Tips for parents to remind themselves small child is in car

[Liberal_in_LA]

Safety groups such as Kids and Cars and Safe Kids USA urge parents to check the back seat every time they exit the vehicle and to create a reminder system for themselves.

Some parents leave their cellphone or purse on the floor near the car seat to ensure they retrieve it along with the child. Others remind themselves by placing a stuffed animal in the car seat when the child isn't using the seat and putting the toy in the front seat when the child is tucked in the car seat.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-06-25-kids-hotcars_N.htm

[moriah]

1. It's truly sad that these reminders would ever be needed.

But if I used my cell phone as a reminder to get my kid out of the car... uh, kiddo wouldn't last long. I swear I lose this thing at least once a week.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

9. My thoughts too. I hope I'm a father one day.... that child would be my world.

[KittyWampus]

28. and you still may be sick or sleep deprived and make an awful mistake.

Your lack of empathy and need to be harshly judgmental is sad.

[rustydog]

30. Wow, You need to bendover and take a couple of deep breaths

I think you misread that post!

I am a father and a grandfather. these Kids, even my 30-year old kid are my world.
Nothing else inferred intentionally or otherwise.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

33. You are right that people can make mistakes.

In "real life" I would feel sorry for someone who made that HORRIBLE mistake.

Reading an article about it, I suppose I imagined myself being a father, and how much I would want to be a perfect father (like I try to be to my dogs right now).



I'm still disturbed by someone leaving a child in their car, but I also understand that horrible mistakes can happen to ANYONE.

[Kazak]

38. Sure, sounds bad, until you catch yourself almost doing it...

then you realize how easy it really can be.

[Xenotime]

53. People are so busy these days...these are good ideas...

It's not like this is the 50's where people got nothing to do. Many people are working as they are running errands.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

2. And here I've been trying to figure out how to forget my kids are in the car.

But it's a fact I cannot seem to forget, nor will they let me. I mean, do these parents give their kids Bendryl 24/7? The kids are that quiet? Or are the parents simply that self-consumed? Or maybe that's the problem having asinine DVD players playing all the time.

The first year of my kids' lives, I asked the question: "oooh, when will he or she talk?" After that, it's just, "for fuck's sake, when will he or she shut up?"

Need reminders that they're there? Tell that to my love life (this has nothing to do with a car).

Christ.

[Still Blue in PDX]

8. They shut up when they fall asleep. nt

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

11. So, then, Benadryl.

I guess silence is such a rarity that I'd find ITS presence the very reminder of its absence--which then would then remind me that my kids are the ones usually making noise.

But I get your point. And it's a point well-taken.

[Fumesucker]

21. I've known people who had to put the kid in the car and drive them around..

In order to get them to go to sleep, a lot of kids are soothed by the sound and the motion of a car and fall asleep in short order.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

23. Yes, I realize that. I have three children.

I was joking.

By the way, I've never unintentionally left my children in a hot, suffocating car.

[onethatcares]

3. we're dumber than I ever expected us to be.

I guess that's what happens when kids have kids and kids don't get schooling or parenting or parenting classes.

Or maybe we'll have a lot of kids left in cars because that's where they'll be living due to the republican strategy of punishing lost employment.

It's time to get out of this country. I swear it's time.

[DevonRex]

4. Good suggestions. As tired as we all are, it's no wonder that

terrible mistakes like this are made on occasion. Any parent worth their salt would want to read this. Thanks for the info.

[uppityperson]

5. bwahhahahahaha. Wait, this is serious? omg. How can they remind themselves to

pick up their purse, or cell phone, or remember what the stuffed animal means?

[hvn_nbr_2]

20. Well, ya know...

the cell phone is important.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

6. When I hear stories like this I wonder how

often these situations happen in other developed countries. Something tells me this situation is uniquely American.

[tblue37]

37. I read an article a couple of years ago about a young mother in

Spain who was talking on her cell phone and got off the bus at her bus stop, still talking. As the bus started to pull away from the stop, the bus driver was stopped by a passenger who said that the woman's baby had been left on the bus. The driver held the bus while the other passenger took the baby off the bus and chased down the oblivious mother, who was still engrossed in her conversation.

[Liberal_in_LA]

50. Forgetting the kid soared when US started having baby seat put in back seat

Can't really compare to other developed countries unless they do the same

[texastoast]

7. Parents this stupid shouldn't have children

Who the fuck is so mindless to leave their child in the car?

Oh, that would be totally self-centered, self-absorbed idiots.

One more tic for the "license before parenting" advocate column.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

10. BING BING BING

We have a winner.



"Who the fuck is so mindless to leave their child in the car?"

[Fumesucker]

12. It happens to people from all walks of life..

Dentists, physicians, janitors, teachers, no social stratum is free of the stigma.

I read an article about this a year ago or so, the author made the point that if you have ever forgotten *anything* you could potentially forget your child.

It's my opinion that people react so negatively to these stories in order to convince themselves that *they* could _never_ do such a stupid thing.

[Still Blue in PDX]

14. I believe you have it right. nt

[Bunny]

18. Exactly.

The situation is so horrible that the only way to make sense of it is to convince yourself that only mindless, self-absorbed twits could ever do something so awful. That way, it can never happen to you.

I can remember those first few years when I was a single parent, starting at 6 AM, schlepping my kid to the sitter, commuting 90 minutes/day, working 9+ hours at a stressful job, picking my girl up at the sitters and finally getting home at 5 PM. Then it was time to cook dinner, do the laundry, give her a bath and get her ready for bed, and then try to relax for an hour before collapsing into sleep. The only thing that's surprising to me is that I didn't make a stupid horrible parenting mistake somewhere along the way.

[fishwax]

19. I think you're right

"It's my opinion that people react so negatively to these stories in order to convince themselves that *they* could _never_ do such a stupid thing."

[etherealtruth]

51. Let me jump in with another "emphatically agree"

My three are long past the age of being forgotten in a car .... I never accidentally left one in the car (thank heaven) .... but I have done stupid things, I have forgotten things ...

[rustydog]

31. Thank you Jesus, I never thought I'd get to read a post from

an infallible non-judgmental person who has NEVER made a mistake, small or God-forbid a fatal one.

I can die a happy man knowing someone other than God can level harsh judgment on those who have suffered tremendous loss.:grr:

[Still Blue in PDX]

13. This really is good information.

Sadly, it doesn't matter how intelligent or educated you are, everyone is imperfect and capable of being a bonehead.

[HipChick]

15. My mother's neighbor lost a child this way...

very sad..good PSA

[TexasObserver]

16. recommend

[K8-EEE]

17. Wow I would be MUCH more likely to forget the damn cell phone or purse

than the KID!! That is wild....put your dumb stuff next to your baby so you remember to take the baby out of the car, wow.

[seabeyond]

22. people, generally it is out of the routine parent that does this. i always had kids

and really, my focus was centered on them without much other to distract. as absurd as this may sound to me, i am clever enough to understand that the person who does a routine day, day in and day out, day after day after day, then swithes up the routine, with mind on what to do at the office, quiet in back seat, can happen.

have you ever had mind somewhere else and you drive to the school, that you go to every day only to say, wait... wrong way, not going there, this is a different.

i could so totally see out fo the blue, hubby got the kid to drop off somewhere and got a business call and it totally went out of his head. he never had the babies.

[lolly]

25. Yes, I think that's exactly what happens

Something happens to change the routine. It doesn't happen when you're the one who takes the baby to the sitter's every day.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. Without getting into the "what kind of idiot..." debate-- couldn't Car Seat manufacturers include an

alarm that would go off if weight was detected in the seat and the ambient temperature went over a certain point?

[orleans]

39. ooh... great idea--the alarm

the alarm could be set off if there was weight in the carseat and no weight in the front seats for a set amount of time

or a voice alarm that says: "don't forget the baby" or "what about the kid?" when you turn the car off and open the door to get out.

[Obamanaut]

26. A parent can remember to retrieve a cell phone or a purse, but not

the kid? That is truly sad!

[KittyWampus]

27. I was attacked for suggesting this a few months ago by one of DU's uber-liberal types.

People like to think they are perfect. But then, people over-estimate their abilities constantly.

[lonestarnot]

35. What the fuck is an uber-liberal type?

[Obamanaut]

44. It does seem strange to some folks that a person could more easily

remember his/her cell phone, purse, or whatever than a living, breathing small person - and thus have to use those inanimate objects as a memory aid.

How many people have 'forgotten' their wallet, purse, or cell phone? Perhaps those people need to leave a baby alongside those items so they won't be forgotten.

[Toucano]

29. There is something seriously wrong with contemporary American society.

that this is more than a freak occurrence.

[JHB]

32. In a nation of several hundred million people...

...even freak occurrences can add up.

[Wilms]

34. .

[Hello_Kitty]

36. My headlights beep when I haven't shut them off. Can't they fit carseats with something like that?

:shrug:

[Crunchy Frog]

40. I make it a rule to never turn the engine off while there's a kid in the car.

I'm very aware of my capacity to have mental lapses. I don't feel any sense of superiority when I read about a child being left in a car. Only a sense of "there but for the grace of God go I". I can't even imagine what it would be like to try to live with something like that happening. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to live with it.

[Warren DeMontague]

43. Catch me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that just make it more likely that you'll lock the keys inside?

I mean, if you're getting out of the car, and getting kids out of the car, you need to turn the engine off. If you're dealing with toddlers, what do you do- get them out, then go back inside and turn the car off? Where are the toddlers supposed to go while you're shutting off the engine? Wait on the sidewalk? What if it's a busy parking lot?

I'm sorry, I have no doubt your intentions are good, here, but I'm just having a little trouble with the logistics of that advice.

[Crunchy Frog]

46. They're not walking yet. They either go in the stroller or into the house.

Also the remote car lock device is on the keychain, so there's no chance of locking the keys in the car.

Hey, I know it's not perfect, but it works for me. :shrug:

[Crunchy Frog]

48. Oh, and the other reason I won't lock my keys in the car is

that I leave the drivers side door open the whole time I'm getting babies out. Pretty hard to accidentally lock the door when it's hanging open like that. Also, it takes a whole lot longer to get kid #2 out of the car than it takes to turn the engine off, so if that's a problem then I'm already in deep shit just cause of having to remove the second kid.

The logistics of it work just fine for me. Sounds like you may have some problems if you ever end up with two young children very close in age.

[Warren DeMontague]

49. Gotcha. My intent wasn't to criticize what works for you. We all have our ways of doing things.

I will humbly posit that (and believe me, I AM speaking from experience, here) you may have to change that routine once they start running around/not wanting to be in the stroller, etc.

:)

[Touchdown]

41. This is a problem? It certainly isn't when your kid is in a restaurant screaming his lungs out.

:grr:

[Warren DeMontague]

42. Um...

....what?

[JVS]

45. I keep my kid on a line attached to my keys!

So as long as I don't lock my keys in the car, I should be fine.

[Odin2005]

47. How the hell do you forget your kid in the car?

:wtf:

[Berry Cool]

52. Easy. Lots of people have done it.

And they're not all stupid or self-absorbed. They're just busy people as capable of making mistakes as anyone else.