Fatal Mistake or Felony?
It hardly seems possible to go into work and accidentally "forget" your child still strapped into their car seat. Yet this is happening all of the time. There even new products on the market to assist parents in remembering their child is in the backseat. As a mother of 2, it seems impossible for such a thing to slip my mind. Just getting into the car from the house is a mission itself, not to mention all of the gear needed when traveling with a baby. Kids are noisy, and they are needy. Most children do not stay quiet for more than a few minutes. I am usually a total Basketcase from my children and their constant noise. So I have to wonder, what is going on in the heads of these parents? What is so important that they are able to block out their chi
In a perfect world children would always out live their parents, children would never suffer any form of child abuse, and parents would always make their children their top priority. While most of these deaths are a result of a terrible accident, there are still a few that were intentional. It is hard to believe any parent would or even could intentionally harm or even kill their child. However, it happens. It happens everyday. What is causing these parents to act out so violently and selfishly? Law enforcement and other officials are advising parents to put their cell phones in the backseat as a way to not forget the baby. If that is what we have become as a society, then count me out. Have cell phones really become more valuable than our children? A parent will forget their own flesh and blood in a scorching car but not a meaningless cell phone? Again, this is very sad. What kind of society are we turning into where cell phones are more important than a child-human life?
Children only started dying in cars with astonishing frequency in the early 1990's, according to Kids and Cars, an organization which tracks these numbers. What sparked this change? Well, according to Kids and Cars, parents are not to blame but airbags and laws about seat belts are the cause of all of these child deaths. Kids and Cars states that it was only when laws were passed about seat belts and children were moved to the back of the car that parents started forgetting them in the backseat. Honestly, what kind of excuse is that? So these parents are just off the hook? Put the blame on seat belts? Seat belts prevent far too many deaths and injuries to play the scapegoat for these absent-minded parents. Nice try.
It is heartbreaking to hear all of the stories on the news about another child left alone to die in a car. Studies have shown that stress, change in routine and simple human error is usually the cause of these horrible accidents. Wake up people. Your child is above anything else going on in life. If a parent is conscious enough to strap a baby into a car seat and conscious enough to drive from point A to point B then there is no reason why that same parent cannot remember their helpless child strapped in the carseat, usually right behind them! There really is no excuse. If the excuse is too much stress, change in routine or simple human error than the solution is simple! Go to counseling to cut out the stress, get off the cell phone, and get your head out of your behind. A child is a precious gift. Not something to be forgotten alone in a car to die.
