I forgot he was back there, I swear!
By LuvBr0wn13s
@LuvBr0wn13s (765)
United States
January 5, 2009 3:58pm CST
I don't really know how often this happens in other parts of the US, but in the Dallas area there is an unusually high number of parents being locked up for...this is so sad..."forgetting" about their children and leaving them to fry to death in their cars while they "run errands". The stories all start out the same. A mother or father (or both) needed a gallon of milk, roll of toilet paper, etc. They were only going into the store for 5 minutes so they figured it would be okay to leave 2-year old Timmy in the car until they returned. But 5 minutes somehow turned into an hour and by the time they got back to the car--usually with a lot more than that gallon of milk or pack of toilet paper--Timmy has become another victim of heat stroke.
Some of the stories are even worse than these. Parents going to bars and leaving babies in the car to starve to death, or the parents that went shopping and put all their groceries away, started dinner, and then realized they left their kid in the car. Wow, I mean....wow.
Now I'm not going to say that parents don't get overwhelmed and tend to forget things. Maybe you forget to pack diapers or wipes in the baby bag. Maybe you forget the put bottoms on the baby and rush out of the door with a half-dressed toddler. Perhaps you lose track of time and end up feeding your kid a little later than usual. But to leave your small child in the car--with the windows not even rolled down enough for a cool breeze to flow through--while you go into the store--not really knowing how long it's going to take--and try to explain to the police and EMTs how you just "forgot" about her or him? Seriously?!?
3 people like this
15 responses
@lisa0502 (1724)
• Canada
6 Jan 09
I have 8 kids and I would have to agree with you. I have never in my life ever forgot about one of my kids. Most of these people have the mind set that they have left their kids in the car. That was their purpose so they did not have to take their kids into the store. There is no way in the world I could ever live with myself if I had ever done this. I think that it is a cop out that they make by saying they forgot.
1 person likes this
@planters (46)
• Philippines
6 Jan 09
... that excuse is so lame and stupid ... you would not call yourself a parent when you keep on forgetting about your roles ... like feeding the kid and stuffs ... go for single blessedness if you would like to go to bars and live your whole life in groceries and do shopping ...
1 person likes this
@poppoppop111 (5731)
• Canada
6 Jan 09
this is sad. first of all i'd never leave a small child in the car a lone, even to run in for 1 item. you never know what could happen during those 5 minutes before dying of heat stroke other things can happen. they can be frightened all alone, someone could come scare them or break into the car and take them. why would you take the risk for a gallon of milk. i just don't get people
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
5 Jan 09
I run a daycare and one day one of the dads was really late dropping off his daughter. When he came in I told him that I was just about to call him. He said that he got all the way to school and then realized that his daughter was still in the car. She had fallen asleep and he has a 30 minute drive to school. So I can see how it would happen.
Now if any of my parents are late, I call them just incase.
As for these people who leave the kids in the car on purpose, they should be locked up to fry in a car themselves.
1 person likes this
@keasling (723)
• United States
6 Jan 09
I completely understand what you mean!
Texas had way too many toddler deaths in 2008 and it looks like 2009 will not be any different. Here int he Houston area alone just over the weekend we had a 22 year old woman leaver her 2 year old in a car while she went to the bar drinking. It was only AFTER the cops picked her up and took her to the hospital that bar patrons noticed the 2 year old still in her car seat buckled up. Then we had a grandfather who left an infant at the park alone.
We are not in a week yet in the new year and we have had 2 incidents already.
How parents can forget a human is just ridiculous.
1 person likes this
@ethansmommy06 (401)
• United States
6 Jan 09
even 5 minutes is too long. If i go to a conveient store I take my 2 year old in with me. You never know who will break into your car or whatever else. Not even with the window let down. you just dont do it. I dont understand these parents who do this kind of crazy stuff. I mean any parent that has a two year old knows how difficult it is to FORGET them period!I have forgotten to take my sons bag to his little preschool but never forgot him in the dang car! It really is sad and whatis more sad than that is alot of parents get away with it.
@rowantree (1186)
• United States
6 Jan 09
I completely and totally agree with you. How do you "forget" you have a child? It's insane. But it might also tie in with those terrible people who smack me with their grocery carts in the line at the store and then say to me "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you". How can you not see me standing in front of you? Oh yeah, because they're the same people who can't seem to remember that they have a child!
What is wrong with these people?
@tinkerick (1257)
• United States
5 Jan 09
Some parents just should not be parents at all. Admittedly I have left my children in the car while going into the gas station, but never when they were small, and never when it was hot outside. Even if it's a nice 70 degrees outside, inside the car acts like a greenhouse and increases the temp twofold very quickly.
Now that they are older (13 and 11 - I still don't leave my 7 year old alone in teh car) I feel more comfortable leaving them if they'd rather stay in the car. They are old enough to lock the doors and monitor the A/C or heat if they need it.
The only times that I have actually "forgotten" my children is in the morning. I drop them off at school before I head to work and a couple times I've accidentally skipped the "drop them off at school" part and started down the road to work. Of course I immediately realize it and turn back around. But it gets them giggling.
1 person likes this
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
6 Jan 09
We have had 2 horrible incidents like this in the Cincinnati area in the past few years. One mom was a school vice-principal, the other was teaching in a Christian college.
Someone pointed out that neither one probably ever forgot her briefcase or cell phone. But both forgot their child?
My son is 24, but even now I would never forget he's in the car or not in the car. Give me a break.
@jessi0887 (2788)
• United States
6 Jan 09
I am going to have to agree. I can't see how you can forget about your child. I take my son out of the car every time. Mainly because i am afraid someone is going to steal my car and at least i know if they do my son is with me and safe. I get stressed alot and forget alot of things but one thing i find hard to forget is the fact that i am a full time parent and have constant attention focused on my son. I find it hard to believe that someone can forget they have their child with them. I remember a case two years ago nearby where this woman running a daycare left one of the children in the daycare van. I don't remember much on it anymore. Its just sad.
@kitttenskysong (676)
• United States
6 Jan 09
yes and what about the ones who get kidnapped because mommy or daddy forgot about them? Or the hundreds of other things that could happen to a small child left unattended for any amount of time.
I do not have kids of my own, so maybe i shouldn't have an opinion, but i think it is very irresponsible of these parents to do this. Forget? The only thing they forgot is responsibility
@LuvBr0wn13s (765)
• United States
9 Jan 09
No, your opinions are very valid. I have even watched kids of my neighbors to keep them from just leaving their kids alone. I understand the struggles of single parent-hood, but I do not understand forgetting about your child. How do you forget about something that needs so much from you ALL of the time. These parents are either mentally unstable or just plain unfit. Lazy so-and-so's.......
@Polly289 (269)
• New Zealand
6 Jan 09
What is with that? I have seen it on the news as well. Shocking if I may say so myself. I have never, in all my years, left my child, unforgotten in a car. How does anyone forget they have kids? It's the same as when people forget their children are playing in the yard and back over them. How does that happen?
It is against the law, in my country, to leave a child unattended in a car. Unfortunately, it still happens.
@kprofgames (3091)
• United States
6 Jan 09
I don't get it either. Maybe this is that new age parent that someone else on here mentioned. I thought about this and I don't know the answer. I mean the parents are being punished for what they did, but with all the publicity on it, you'd think that people could use alittle more brain power.
I don't understand how you just "forget" about your children. I don't. My friend has 6 children, stories like this makes her sick, just sick. She keeps telling me when God passed out brains they thought he said trains so they didn't get in line.
And you know what? According to what these parents are doing, that makes sense to me. It has to, nothing else does.
@Olives22 (2)
• United States
6 Jan 09
I don't understand how parents can forget their kids, however I'm not going to judge them. I just had a beautiful little girl and I would never risk her safety by leaving her alone alone ANY WHERE especially not in a car while I run into the store. I can't be sure of her safety if she's not with me. But everyone is different.
@sunshinelady (7609)
• United States
6 Jan 09
There is something seriously wrong with people who do this and turn around and say they forgot their child. You forget something not someone. First of all these children that this happens to shouldn't even be left in the car like that. It makes me mad. There are women in this world who can't have children and would treasure very highly their childs life if they could have a child. There should be some very stiff punishment for people who do this.
