You simply forget they are with you.
They are in the back seat, they are asleep, particularly if it is not part of your regular routine to have them with you -
and particularly if you are sick or sleep deprived -
it does not require malice.
Sorry, don’t buy it.
HUH? I NEVER forgot my children - in a car or anywhere else. I won’t leave my dog in the car in the hot sun either.
The man should go to jail for this - he’s just lucky it won’t be for a murder charge.
What you say is true.
However, this was the parking lot for the Rio Entertainment Complex.
One wonders what he was there for.
Here are the activities at the Entertainment Center.
# All of our restaurants are on the waterfront with outside dining facilities.
# AMC Loews Rio Cinemas 18 offers all first run movies with Dolby Digital sound, on 18 screens with stadium seating.
# The Rio Sport and Health Club is one of the finest family workout facilities in the area, offering an indoor swimming pool, racquetball/basketball courts and KidsKlub for members.
# Clubgolf Performance Center will take care of all of your golfing needs.
# Paddleboats are available for your enjoyment during the spring, summer and fall months.
# Summer Concerts, Friday and Saturday evenings, 6-9pm, May - September.
Ahh, someone with rational thought. That is refreshing. I agree with you.
OMG! I absolutely cannot even comprehend your ability to so casually excuse this. I remember a few years ago, a young man was supposed to take his infant to the daycare. His wife always did this but, for some reason, on this day, he had to do it. He went on auto pilot and went to work and literally left the car there all day in the sweltering heat. The baby die. Of course, no one can ever be consoled in this kind of event. Obviously, I can see “how” it happens but as a mother whose mind was on my child every second of every day, it is on some levels inconceivable. For five minutes or ten minutes of forgetting, yes, but hours?
There was also a related story where the mother put the baby in the carseat on top of the car and drove off. Fortunately, baby only had a few bumps and bruises.
You are right, it does not require malice; it requires much, much more - negligence, irresponsibility, and a whole host of other behaviors. Anyone that sleep-deprived, sick, or just plain stupid, should be driving with a kid in the car EVER.
The nanny state kills.
The annual number of child fatalities in hot cars has increased approximately TEN-fold since the introduction of laws requiring young children to ride in the back seat of vehicles. Before that, nearly all parents put their little ones in the front seat when the parent was the only adult in the car. The proliferation of dark-tinted windows has also contributed to the problem, though that’s really also part of the same back-seat problem, since there are strict limits on the darkness of front seat windows, to avoid the driver’s visibility being impaired.
It was extremely rare for a parent to forget a young child in the car, when the child was in the front seat next to the parent. Now, not only is the parent subjected by law to the “out of sight, out of mind” risk, but passers-by often don’t see the child either, due to the darker windows in the back seat. There was one case where the car was parked in the psrking lot of a busy hospital where the parent worked, and the child was in the car for many hours with no one noticing (and already dead when someone finally did — can’t recall if it was the parent returning after work, or someone else seeing the child through another widnow.
As the father of 5 and now a grandfather, you are WRONG! We never forgot a kid anywhere, anytime. It is called maturity and LOVE. Everyone is looking for an out now. "Oh, I am tired" I spent 25 years in the Army so if you want to talk about being tired - try going for 36+ hours without sleep and maintain a state of mental alertness.
I’m with Aria on this one.
The dad needs to spend some time in jail. He came damn close to killing his child. Wherever he was, that baby should have been with him.
And no, I never, even one time forgot about either one of my girls in the car, ever, neither did my husband.
They are in the back seat, they are asleep, particularly if it is not part of your regular routine to have them with you -
and particularly if you are sick or sleep deprived -
it does not require malice.
Your shit*ing me. Right?
I have three daughters. NEVER have I forgotten that one of them was in the back. NEVER.
If someone FORGETS their child in the back of their vehicle, they do not deserve to be parents over that child. Period.
“Keep your wallet or something you need in the back seat next to your child to remind you not to leave without them.” and “Put a Post-it note on the dashboard to remind you that your child is in the back seat, especially when your routine has changed.”
So to the parentally challenged, you may want to put something you value very highly, like your wallet or your purse next to your young child.
Priorities, you know.
/s
These stories make me so mad I can't stand it!
I don’t and will never accept that as an excuse.
Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
Fatal Distraction:
Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html