No Parent Can Imagine This

I read an article in The Washington Post about a new problem that has arisen. Every summer 10,20, 30 or more children are dieing after being left in cars by their parents. These are not the kids that are left so Mom or Dad can go into a bar, or into the store and some tragedy that could have been foreseen occurs.

These are incidents where the parent simply forgets that the child is in the car and leaves him there. When one hears of this they usually will say oh my gosh that is terrible, that parent should be strung up, what were they thinking and this is often followed by the righteous indignation and sure response that they could never do this.

It is a horrible phenomenon. When kids car seats got moved to the backseat the problem started as the visual reminder went away. Now most working parents are well familiar that their mornings and afternoons are a rigid list of do this do that before they even can sit down at their desks and offices or less so to arrive home after a day of work.

What seems to occur in these instances is that something goes off with the schedule. Perhaps the husband gets dropped off first, perhaps a different parent has the child. Somehow things are done out of order and the child asleep in the back is not dropped off at daycare. The parent goes into work and usually until the daycare provider reaches out or worse with no warning until they arrive at their car later that day to go home an awful discovery is made.

The reaction is swift how can they not check on their kids all day. The truth is though when this happens the parent is sure the children are at daycare...there would be no reason to check on them. Some prosecutors chalk it as a terrible accident and let the parents deal with their guilt and shame in private, others bring charges such as manslaughter most frequently, rarely to success.

I have commented before about the ignorance of those who comment on stories but a story like this brings out the worst in people. Pyschologists say that some folks have to have thier be a villian and not a terrilbe mistake by a good person. Without a villian the obvious conclusion is that this could happen to anyone, to any child and that is not a safe thought to have as we go to sleep last night.

For those who say it could not happen to them I ask them to look in their memory bank for a time when they have driven someplace and then realized they were so deep in thought that they do not know how they got there, what route they took and other such things. This is common and relates to the brains ability to do the routine on auto pilot and think of other things, such as that days work, or the weekend plans, and have everything come out fine. This is what happens in these awful accidents. I am surprised it does not happen more often. It is tragic.

Anyone who thinks it or something equally diasastrous could not happen to them is fooling themselves. There but for the grace of God go I.

I believe that living through this must be horrible. A persons life can get turned upside down anytime, anyday. Reading these stories makes us feel lucky.