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Toddler dies in hot car as mom teaches inside school

you know, i really doubt that anyone does this even slightly on purpose. we're all so ****ing busy that we get scatterbrained and **** up. it just makes me sick, because i know that there probably won't be a day between now and death that the parent won't think about this and agonize over it. you want to know what hell is like? get exhausted, overworked, and scatterbrained, and **** up like that. it's just a ****ing awful tragedy when this happens, and i hate reading about it.

I wouldn't say that there isn't anyone who does this on purpose (I have strong suspicions about the one father who was actually charged), but the vast majority of parents don't leave their children in the car on purpose.

Georgia Man Charged With Murder After Leaving Baby in Hot Car - NBC News
 
"I'm sorry your honor. It's just that I was so busy and I forgot him in there! With all this work I'm doing, I'm so scatterbrained!"

Judge's most probable response (in his mind), "What a load of ****ing horse-****. You're ass is getting thrown in jail."

Most people's response, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That you try and rationalize for something like this is almost ****ing inferior.

Actually, most parents don't get charged if they do something like this unless there are other circumstances, such as suspicious behavior beforehand or drugs or alcohol involved.
 
I have a dog. He goes with me whenever I can take him. That means when it isn't too hot to leave him in the truck or I leave him with the wife for protection. I always remember that my dog is in the truck. I have never forgotten once. I don't understand how one forgets a child. I can only imagine the physical agony this kid went through.

I also can't believer people try to rationalize it. It is sad what our society will tolerate or empathize with.

It's the lack of empathy that bothers me. I remember writing a letter to the editor over 20 years ago complaining about a reporter's article about a local tragedy--young parents holding the baby on a lap in the front seat, wreck, baby thrown out and killed. The reporter took the parents to task about not restraining the baby. The reporter's job wasn't to editorialize and sit in judgment.

What I said in my letter I'll say to you: You don't think the parents know they screwed up? You don't think they're suffering? You don't think that the greatest challenge of the rest of their lives will be learning to live with the consequences of their carelessness?

Have a little compassion here and be grateful that cannot imagine what it's like to lose your own child, much less by your own fault.
 
I think car seats should be designed for infants in the front seat. There are other options than the two you demand.

True, but I just can't see how the safest child seat designed for the front will ever be as safe as the safest child seat designed for the back. The closer you get to the front of the vehicle and that noncollapsible engine block the lower your odds are in a head on collision. No matter the design the safest spot, statistically speaking, will be the rear center seat, followed by a rear passenger seat. I could be wrong.
 
Actually, most parents don't get charged if they do something like this unless there are other circumstances, such as suspicious behavior beforehand or drugs or alcohol involved.

Yeah, what would be the point in charging unless it was intentional? Punishment? They have already received the worst punishment imaginable. Deterance? If the threat of killing one's child didn't stop the accident why would the threat of jail time?
 
Nope, not in a million years can I see any justification to this. Not at all. I have 3 kids and there was never a moment that I forgot about their existence. You would have to believe that her daughter never crossed her mind even one time in that 8 hour period. Impossible. If I ever did forget my kids in their car seats- which I wouldn't - for the love of ****ing god, at some point during my day I would have thought of them, and then realized that I didn't remember taking them to daycare or their nannies, and that would have jolted me to the point I would run out and see where they were.

This stupid bitch. I hope this haunts her until the day she dies. I'm sorry for not being sympathetic, but as a mother, to have this happen is as likely as finding Elvis Presley standing in my closet.
 
Nope, not in a million years can I see any justification to this. Not at all. I have 3 kids and there was never a moment that I forgot about their existence. You would have to believe that her daughter never crossed her mind even one time in that 8 hour period. Impossible. If I ever did forget my kids in their car seats- which I wouldn't - for the love of ****ing god, at some point during my day I would have thought of them, and then realized that I didn't remember taking them to daycare or their nannies, and that would have jolted me to the point I would run out and see where they were.

This stupid bitch. I hope this haunts her until the day she dies. I'm sorry for not being sympathetic, but as a mother, to have this happen is as likely as finding Elvis Presley standing in my closet.

She could have believed that she dropped off her kid wherever the kid was supposed to be. Some people have issues remembering things and even remember things wrong. They think they did something one day because they did it the day before. Or they don't remember they were supposed to do something different this day than they normally do. Not everyone's memories work the same.
 
Yeah, what would be the point in charging unless it was intentional? Punishment? They have already received the worst punishment imaginable. Deterance? If the threat of killing one's child didn't stop the accident why would the threat of jail time?
You've stated the prosecution quandary well.

It would seem the law would demand it - an act of negligent homicide was committed.

And from my ethical POV, there should be at least some lightly moderate price to pay in instances of simply negligence, with a higher price to pay if there's contributory circumstances (drugs, alcohol, etc.).

But you stated well, there's lack of accomplishment if the parents are charged.

I expect charges could be prepared & justified as 'the State acting on behalf of the victim', but that may be nebulous as well. And, would the victim want their parents prosecuted?

It's a difficult situation ...
 
She could have believed that she dropped off her kid wherever the kid was supposed to be. Some people have issues remembering things and even remember things wrong. They think they did something one day because they did it the day before. Or they don't remember they were supposed to do something different this day than they normally do. Not everyone's memories work the same.

Fascinating. Or maybe she fell asleep in class. Or maybe she was sexting her boyfriend. Or maybe she took too many Tylenols.

Save it for someone who buys it. That isn't me.
 
Seems an easy fix might be to just tie something to your inside door handle so when you open the door, it serves as a reminder.

My favorite fix was not over loading my schedule and also leaving two windows down when ever I left my car until my children could easily get out on their own.

Though I never had to depend on my "fail safe", I never had anything taken from my car either. Then again, my cars are not really the sort to that attracts alot of thieves.
 
Scatterbrained? What a load of crap. Lousy parents is more like it.

Great parents put their children above all else and NEVER forget them in a car unattended...for ANY length of time. My mother never left me in a car (or any of my siblings). I lived with a woman who had children and she would never forget her children, no matter how busy she was. Never. Heck, I never forgot about them and they were not even my children.

The only people who forget about their children left unattended in a car are lousy parents...period.

And level of 'busyness' is no excuse whatsoever. Your children - especially if they are pre-school - should always be the most important thing in your lives and nothing should be able to make you 'scatterbrained' about them. Not your job, your friends, your health...nothing.

At one point I had 3 kids under the age of 5, a full time job, and a husband who travelled 20 weeks of the year. I was absolutely a mess every day. The oldest 2 went to a nanny, the youngest to a day care by my office. I could barely keep my eyes open and getting 3 little ones ready for the day, plus myself, plus taking care of the dogs before we left, driving through snow and rain, and i never once forgot them, or their diaper bags, or their food, or their bottles, or anything else.

Anyone who forgets their child in a car is not scatterbrained. They are selfish.
 
At one point I had 3 kids under the age of 5, a full time job, and a husband who travelled 20 weeks of the year. I was absolutely a mess every day. The oldest 2 went to a nanny, the youngest to a day care by my office. I could barely keep my eyes open and getting 3 little ones ready for the day, plus myself, plus taking care of the dogs before we left, driving through snow and rain, and i never once forgot them, or their diaper bags, or their food, or their bottles, or anything else.

Anyone who forgets their child in a car is not scatterbrained. They are selfish.

I could not agree more.
 
Yeah, what would be the point in charging unless it was intentional? Punishment? They have already received the worst punishment imaginable. Deterance? If the threat of killing one's child didn't stop the accident why would the threat of jail time?

Yes, living with an unimaginable punishment.

But please don't let that stop anybody from condemning them and congratulating themselves.
 
She could have believed that she dropped off her kid wherever the kid was supposed to be. Some people have issues remembering things and even remember things wrong. They think they did something one day because they did it the day before. Or they don't remember they were supposed to do something different this day than they normally do. Not everyone's memories work the same.

Then a) if she realized that her memory stinks before she had children then she should not have had children.
And b) if she realized this after she had children then she should have made sure she was NEVER alone with them for any appreciable length of time.

Besides, IMO, you would have to be galactically stupid to forget for one minute that your child is alone in a car...let alone on a hot day. Let alone long enough for the poor little one to die.

This woman is either staggeringly stupid or she did not love her child unconditionally or both.

I prey this stupid and/or selfish bitch never has a child again and I do not even begin to care how much suffering she is going through because of the death of her child.

And if they throw this cow into jail for a few years for criminal negligence causing death (or any charge that would stick)...that would be fine with me.

This is a child she neglected to death...not a hamster.
 
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Then a) if she realized that her memory stinks before she had children then she should not have had children.

And b) if she realized this after she had children then she should have made sure she was NEVER alone with them for any appreciable length of time.

Besides, IMO, you would have to be galactically stupid to forget for one minute that your child is alone in a car...let alone on a hot day. Let alone long enough for the poor little one to die.

This woman is either staggeringly stupid or she did not love her child unconditionally or both.

I prey this stupid and/or selfish bitch never has a child again and I do not even begin to care how much suffering she is going through because of the death of her child.

700 of the poor little ones in the last 20 years. Every time I hear this I can't get the thought out of my head of the suffering slowly before succumbing.
 
This sounds like negligent homicide to me.
 
700 of the poor little ones in the last 20 years. Every time I hear this I can't get the thought out of my head of the suffering slowly before succumbing.

I have said it before; IMO, most people should not have children (obviously this is an extreme case).

Properly and lovingly raising a sentient human being requires natural skills and talents that I simply do not believe most people possess in sufficient quantities.

I truly believe that by far the number one problem in the world is too many lousy parents having children.
 
Toddler dies in hot car as mom teaches inside school
In case it is absolutely clear:
It's not the cars that killed these children, it's the parents and their absent mindedness.
The article gives a couple other examples of children dying in hot cars, and it seems that in all those cases, no one intended on leaving their children in the cars, thinking it was safe. Rather, the parents simply forgot their children were in the car. Parents must take care of their child! MUST.

This should be a murder charge, or at the very least, manslaughter. There is no excuse for 'forgetting' a child - or a pet - in a car. None, zilch, zip, nada.
 
This should be a murder charge, or at the very least, manslaughter. There is no excuse for 'forgetting' a child - or a pet - in a car. None, zilch, zip, nada.

I don't think it's up to any of us to judge, Scrabs. Sure, the parents were absent minded and there is little excuse for it, but the older I get the more I feel like the memory is punishment enough.

Secondly, we live in a country where people get away with sentencing their children to death with nonsense like 'alternative medicine' and 'prayer healing'. Those people don't get consistently sent to prison for their misguided actions, why should somebody who made a mistake?

At least let's have some national consistency on the issue. If a parent's actions led to the death of the child, it should be punished with the same standard. Not the mismatched collage of laws and cases that we have on the matter.
 
True, but I just can't see how the safest child seat designed for the front will ever be as safe as the safest child seat designed for the back. The closer you get to the front of the vehicle and that noncollapsible engine block the lower your odds are in a head on collision. No matter the design the safest spot, statistically speaking, will be the rear center seat, followed by a rear passenger seat. I could be wrong.
Well there are too many infants dying in the back seat, and I never read about any dying from an accident in the front seat in a proper infant seat the entire time I had children who rode in the front seat in child/infant seats which spanned about 8 years between my two children. And I NEVER heard about a child being left in the car to die in the heat, not one. Since the move of seats to the back, there are 4 or 5 a year of the latter.
 
Scatterbrained? What a load of crap. Lousy parents is more like it.

There's probably a little bit of self involvement and "should never have been a parent to begin with''-ness involved, by I agree with Helix....it's not intentional.
 
Toddler dies in hot car as mom teaches inside school
In case it is absolutely clear:
It's not the cars that killed these children, it's the parents and their absent mindedness.
The article gives a couple other examples of children dying in hot cars, and it seems that in all those cases, no one intended on leaving their children in the cars, thinking it was safe. Rather, the parents simply forgot their children were in the car. Parents must take care of their child! MUST.

We should pass a law to make it illegal to leave your children inside your car. A "Child alone in car" Ban. That will surely fix this.
 
Scatterbrained? What a load of crap. Lousy parents is more like it.

Great parents put their children above all else and NEVER forget them in a car unattended...for ANY length of time. My mother never left me in a car (or any of my siblings). I lived with a woman who had children and she would never forget her children, no matter how busy she was. Never. Heck, I never forgot about them and they were not even my children.

The only people who forget about their children left unattended in a car are lousy parents...period.

And level of 'busyness' is no excuse whatsoever. Your children - especially if they are pre-school - should always be the most important thing in your lives and nothing should be able to make you 'scatterbrained' about them. Not your job, your friends, your health...nothing.

Spot on.



Look, I don't want to sound self righteous, but I'm going to anyway. If you don't want to read a self righteous rant, stop right now.

I have a 6 year old, and a 3 year. I work 60+ hours per week, as does my wife. My 3 year old is in pre school for special ed, hearing difficulties. My 6 year old is in kindergarten. She also does soccer. I have more going on in my life than I ever have before. As evidenced by the frequency and multitude of my posts here. And yet, with all of that, I have never once, not even CLOSE, come to the point of forgetting that my kids are in the car with me. Ever. Not once come close to forgetting they are in the car when I leave the car. Now, I'm not gonna say these parents do this crap on PURPOSE. But maybe...leave the cellphone home every now and then. Unplug. Remove the distractions.


BE A GOD DAMN PARENT.
 
Well there are too many infants dying in the back seat, and I never read about any dying from an accident in the front seat in a proper infant seat the entire time I had children who rode in the front seat in child/infant seats which spanned about 8 years between my two children. And I NEVER heard about a child being left in the car to die in the heat, not one. Since the move of seats to the back, there are 4 or 5 a year of the latter.

I think a better idea might be to start having cars equipped with sensors of some sort that tell you when a child is strapped into the car/car seat before you get out. Some sort of alarm, like the alert telling you your seat belt isn't buckled or the door isn't closed or your lights are still on.

And you are right, they didn't get left in the car nearly as often when so many laws about where children safety seats should be placed or in what direction they had to be in existed, but that doesn't mean those laws aren't worth it too.
 
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