Horrifying Headlines
By orcanut
@orcanut (146)
Canada
February 21, 2007 6:25am CST
Today in the news a terrible tragedy was reported from Calgary, Alberta. A two year old child was killed by the power window of the family vehicle. The mother had left her 7 year old and 2 year old in the vehicle and went to run an errand. The 2 year old was crying so the 7 year old unbuckled the 2 year old. The 2 year old then got caught in the window. A man passing by saw this and got the 2 year old out and ran to call 911. While he was gone, the mother returned, thought the 2 year old was sleeping, buckled it back in and drove off, only later realizing that it wasn't breathing. The 2 year old died before they reached the hospital. My heart goes out to the family. How do you forgive yourself for something like this? We have all heard the horrible stories of leaving kids in the car to "run into the store". Oprah even had a show years ago where a man drove off in the van of a woman who had done just this, left her child in the car to run into the store. Her baby was still in the van. I was guilty of doing this all the time (before that show). It is so much easier to just leave the kids in the car. A hard, hard lesson learned for one poor family.
10 people like this
24 responses
@creativemuse (193)
• United States
21 Feb 07
This is neglect. This woman should be charged with endangering at the VERY least. Also this should alert car manufacurers to s serious problem. I know there are child safety locks for doors-are there for power windows?
2 people like this
@jsgrand0 (246)
• United States
21 Feb 07
yeah, i think her guilt would be the worst thing, but YES they do make locks for power windows, it just depends on the particular car if it was equipped with that or not..but here's a question, If they child got caught in a power window, did the mom leave the car running? Power windows don't work if the car is off....
1 person likes this
@joannapeck (22)
• Singapore
21 Feb 07
what an extremely sad story! my heart goes out to the mom involved. She's gonna have to live with this for the rest of her life. That's enough punishment for anyone.
@maryannemax (12156)
• Sweden
21 Feb 07
yep. she'll surely get back to that day and realize how things went so wrong and she'll keep on wishing she should have brought the kids along with her even if it's too tiresome for her to do. yep. that's enough lesson for her to bring on in her life.
2 people like this
@Ravenladyj (22902)
• United States
21 Feb 07
OMG thats just awful!!! and ya knwo this is EXACTLY why you DO NOT LEAVE LITTLE ONES UNATTENDED IN A CAR...yes the 7 yr old was there but she/he is ONLY 7!! thats just crazy.....I mean I feel for the woman, she has a long road ahead of her but let this be a damn lesson to other parents....I'm sorry but that could so easily have been avoided!!
2 people like this
@orcanut (146)
• Canada
21 Feb 07
Part of me feels the same way - it so easily could have been avoided! There is a reason kids have to be a certain age before they can take babysitting courses - because they are not and cannot reasonably be responsible until they reach that age - and it is not 6 or 7.
1 person likes this
@Sissygrl (10912)
• Canada
21 Feb 07
My mom never drove, and i dont remmeber ever going anywhere with my dad alone I think that my mom always stayed in the car with us untill we were older. Me and my husband dont drive, so we dont have to worry about that. my heart goes out to that poor mother. how would she have known. But i wonder why the 7 year old didn't say anything ? and why wasn't the two year old in a carseat ? my stepson is 3 and he still needs to be in a carseat according to the laaws in canada, and even i have trouble unbuckling that thing sometimes.
2 people like this
@orcanut (146)
• Canada
21 Feb 07
I'm sure we were probably left in the car when we were younger. But, like everything else these days, it seems it's a wonder we are all alive. We didn't wear seatbelts, we didn't wear helmets for bike riding or sledding or skating etc. I think although no parent could foresee this happening, perhaps we all should err on the side of caution. I am the biggest worrywart of all time so maybe it is easier for me to imagine the worst. I know what you mean about car seats - I can't do up or undo our two year olds seat. Apparently, the older child fell asleep and they said he unbuckled the 2 year old so I guess he was able to undo the seatbelt or carseat straps.
1 person likes this
@mobyfriend (1017)
• Netherlands
21 Feb 07
That is a horrible story. I feel for the family because everyone makes mistakes at one point or another.
I can't drive a car but I have a similar story. I could never understand why some mothers would leave their baby sleeping at home when they brought another child to school. I always dressed the baby, rain or shine, and took her with me. Even if you are gone five minutes something could happen.
I think you must count your lucky stars is nothing happens to your kids.
2 people like this
@orcanut (146)
• Canada
21 Feb 07
I too feel for the family. I am having a hard time calling this a mistake or a horrible accident because I'm not sure I believe in "accidents". Mistake seems too tame conisdering the outcome. Don't get me wrong, I know full well this poor mother could have been or any one of us, and my heart and prayers do go out to her. I do thank God every day for my healthy, happy family.
1 person likes this
@Alomran (4)
• United States
21 Feb 07
Wow...
I feel for the family, but come on, you shouldn't leave your kid in the car when you go in. You might have been able to get away with it 50 years ago, when the world was different, but now, in the modern era, you can not. It pains me to say this, because i wish that you still could, but the child predators and others out there make it harder. My father used to walk home from school in San Francisco, now, he didn't let me walk a mile from my school in the suburbs of hartford. Coming back to the central point, dont leave your kids alone, i know when i get older and get married and have kids, i will try my best not to.
@lovesfreedom (1245)
• United States
22 Feb 07
I agree, we live in a completely different world than our parents did, even from when I was a little girl. You, can't let a kid out of your sight, it is just to dangerous anymore and I never want to ask the question, what if.
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
22 Feb 07
OMG..., that is really horrifying... i will never ever leave my children alone in the car especially when they are only 7 and 2 years old... that is just so irresponsible of the mum... even though it is only for a while, it is so much safer to bring the child with me wherever i go... i had heard many horrible stories of what happen to young children who are being left alone and the consequences is just too dear to bear...
1 person likes this
@krislouiebaby (2346)
• Philippines
22 Feb 07
oh my god,
i am terrified, i feel for the monther because i am a mother too. i could feel that she would blame herself about what happened to her baby,
it hurts deeply, and it is a traumatic experience.
@classy56 (2880)
• United States
22 Feb 07
i could never forgive myself if i had done that.this is something that would be hard to live with.i would put myself in a mental intsitutions cause i would go nuts.an i feel so sorry for the mother for makeing one big mistake.that changed her life forever.
@florenciascorner (381)
• United States
25 Feb 07
This is so awful! When will people get it! that you don't leave children unattended in your vehicle! Maybe someday it will be a national crime, regardless of where you are in the world, to cause this to happen. I know, they're always thinking, "it will just take a minute", will a minute is a very lllllooooonnnnnggggg time for a child. I live where the whether is very dry and hot! Would you believe we have parents leaving their children and dogs in the hot cars? Get a grip folks! Sorry, I just had to vent.
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
21 Feb 07
This is terrible-- I feel so bad for the family..
Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle or really anywhere where they can harm themselves. The 7 yr old was not near old enough to take care of the 2 year old. My daughter is 10-- and I still will not allow her to sit in the car while I run into any store.. There are way to many sickos out there..
I hope that everyone with children see this story on the news and the many more like it and that it saves 1 child--
The horror this mom must be going through--
@shywolf (4514)
• United States
21 Feb 07
That is just such an awful, sad story :( I don't believe in leaving children unattended in a car, no matter how short of an amount of time one plans on being inside a store. Even before reading this story I would've been loathe to do it, and I know now that no matter the circumstances, I would think more than twice before ever leaving even one child alone in a car. I feel so awful for the family that this happened to. I know that they didn't mean for anything like this to happen, and I'm sure that this is one day that they will never forget for the rest of their lives. :( It is a lesson that we all must learn, keep a better eye on our children. Believe me, if I do have children one day I plan to be the kind of parent who probably watches her children so much that they get sick of it, lol!
@orcanut (146)
• Canada
21 Feb 07
This is such a horribly sad story. I know i sat with my hand over my mouth when I first heard it and have been watching all day for more information - but the facts stay the same. I am guilty of leaving my now 14 year old in the car when i ran into the store when she was little - my conscience saving excuse now is that I could see her - but no excuse would sufice if anything had of happened to her. Don't do that with my son who's only two. I am the kind of mom who's kids are sick of her, and the niece's are sick of me and the neighbourhood kids....my next door neighbour's husband had their kids on their four wheeler without helmets and he told the kids "if you see her, duck"! If that's my reputation, I'm proud for it!
@Admirela09 (160)
• United States
23 Feb 07
There are a certain responsibilities that come with becoming a parent. One of them is making sure they are always safe this should not be hard if you love your children but sometimes and we are of aware of the dangers in doing certain things and we instead learn the hard painful way. My heart goes out this family and I wish them strength to get through this hard time.
1 person likes this
@Beertjie (976)
• South Africa
22 Feb 07
people don't understand that a child is not just a comodity but rather part of your whole life. You can't do anything without concidering your children. To think there are people who would love to have children and then they read this article. They probably say that the child should have been theirs because they love children and would take care of them better.
1 person likes this
@SpitFire179 (2536)
• Canada
22 Feb 07
I just saw that a couple of hours ago, and it's soo sad, my gosh, i don't know what to even think... it really hurts to see something like this had happened.... You'd think though that the 7 year old would have told the mother what happened before she got everything done and drove away.... I mean when I was 7 i would have done the same, i can't see that child not telling her mother what went on, especially if an old man went and helped the little one right?
I just wonder what other horriffic things happen that we don't hear about... scares me to think about it...
@cwilson26 (2735)
• United States
22 Feb 07
This is so terrible. I don't have kids but I couldn't leave them in the car by themselves while I went in the store or where ever else. I understand some people have done it and didn't mean for anything to happen to their kids because they were only going to be gone for a minute but it is still a big risk to leave your children anywhere alone. Especially in a car. My heart goes out to this family and can you imagine how guilty the mother feels? I really hate hearing about things like this.
1 person likes this
@samtaylorskykierajen (7977)
• Canada
22 Feb 07
OMG I have chills from reading this . I can't imagine what that family is going through . As a rule I generally take my chilren in with me where ever I go but can't say that I am innocent in not running in somewhere really quick when they were sleeping and I didn't figure I would be in very long .
I just can't imagine what a horrible feeling the poor mother is going in as this is one of those fluke accidents that you just don't expect will happen .
This is a really hard lesson and I will never be able to leave my children for even a second now .
1 person likes this
@clod0327 (817)
• Philippines
22 Feb 07
I can never forgive myself if ever that happens to my daugther. It is really one hard lesson learned. I also saw the show of Oprah that you are talking about. Thanks for all this show, it keeps us reminded of the things that we shouldn't sacrifice for the safety of our children.
@Ona1limb (22)
• United States
22 Feb 07
I feel remorse for such a tragic situation. However I see things like this happen alot more than they should and wonder when they do, how anyone can dought the theorys' of Darwin. No matter how idiot proof our scociety tends to make things.
1 person likes this
@crickethear (1417)
• United States
22 Feb 07
That is awful, that poor woman, having to live with that the rest of her life. I can't even imagine what that would be like. I would rather die then live with the guilt and loss, however, the only thing that would keep me going is my other children. Pray for her and that she will be given the strength to handle this.
1 person likes this
