Another Child Left in Car Death - MoCo

[Anonymous]

I can understand this. I was EXHAUSTED when my kids were young. Both parents working full time, 5 day per week commutes, really on autopilot trying to get through the day... if there was a change in routine I could see this having happened. Thank god it did not in our family. I feel for these parents.

[Anonymous]

This is so tragic. I'm so sorry for the people who lost their precious 2 year old.

Of course it could happen to anyone. It's not like some people have an autopilot part of their brains and other people don't. Claiming that you would never do this is understandable . . . it's such a tragic and horrifying way to lose a child. But you're just trying to reassure yourself that you're safe in a world where sometimes horrible things happen out of nowhere. It's much more useful to take that energy and put it into buying a sensor that will alert you if you leave a child in their carseat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is so tragic. I'm so sorry for the people who lost their precious 2 year old.

Of course it could happen to anyone. It's not like some people have an autopilot part of their brains and other people don't. Claiming that you would never do this is understandable . . . it's such a tragic and horrifying way to lose a child. But you're just trying to reassure yourself that you're safe in a world where sometimes horrible things happen out of nowhere. It's much more useful to take that energy and put it into buying a sensor that will alert you if you leave a child in their carseat.

I don’t need an alarm. I am 100% confident I would never ever leave a kid in the car. Ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so tragic. I'm so sorry for the people who lost their precious 2 year old.

Of course it could happen to anyone. It's not like some people have an autopilot part of their brains and other people don't. Claiming that you would never do this is understandable . . . it's such a tragic and horrifying way to lose a child. But you're just trying to reassure yourself that you're safe in a world where sometimes horrible things happen out of nowhere. It's much more useful to take that energy and put it into buying a sensor that will alert you if you leave a child in their carseat.

I don’t need an alarm. I am 100% confident I would never ever leave a kid in the car. Ever.

Ok, next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who goes home and forgets their kid in the car for several hours?

It sounds to me like you have not read “Fatal Distraction.” It won Gene Weingarten a Pulitzer. Once you read it, you won’t forget it.

https://mitchellhamline.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2012/01/Fatal-Distraction.pdf

+1
Yes. It could happen to you. That piece is so moving and should be required reading for everyone.

Nope. I am 100% certain it could never happen to me. Ever. You don’t just forget a child.

This can be a very dangerous belief. The brain science is clear that this can happen to the most attentive and loving parents. The right situation and order of events can make this a possibility for almost anyone. Being self-aware enough to realize that it indeed could happen to you might help you put the safeguards in place to reduce the likelihood. By just assuming you could never do this, you might not have the same vigilance. I am a super organized parent but I could still see how in the right scenario, this could be something that tragically could happen to me.

It's almost never the primary/default parent. Almost never.

Correct. That’s why it’s always men doing this. Never women. This is not a parenting problem, this is a men problem. Men simply cannot be trusted around children. None of them. Not even my own sons. Men are either shaking babies to death because they’re mad at them for crying, or forgetting them in a hot car because they had to go play video games or watch pornography, or if the children survive long enough, and have the misfortune of having been born a female in Trump’s American, fathers will start raping their daughters at age 9-10. Men are vile awful creatures.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember seeing a recommendation that preschools or daycare call the parent is a child has not been dropped off on time but I don’t think that ever became standard practice.

The shoe or bag in back is a good system.

That puts a legal responsibility on the preschool or daycare. They are already watching eight, 12 or many other kids. This is the parents responsibility, not the preschool’s responsibility.

Now, is a preschool or daycare text you or calls you because they notice you’re running late, then you have an excellent childcare situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Youngins don't know recent DC history?


https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html


Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?
March 8, 2009

This child suffered
I don’t care if daddy was distracted it’s a crime

I despise this article
You bring a kid into the world you dam well better take care of it

Grace if god crap no human fail yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who goes home and forgets their kid in the car for several hours?

I'm in this camp. I can't understand how you forget a kid, but I can 100% see my husband doing this (my kids are teens) if he was in charge of pick up/drop off. He has ADHD and gets very distracted.

Same situation here.

Why did you even go out with, let alone marry and have children with someone with ADHD??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so tragic. I'm so sorry for the people who lost their precious 2 year old.

Of course it could happen to anyone. It's not like some people have an autopilot part of their brains and other people don't. Claiming that you would never do this is understandable . . . it's such a tragic and horrifying way to lose a child. But you're just trying to reassure yourself that you're safe in a world where sometimes horrible things happen out of nowhere. It's much more useful to take that energy and put it into buying a sensor that will alert you if you leave a child in their carseat.

I don’t need an alarm. I am 100% confident I would never ever leave a kid in the car. Ever.

This would be the epitome of hubris.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so tragic. I'm so sorry for the people who lost their precious 2 year old.

Of course it could happen to anyone. It's not like some people have an autopilot part of their brains and other people don't. Claiming that you would never do this is understandable . . . it's such a tragic and horrifying way to lose a child. But you're just trying to reassure yourself that you're safe in a world where sometimes horrible things happen out of nowhere. It's much more useful to take that energy and put it into buying a sensor that will alert you if you leave a child in their carseat.

I don’t need an alarm. I am 100% confident I would never ever leave a kid in the car. Ever.

The morgue has special gurneys just for those who proactively choose to rely on human factors over engineered-in prevention.

[Anonymous]

Yall need to calm down. It’s like 40 kids a year this happens to. It is very unlikely. Your child is more likely to be injured in a car accident than be left in the hot car. It gets a lot of attention because it is gruesome but it’s statistically not very likely at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one ever forgets until the weather gets warm. We never see this in Winter months.

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.

This is absolutely not true - hypothermia warnings exist and the child would still be found deceased.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one ever forgets until the weather gets warm. We never see this in Winter months.

Because heat related deaths don’t happen in cold cars. There was, however, a story this past winter about a child dying of hypothermia while sleeping in a vehicle with the rest of the family because they were homeless.

This is a prime example that given the numbers we see in Summer and warm weather - there’s enough hypothermia days to have accounted for far more deaths or injuries than we see each year in cooler months.

People aren’t going to their cars more in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, the most effective fix is the easiest.

It's the shoe trick. Seriously. ALL DRIVERS who drive with kids in a car (including parents, grandparents) should immediately upon entering the car, take off their shoe and throw it in the back. Act as if it is fundamental to driving - as though the car won't start until you do. Pretend it's the law.

No one is going anywhere far without a shoe on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the most effective fix is the easiest.

It's the shoe trick. Seriously. ALL DRIVERS who drive with kids in a car (including parents, grandparents) should immediately upon entering the car, take off their shoe and throw it in the back. Act as if it is fundamental to driving - as though the car won't start until you do. Pretend it's the law.

No one is going anywhere far without a shoe on.

It’s a federal crime, a violation of DOT law, to drive without footwear.