This happened in our area several years ago. The lady was considered a very good mother and she was not a moron. Before she dropped the child off she had to run an errand that wasn't part of her normal routine. The baby fell asleep and was behind her seat. Of course it destroyed mer marriage and her life.
Folks can call the woman in this story names all day long, but she'll beat herself up more than we can. I can't imagine the hell the rest of her life will be.
Not to be cruel, but she deserves it. With the prevalence of these types of stories, there is almost no excuse for this to happen. I don't care how sleep deprived you are. If you are that damned tired, you shouldn't even be driving much less going to work.
Oh yeah, last year some friends' friends (a Christian couple, both doctors) had that happen. Both parents thought the other was taking care of the baby, and it was sitting in the car on a day when the temp was in the 90s. Horrible, but itbdoesn't necessarily indicate that the parent is a bad person
I agree.
I'm not going to judge her.
Sleep deprivation, depression, or simply being distracted by too much to do and not enough time to do them: all of these could cause a person to be distracted and harried enough to forget anything.
This doesn't mean that she didn't love her baby and wasn't a good parent.
We've all made tragic mistakes. I'm just thankful that my mistakes haven't turned out to be tragic.
"lady was considered a very good mother and she was not a moron. Before she dropped the child off she had to run an errand that wasn't part of her normal routine"
A good mother's first priority is raising and caring for her child. She doesn't farm it off for others to deal with when it's an infant.
I agree with you. Absent minded people like me would certainly rather not be absent minded, but it isn't something we can change, no matter what people on this list think. Over the years, I forgot to pick up my kids from places a couple of times. Nothing bad came of it. (I also remember probably the sweetest, kindest mother in the neighborhood leaving her kids at the public pool, one time, as well.) Never forgot them in the car, but baby seats were not kept in the back, then. When my routine is disrupted, when I have to do something extra, or some other change enters in, then I forget things. Yes, I know about various kinds of memory aids like notemaking. I use them. Sometimes they help, sometimes I lose the notes.
This has all started happening after baby seats were required to be in the back seat. Babies and toddlers very often fall right to sleep in the baby seat and are then obviously quiet.
I thank God this never happened to me, but being cruel toward these parents is something I read every single time stories are posted on this list.
Sure there are times when kids are left in cars more or less deliberately such as the mother who was taking hours getting her hair and nails done and knew her kids were in the car. I remember that story very well, but don't remember if any of the kids died as a result. That is deliberate neglect and is a very different kind of behavior.
I just don't understand selfrightously heaping curelty on people who have failed horrifically, and their children have died as a result. Most go over and over that day in their minds I am sure, but once something so overhwelmingly terrible like that has happened, there is absolutely nothing you can do to get that day back and live it over and do things right so your child is safe.
So you all think it couldn't ever happen to you, eh? Well I KNOW it COULD have happened to me! Yes, folks I AM that absent minded, and guess what else, I really, really love my kids, and they turned out fine. I have God to thank that nothing like this ever happened, but at least I am honest enough to say it could have.
I think a lot of you are denying the anxiety that it COULD happen to you, now matter how careful you think you are.
Flame away, if you like.
The rear baby seat should be cattycorner to the driver's seat. That way the driver can give easy glances into the backseat and check on the baby.
Completely llogical to have the babyseat behind the driver's.