Posted on 06/29/2006 1:07:30 PM PDT by rawhide
A 5-month-old baby died in a minivan Wednesday after the mother apparently forgot to drop the child off at day care.
The tragedy was discovered about 5:30 p.m. outside the Wonder Years 2 day care. The baby's mother stopped at the day care after work to pick up the child and was told by staff that the baby had not been dropped off. She realized then that the baby had been in her minivan all day.
"The mother had forgotten to drop off the child at day care in the morning," said Curt Kreun, owner of Wonder Years 2. "She actually came in the building to pick up the child and then realized what had happened."
The child was in a car seat in the back of the vehicle, according to Sgt. Jeff Burgess of the Grand Forks Police Department. A Wonder Years 2 staff member made the 911 call, according to Kreun.
(Excerpt) Read more at grandforks.com ...
That is true. That occurred to me too, but a solution to the problem must be less specific than just addressing situations where the children are expected somewhere else.
I'd love to. But mr. elc is in process of getting a green card sponsored by his company. Can't go anywhere until that happens. And really he feels he must give them a couple more years after that since they've paid for the whole thing.
Ideally we'll be out of here is 3 or so years when we're ready for baby number 2 and I can stay home with both of them.
Serious answer: No one would ever think "Oh, yeah, I could forget I had my child in the car."
NO ONE ever thinks it would happen to them...that's why it's called 'accident' - even as tragic as this.
How many of us have NEVER done anything that resulted in a bad outcome?
There seems to be more rush-to-judgment responses here than retrospection or understanding that tragic mistakes do happen. It would be a wonderful world with only infallible people in it...but we haven't reached that level yet.
BTW, child seat sensors are coming. My Daughter and hubby just bought a van that sets off a sensor if you put a child in the FRONT seat and wont allow the car to start.
I'm hoping they'll work on sensors that will go off if the car is shut off and there's a child still in a car seat.
I was thinking that would be a great way to stop this, but the daycare we send our kids to does not call, not sure if it has even occurred to them.
I was thinking that would be a great way to stop this, but the daycare we send our kids to does not call, not sure if it has even occurred to them.
Excellent point. How does a mother of a 5 month old not call the day care at least some point during the day to check on her child? It is beyond me. Don't parents worry if their child is crying, has she/he been changed, fed on time, etc....I would worry myself sick all day which is why I could never leave my child in daycare of any kind.
I suspect it was "pre-medicated". She probably got up, had a cup of coffee and toked a doobie... got ready for work, put the kid in the car, drove to work..
I wouldn't use the term "monster", but most people who put their kids in day care just don't feel that raising their own children is an important priority. Sure, there is the occasional widow, or woman who was left holding the bag by an irresponsible husband, but almost without exception the parents who outsource their parental responsibilities to strangers are those whose priorities are themselves, their material possessions, and their social life. Their children are merely accessories to their lifestyles.
For those who would "understand" how a "mother" could forget a child in her vehicle, Mrs. Chandler posits the question: would she have forgotten a briefcase full of cash in the back seat?
This thread is a marvel of infallible spectators.
There may be patents out there already. As I said in the other thread, a car engineer devised one, but it added too much to the cost of the car and the company decided not to go with it.
This is just the beginning of the hot months. I fear there will be too many more cases like this one.
Until then, check out this site: www.halfbakery.com
"The Halfbakery is a communal database of original, fictitious inventions, edited by its users. It was created by people who like to speculate, both as a form of satire and as a form of creative expression."
Bingo.
The same BS happened in North Texas a few years ago. She was charged, went to court and the jury slapped her wrist.
OMG. I fell out of a car also, when I was 2. This was in 1977, before car seat requirements.
Except, in my case the car was moving. Well, it came to a stop and I thought it was time to get out. So I opened the door just at the time we started moving again. The driver looked in the rearview mirror and saw me laying in the middle of the parking lot.
Oops.
It is not about being infallible. It is about making your children your top priority, nothing more, nothing less.
I think this story is so sad. I cannot begin to think that this woman did this intentionally. think of the millions of children who get taken to day care every day. It is with the odds that a tragedy will happen occasionally. It is a numbers things. I shudder when I think of the things that could have happened to my own children-I cannot judge. I pray for this poor woman.
Exactly! Very simple. People blame this on the "nanny state" in one breath, then the next they are demanding that this problem be fixed with beepers, cell phones, and text messages. Of course, they'd probably want those features mandated by the same "nanny state" they claim to hate. How about some personal responsibility! It's not the job of the "nanny state" to remind you that you have a baby in the backseat, and it's not the job of car manufacturers and cell phone companies! Doing something as simple as attaching your purse to the child's seat (or whatever works for YOU) is far better than anything big gubmint or business can come up with.
I agree with you completely: let people make their own decisions about risk. People are fallible and when they are on autopilot and forget a step in their routine, they may not realize until it's too late. I have to imagine that this mother is suicidal.
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