because you play roulette with their lives? |
Anonymous
If you leave your kid in the car yes you’re a horrible human. |
Anonymous
And some of us are telling we’ve never done something like that, not even once, even if nothing bad happened. I never subconsciously thought my kids were somewhere else when I had them. Ever. |
Anonymous
| The prototype alarm-reminder device mentioned in the Weingarten article seems a good protection for reminding parents of a baby in the backseat. Is there anything similar commercially available now? I'd gift it at baby showers! |
Anonymous
I used to live in that area until last year. Many homes have multiple residents across different generations and childcare is often patched together among friends and family members in loose arrangements. It’s not improbable for miscommunications to happen. |