Dont forget about that kid in the backseat

[Osiris]

It's sad when they have to create devices and safety for leaving ur/a kid in the backseat of car cuz u forgot

http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/8819907.html


Sure that person should even be having kids allowed to have kids, if cant even remember them

[Bear]

Now how terrible is that! Forget ur kid in the backseat....idiots

[Apotheosis]

It can happen to even the best of parents.

People make mistakes.

[Baby_Baby]

Yes, but it is not like spilling coffee or forgetting to pick the kiddo up after school.
It is leaving them in a car in blazing heat, and in Oklahoma this is a MAJOR problem. Not so much parents forgetting them, but just "running into the store" to get something and taking longer than expected.
It is such an awful thing that happens, and are the parents horrible people? OF COURSE NOT!

But its not something minor that can just be brushed off so easily with a "oh well, happens to everyone every now and again"

[Apotheosis]

I never said it happens to everyone, but it really can happen to anyone. If the kid is being quiet or falls asleep in the back of the car, the parent can forget more easily than one would think.

But you're right. Most of the time it's because they get carried away with something that should only take a very short amount of time. No one should EVER leave a baby in the car alone for any amount of time. Leaving a child alone in a car deliberately rather than accidentally is a whole different story. Those parents are idiots who should have never had children.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in689559.shtml

Now how terrible is that! Forget ur kid in the backseat....idiots

That doesn't make them idiots. So many parents say the same thing, "that's horrible, I would never forget my child in the backseat", but it happens to them.

[Ice]

I never forget my 4 yr old in the backseat cuz he always tells me "I wanna go in !!!" LOL !!!

Unfortunately things like this do happen. It's kinda hard to fathom how a parent can actually forget their own children in their cars.

[SBDTHUR]

I think that parent's who leave there kid in the car are dumb. My parent's aren't the greatest on the face of the earth, but when I was a little kid I remeber they either didn't leave me in the car. Or they left me and my sister in the car, my sister being 3 years older then me, she'd always keep the air running with the car on and lock the doors!

It really depends on what your reason was. If your saying you just forgot, that's like droping your kid's off in the desert. But without the sand.

[Apotheosis]

Originally Posted by SBDTHUR

Or they left me and my sister in the car, my sister being 3 years older then me, she'd always keep the air running with the car on and lock the doors!

Well, that's not really the best thing to do either. haha

The kid could get his arm stuck in the window (assuming its powered) or put the car in gear and who knows what would happen then....

[Bear]

Originally Posted by Apotheosis

The kid could get his arm stuck in the window

haha....good stuff

[Scuba Kid]

I can't find a good excuse to justify the actions of these parents. What's the excuse when social services knocks on their door? "I forgot to feed them. It was an honest mistake."

"I forgot to bring my child with me and not leave them in a car in blistering heat."

There is no excuse. A parent's child is their resposibility and whether it be remembering they are in the car with them, picking them up from school, or feeding them....a good parent cannot forget that they are responsible for the life of another human being.

[Apotheosis]

Originally Posted by Scuba Kid

I can't find a good excuse to justify the actions of these parents. What's the excuse when social services knocks on their door? "I forgot to feed them. It was an honest mistake."

There is a bit of a difference though. The child can let you know when its hungry. If the child is too young to talk, he/she will cry.

However, a baby in the backseat that is asleep and makes no sound whatsoever is comparable to say, throwing your cell phone into the backseat and forgetting about it when you stop your car, get out, and go wherever you have to go. That may sound bad, comparing a baby to a cell phone, but you have to understand that:

-The baby is asleep, and makes no sound to remind you it's there.
-The parent has alot on his/her mind and gets carried away in thought.
-People do forget things, and it is not as hard as you think to forget a dead-quiet baby in the backseat. It's not like the parent is repeating in his/her head 5 billion times "don't forget baby, don't forget baby, don't forget baby, don't forget baby".

It's really sad to hear stories like that, but it happens. I'm glad that there is a device coming out that will alert parents if they leave their child in the car.

I provided a link earlier. I'll pull out the part that relates to where I'm coming from:

To Melanie and Ed Hynes, who had just had a baby of their own, it was unthinkable.

"I said, 'What kind of idiot would leave their child in a vehicle?' " Ed remembers.

"I had told him, 'If you ever forgot her, I would kill you!" Melanie says.

"It was like, who would do that? A precious child like that? A gift from god?" Ed continued.

The baby, Mackenzee, was daddy's girl.

"He doted over her," Melanie recalls. "When we went places together and we got out of the car, that was the first thing he did, was get her out of the car."

That's why what happened just two weeks later July was such a shock, Smith observes.

"I was supposed to drop Mackenzee off," Ed says. "And she ended up falling asleep in the back seat."

Ed went to work, forgetting Mackenzee was still in the car.

Eight hours later, Melanie called.

"I said, 'Ed, where's Mackenzee? She's not at day care. And the phone went dead. And I knew."

"Did you know when you got to the car that she was gone?" Smith asked Ed.
"Yeah. I didn't want to believe it. But, yeah."

"When I got there, they were pulling her out of the car," Melannie cried. "And they wouldn't let me hold her. They wouldn't let me touch her. They kept pulling me back and wouldn't let me touch her."

Mackenzee died of hyperthermia, Smith reports. As the car sat in the Florida sun, her body temperature hit 107 degrees.

"You know," Smith remarked to Ed and Melanie, "there are people out there who look at you guys and can divorce themselves from your story by saying, 'I would never do that. What do you say to them?"

"We were the same way," Melanie responded. "It never crossed our minds that we would ever have to go through anything like this."

"You have things on your mind, you're thinking about the rest of your day, you're thinking about what you're going to do next, and you just get, as cruel as it sounds, it escapes your mind," Ed explains.

[Scuba Kid]

I don't care how quiet the baby is. Doesn't matter. The fact is, that parent is responsible over a human life. Its not simple enough to say, "Its easy to forget a baby in the car. These things happen." Know what? They shouldn't. Its beyond irresponsibility when these things happen.

[Apotheosis]

I understand your point. It is the parent's responsibility.

I'm just not sure if the punishment should be nearly as severe as if the parent left the baby in the car intentionally. You know?

Sometimes, knowing that it's your fault you lost your child is as bad as punishment could get. You would have to live the rest of your life knowing that you were the reason your child died. It's not something you shrug off.

In that actual case I quoted, no charges were filed against the father.

No charges have been filed against Ed Hynes.

But his family says losing Mackenzee is, in its own way, a life sentence.

"I don't think there's a bigger punishment than that," Melanie says. "I don't think any amount of prison time or jail could ever punish as bad as living with the fact every day that she's not with us."

EDIT: I found this interesting:

The AP identified more than 220 cases in which the caregiver admitted leaving the child behind. More than three-quarters of those people claim they simply forgot.

It's easy to forget your keys or that cup of coffee on the roof. But a child?

The awful truth, experts say, is that the stressed-out brain can bury a thought -- something as trite as a coffee cup or crucial as a baby -- and go on autopilot. While researchers once thought the different parts of the brain worked in conjunction with each other, they now realize that different portions dominate at different times.

"The value of the item is not only not relevant in these competing memory systems," says memory expert David Diamond, an associate psychology professor at the University of South Florida. "But, in fact, we can be more complacent because we tell ourselves, 'There's no way I would forget my child."'

Nationwide, about 60 percent of cases where the child was left unintentionally result in charges. But policies vary wildly from one jurisdiction to the next.

At least nine children in Las Vegas have died in hot vehicles since 1998, but charges were filed in only two of those cases. For several years, it has been the policy of the Clark County prosecutor's office not to file charges unless there is proof of "some general criminal intent ... to put the child in harm's way," says chief deputy DA Tom Carroll.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayof....ap/index.html

[Baby_Baby]

[gemjunkie]

There is NO excuse for leaving your child in a car, NONE PERIOD. People that do, should NOT be allowed to have them EVER AGAIN. A child that young and small depends on YOU for EVERYTHING, most important their SAFETY!

'I Forgot', that's a cop out. That is trying to lay blame away from themselves. 'Oh, it wasn't my fault, I forgot!' What a load of hog wash.... Don't even try to justify it...

[Apotheosis]

Originally Posted by gemjunkie

There is NO excuse for leaving your child in a car, NONE PERIOD. People that do, should NOT be allowed to have them EVER AGAIN. A child that young and small depends on YOU for EVERYTHING, most important their SAFETY!

'I Forgot', that's a cop out. That is trying to lay blame away from themselves. 'Oh, it wasn't my fault, I forgot!' What a load of hog wash.... Don't even try to justify it...

So you think that in every case the parent did it on purpose? Don't be so quick to judge. Let's try to reserve judgement to those parents that it happens to.

When your brain gets so caught up in things, and when you're extremely stressed, it is not hard to forget things. You can't deny that. When you're extremely busy and stressed, you usually lose all thought of anything else other than what you're focused on.

Did you even bother to read what I posted?

It's easy to forget your keys or that cup of coffee on the roof. But a child?

The awful truth, experts say, is that the stressed-out brain can bury a thought -- something as trite as a coffee cup or crucial as a baby -- and go on autopilot. While researchers once thought the different parts of the brain worked in conjunction with each other, they now realize that different portions dominate at different times.

"The value of the item is not only not relevant in these competing memory systems," says memory expert David Diamond, an associate psychology professor at the University of South Florida. "But, in fact, we can be more complacent because we tell ourselves, 'There's no way I would forget my child."

From http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayof....ap/index.html

Let's debate with logic rather than emotion.

I'm not saying this is something that should be brushed off. It is absolutely horrible and the parents should be punished. I can't even imagine what a child goes through when it's left in a hot car by itself to die.

[wm_crash]

Killing a child (by leaving in hot car or otherwise) is the greatest crime and deserves the greatest punishment. There is no excuse. There is no explanation. There is no forgiveness for deserting the child that one is supposed to protect. Yes parents forget things, but are not allowed to forget that they are parents.

take care,
wm_crash, the friendly hooligan

[Apotheosis]

Thanks for ignoring my posts. Do you honestly think there is more of a punishment than having to live every day without your flesh and blood?

Stress affects everyone differently. It can be so extreme to where people forget things. That is all I will say.

I'm done with this thread, since everyone is ignoring my contentions.

...and because I hate arguing.

[Ice Prince]

well for someone who hates arguing you put up great fight. yea wouldnt knowing that you accidentally killed your child be enough punishment?

[gemjunkie]

The greatest gift we are given is our children and WE are supposed to protect them, if we don't or aren't willing to ALL THE TIME, they are taken away one way or another.

Killing a child under ANY conditions is WRONG be it ignorance or negligence or murder.

I read your posts, doesn't mean I have to agree with them....