I am not a parent but......

pmontgomery87 · July 2014

What is the deal with these parents leaving kids in hot cars? Is it really that easy to forget your child is in the back seat?

snp605 · July 2014

Some people would say no and I have never done it but I can see how it can happen. More than once I've been stressed about something at work and thinking about something else I needed to do and realized I'd driven past the turn for daycare and was headed straight to work. DH and I split days dropping her off based on our schedule for any given day (they fluctuate from day to day) so there is no real "routine" to it. Once I freaked out about lunchtime because I couldn't remember dropping her off and was sure I was supposed to. I called DH and he reminded me that he had done it. He told me about a time he was headed to an appt before work, got out locked the car and looked back to make sure the lights flashed that it was locked and noticed her in the back. So really he almost did it. I used drop my work bag and purse next to her car seat mostly for convenience getting it in and out but that's one of the recommended things to prevent the left in the car seat thing from happening.

Stuff happens if it didn't people wouldn't lock their keys in the car on the morning of an important interview or leave their laptops full of client information on the counter of the starbucks kwim? We all get distracted and when you are potentially sleep deprived from a poor sleeping toddler, stress from a busy work schedule, fight with your spouse,etc. so I don't judge it.

MommyLiberty5013 · July 2014

I agree with the PP. Accidents DO happen.

However, some of these parents also intentionally researched online leaving kids in hot cars and what would happen. I think some of these recent cases were murder. The authorities found out their internet search history and it looks like there was some intent to kill in these cases.

pmontgomery87 · July 2014

Thanks for putting it into perspective for me. Like I said I don't have kids, but I can understand being so distracted with life in general that you forget really important things.

That is actually what I was referring to. It seems like everytime I turn on the news another child has been left in a hot car...its so sad.

als1982 · July 2014

Often it happens when a family's routine differs from the usual. For example, when a mom normally takes the child to day care before work, but for some reason the dad happens to be the one who is supposed to drop them off that day. It's just not part of their routine to check for the child in the backseat. On daily drives to work or regular trips to the grocery store, etc., we're often times on auto-pilot mentally. It would help us all to be more mindful.

vlagrl29 · July 2014

I was always overly paranoid when DD was little. I was double checking the backseat while I was driving, thinking I forgot to bring her with me. People need to slow down in life.

The recent case on the news is that the dad did it on purpose to kill off his kid so he could cash in on the kid's life insurance policy. That makes me sick!