When parents forget baby in a hot car

Confession time: I could have been one of those women who forgets and leaves a baby in a hot car. It invariably happens on a day when the parent changes his or her routine or has to make an out-of-the- ordinary stop, like this tragic case. Here's a tip on how I make sure my distracted Mommy brain never fails me.

On the very first day that my youngest was starting at a home day care, I dropped his older brother off at school and started heading up the road like usual toward work, my mind already ticking off all the things I wanted to get finished that day and people I needed to call before lunch, blah, blah, blah. About five minutes into the trip, my 6-month-old baby made a gurgle sound and I quite literally jumped. He had been so silent I forgot he was back there. What if he had fallen asleep? Would I have gone into work, completely forgetting I had a baby boiling in a car? The image haunts me.

Which is why, to this day, I put my phone in my cupholder so it's handy, but my purse goes on the floor below the car seat. I never leave the car without my purse (or my baby!)

Here are some more safety tips on kids and cars from Harrison's Hope, an organization that tracks injuries and deaths due to kids being left alone in or around cars. So far in 2008, we've had 237 incidents and 45 deaths.

-- Sharon Kennedy Wynne

Comments

[Sharon]

Great post, JS, I had never heard of these devices, so thank you. I urge everyone to follow that link to thingamababy.com. If we have a beep tell us to buckle up or turn off our headlights, a simple device to alert you to a baby in the car should be a baby shower staple if carmakers or carseat makers won't help us.

[منتدى كوره]

thank you .

[JS]

Car makers care more about whether you leave your headlights on than whether you leave your baby in your car. How hard would it be to make your car beep when you leave your baby inside? Not hard at all.

Here are three solutions that could save lives, but probably won't because they're after-market products instead of being part of a (non-existent) industry safety standard that integrates child seats with cars:
http://www.thingamababy.com/baby/2007/07/babysafety.html

Children should be put first at all times. Forget the nonsense calls you feel you must make before lunch (probably, calls that just annoy people).

[Just me]

Please track me down and I will give you parenting classes. 3 kids all adults now and I never EVER forgot my kids anywhere.

[Just Me Sucks]

If "Just Me" was such a "MAN" then he should have the balls to post under his real name. Of course, the people who run this blog have his real IP address, and those of us who know, can easily track him down with just that...

[to Just Me]

Look look at the case that is cited in the article above. You can read it here:

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/07/31/Citrus/Baby_dies_after_fathe.shtml

That's a father who loved his child and was caught off guard on a day he didn't normally drop the child off. It's heartbreaking.

Go ahead and feel high and mighty but I think it's good to talk about how we all are human and have lapses and come up with some solutions rather than finger pointing.

[Just me]

Kristi the man was an idiot and dont put me in that crowd and Sammi is married to an moron! again not my fault.

[Sammi]

The two instances that I have seen (on Oprah no less) have involved the father being the responsible party. My perfect husband (who made the same comment as Just Me) left our two year old unattended by a wading pool, because it was "just for a minute." Hwo is that any different? This is about learning, not about being nasty to one another.

[Kristi]

Hey there, "Just Me": one of the most notorious cases I remember in the news in the bay area was a father (read: man) forgetting his child in the back seat. The child died after the man's long day at work. Race, sex, religion, number of kids -- no matter. Don't be ignorant on purpose.

[MM]

Time for some time management people.. if your forgetting your children are in the car! I cold never imagine doing this.

[Just me]

Men dont carry purses nor would we forget a baby in the back seat of a car. funny how women want babies then forget about them.

[TechRider]

How about don't have so many kids that you can't keep track of them?

[Holly @ Tropic of Mom]

Excellent idea!

[Brian]

One snag: child-seat installers will tell you not to put ANYTHING in the back seat with the kid because backseat items become projectiles during an accident, so maybe you want to rig a little doohickey to keep the purse where it's at in the event of a crash. Also, guys don't typically carry purses, but a smaller item like a wallet or work keys will work just as well. Back when my kids were babies, I used a carabiner and some strapping from a discarded car seat to attach my keys to the back base of the front seat. Now THAT's anal-retentive, but it worked.

[maya]

that's an excellent tip.

[منتدى كوره]

thank you .