I saw yet another article today about
a toddler who was left in a car and died. All I can think is WHY AND HOW DOES THIS KEEP
HAPPENING? Have we gotten so wrapped in
our own personal bubble that we can’t even take care of our own offspring
anymore? We are controlled by our cell
phones and devices and never leave home (or the car or the commode) without
them but we can’t remember to grab our kids out of the damn car?
I’m a parent. I know exactly what it’s like to be running
on no sleep for 2 days while having to drop the kidlet off, run errands, work 9
hours, retrieve the kidlet, run more errands, and safely deliver everyone and
everything home. I get it, adulting is
hard work, but NEVER ever ever have I forgotten my kid in the car...
As a general rule, my kid is priority
numero uno. Has been since the day I
found out I was pregnant. Nothing else
is ever nearly as important as his safety and well-being. Again, as a parent, I cannot for the life of
me figure out how parents “accidentally” leave their child in a vehicle and go
on about their day. You “accidentally”
leave your wallet or your sunglasses in the car (God forbid you leave your
phone in the car...you’d run back at cheetah speed to get that...) but
you don’t “accidentally” leave your child in the car. If you can’t handle the responsibility of
ensuring your child’s safety, maybe you shouldn’t have one. There, I said it. You may all get mad and quit reading now if
you choose...
If you are still here, cool. I am going to continue rambling on for a
minute about how devices control us and our children annoy us...when it should
be the other way around. I’m not tooting my own horn here and I definitely don’t qualify for the parent of the year award, BUT I can say that I am aware of my child at all times and I am always aware of the responsibility I have to care for him.
Now I love my technology as much as
the next guy but there is a time and place to let it consume my brain cells one
by one. That time is NOT when I have the
responsibility of ensuring my child’s safety.
Sure, when we are safe at home for the night and he is busy building
some crazed ninja warship with the 1,285,899 Legos he has, then I’m all about
trolling Facebook and checking out the newest Instagram fad.
People, please please please, quit
being distracted, mentally-absent parents and TAKE CARE OF YOUR KIDS. “I forgot” is not an excuse for leaving your
kid in the car...EVER. If you are the
forgetful type, set an alarm on your cell phone (because as we already covered,
you are never without it) or write a note for yourself and put it on the
dashboard of the car. If you are
distracted, tell someone you are so that they can help keep you in check. Do whatever you have to do make sure you DON’T
forget about your kid. I swear if I see
one more article about a child dying in a hot car I’m going to lose my
mind. For the love of God (and your
children), pay attention, be attentive, be present, BE A PARENT!
I read an in-depth article (that won a bunch of awards) on this once, and it did make me view the whole thing as a legitimate mistake in some cases. But, I still think you bring up a lot of excellent points. Even in those cases where it was a clear mistake (parents legitimately think they dropped their kid off -- which is crazy to me -- but I get it), it seemed to be a mistake wrought from distracted parenting. Even the parents who suffered through it admit as much. So sad.
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