When I was growing up, like many of you, we got in the car, and usually dad sometimes mom, would start the engine, back the car out of the garage, down the driveway and onto the street. Then, off we’d go on another adventure.
Seems pretty simple and straightforward, right? Well, on the surface, yes, it is.
Now, fast forward 50 years to 2015. Same scenario, except that at the end of that
journey, I’m sitting in the car on a very hot, dry summer day, the windows are
up, and mommy has left me to bake in my car seat while she, “… just runs in to
get a few things. I’ll only be gone a few minutes, dear.”
The next thing I know, there are people outside, yelling at
me, pounding on the car windows, I am getting really tired, and it’s hard to
keep my eyes open. I can feel the pounding, it almost sounds like mommy’s
heartbeat; hard to keep my eyes open…
BAM!
I’m out and floating in the air. People are screaming, crying, yelling.
“My baby!
What happened to my baby??”
Where am I? Where’s mommy?
Does any of this sound eerily familiar? I hope so, because there have been dozens of
these scenarios playing out across the United States where a mother or father,
“forgets” that junior is in that car seat, in extremely hot, 3-digit temperatures
and runs or scoots into the store for “just a few minutes.”
How does a parent get “too busy” or “too distracted” to
remember their child in that car seat? I
mean, come on, let’s get real here.
Until they are 18 years old, sometimes longer, they need and rely on you! The umbilical cord isn’t actually severed
until right around 18 years of age.
So, please, someone, help me understand this?
How is it that anything could possibly be more
important than that tiny, innocent little creature that you created, being left inside that oven to bake?
- Oh, I just thought I’d be gone a little while.
- I forgot.
- I didn’t know.
- I’m so sorry.
These are just a few of the myriad of “lame excuses” that
parents have produced when being confronted with law enforcement upon returning
to their cars only to find out that little Johnny or little Sally was left in
that car to be baked alive.
Thankfully, in most of these cases, law enforcement has
shown up in the knick of time in order to not only save the baby, but arrest the
hapless parent, as well.
Does it sound gruesome?
Good. Maybe that will get you thinking the next time you decide your
smartphone, cellphone, tablet, or shopping is more important that than precious
little life. Your baby.
Follow these links:
According to http://noheatstroke.org/
Forgotten
|
% of total
|
|
Mother
|
98
|
29%
|
Father
|
115
|
34%
|
Both Parents
|
35
|
10%
|
Grandmother
|
14
|
4%
|
Grandfather
|
10
|
3%
|
Both Grandparents
|
1
|
less than 1%
|
Other Female relative
|
8
|
2%
|
Other Male relative
|
5
|
1%
|
Female Childcare
|
18
|
5%
|
Male Childcare
|
17
|
5%
|
Unknown Childcare
|
1
|
less than 1%
|
Other Female
|
2
|
1%
|
Other Male
|
2
|
1%
|
Unknown
|
12
|
4%
|
Total
|
338
|
These are some very scary stats, don't you agree?
 |
| My parents never left us in the car, because we were actually important to them. |
