Posted on 07/22/2005 3:08:56 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s
Infant Girl Left In Hot Car Dies
A baby was found dead inside a car Thursday after her father went to pick her up at her daycare and workers there told him she had never arrived, authorities said.
Gabriel Saavedra rushed out to his car at Storybook Nursery School and found his tiny daughter, Kayli, still strapped in her infant seat from that morning, police said.
Emergency workers said the girl, who would have been 5 months old on Saturday, was declared dead on the scene.
Let me guess: Just as he drove up to the daycare he got an important call on the cellphone and drove on past and gabbed all the way to the office. Pretty easy to forget something in the back seat when you're on the phone.
I would hope so, but the thing about these type of tragedies, is it has an element of "every parents worst fear" and "There, but for the grace of God go I".
Being "absent minded" and "forgetful" by nature, I can understand all to easily how these things can happen. That is why Airbags, and rear safety seats bother me, because as an "absent minded" sort of person I have to always have visual cues, to keep me from forgetting what I am doing. I'm the sort who never leaves home without a post-it note on the dash to remind me where I am going, and what I am doing.
I left a baby sitting in the stroller in the boys' pants section of Wal-mart. The whole family (5 or 6 of us) just walked off. We'd gone halfway across the store before I realized I wasn't pushing the stroller. When we got back to the section where we'd left him (or her), an employee was standing there looking puzzled.
"That just goes to show you, if you want something done right, never give it to a man to do. "
Have you not read of the scores of women who do the exact same thing?
P.S. How many inventions have women come up with, vs. men? Or how many buildings, bridges, etc. have men built, as opposed to women?
Hey, you started it!
:-)
You don't buy what I just said? About my personal experience with leaviing a baby in a restaurant? Or about this father?
***
Oh I'm sorry. I misread your post in response to other post.
You are an honest man.
If I were you, I would get a string with clips on the car seat and on my shirt, good tight clips. Maybe even a handcuff. And never leave home without it.
Absent mindedness happens. Pots get left on stoves and burn up, people put pots on stoves with handles out, people forget poisons , etc. Every parent worries, I know I did.
Exactly. The other classic example was a proposed FAA regulation that would require all infants to have their own seats rather than being in a parent's lap. Studies have shown that this will likely *increase* deaths, because the added cost of an extra ticket would cause a certain percentage of families to drive instead of fly, which is of course far more dangerous per mile.
Every parent does something like that.
We had a neighbor whose 3 year old drowned. The mom thought the Dad was watching, and the Dad thought the Mom was. It was at an outdoor family barbecue. And the neighbor had left the gate to the poor next door open. Nobody even missed the child for an hour. It was dreadful, just destroyed everyone.
Maybe the state should put him in the electric char and forget that HE is there.
Recently, either New York or Philadelphia news had a story where a parent forgot baby in car, with the same tragic results. On that broadcast, they did mention an alarm being worked on that would ding if there was still weight in the car seat when the door was opened. So perhaps it will be a reality.
When my kids were babies, they did have to go in the back seat, and I very much disliked it because to focus the rearview mirror on the child would take it off the road. I never forgot one back there.(Although a few times I DID try to leave one or the other at a store LOL) I always check car before locking door, or getting back in. I can't understand how this childs father did not notice her.Yet at the same time I understand how distracted todays world can leave us. Still seems impossible to "forget" a child. But he will be punished every day of his life.
Good suggestions, but I'm not sure I'm ready for the handcuffs yet? :=)
Maybe we all should just stay home.
Everything we do is dangerous.
Since it happens so often, I'm surprised there isn't an alarm of the sort you describe.
I would hope so, but the thing about these type of tragedies, is it has an element of "every parents worst fear" and "There, but for the grace of God go I".
Being "absent minded" and "forgetful" by nature, I can understand all to easily how these things can happen. That is why Airbags, and rear safety seats bother me, because as an "absent minded" sort of person I have to always have visual cues, to keep me from forgetting what I am doing. I'm the sort who never leaves home without a post-it note on the dash to remind me where I am going, and what I am doing.
***
Yeah, it is a "worst fear kinda thing." I'm kind of absent minded too and have to use notes, etc., and I'm also older than a normal parent, so I tend to be even more absent minded. Add in the change of life coming up soon...well you get my drift. But I can't for the life of me figure out how someone leaves a kid in the car, especially ALL day and never thinks anymore about it. How do you forget you didn't drop them off? I don't know...maybe I am being too harsh.
Thank you! Couldn't agree more.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.