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In reply to the discussion: Why do an internet search about infants dying in hot cars because you are so afraid of it happening? [View all]JHB
(37,897 posts)81. Except that it can happen to anyone...
...which is the whole point of making it part of the routine to go into the back every time.
Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?
***
The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist.
Last year it happened three times in one day, the worst day so far in the worst year so far in a phenomenon that gives no sign of abating. The facts in each case differ a little, but always there is the terrible moment when the parent realizes what he or she has done, often through a phone call from a spouse or caregiver. This is followed by a frantic sprint to the car. What awaits there is the worst thing in the world.
Each instance has its own macabre signature. One father had parked his car next to the grounds of a county fair; as he discovered his sons body, a calliope tootled merrily beside him. Another man, wanting to end things quickly, tried to wrestle a gun from a police officer at the scene. Several people -- including Mary Parks of Blacksburg -- have driven from their workplace to the day-care center to pick up the child theyd thought theyd dropped off, never noticing the corpse in the back seat.
***
The quality of prior parental care seems to be irrelevant, he said. The important factors that keep showing up involve a combination of stress, emotion, lack of sleep and change in routine, where the basal ganglia is trying to do what its supposed to do, and the conscious mind is too weakened to resist. What happens is that the memory circuits in a vulnerable hippocampus literally get overwritten, like with a computer program. Unless the memory circuit is rebooted -- such as if the child cries, or, you know, if the wife mentions the child in the back -- it can entirely disappear.
***
The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist.
Last year it happened three times in one day, the worst day so far in the worst year so far in a phenomenon that gives no sign of abating. The facts in each case differ a little, but always there is the terrible moment when the parent realizes what he or she has done, often through a phone call from a spouse or caregiver. This is followed by a frantic sprint to the car. What awaits there is the worst thing in the world.
Each instance has its own macabre signature. One father had parked his car next to the grounds of a county fair; as he discovered his sons body, a calliope tootled merrily beside him. Another man, wanting to end things quickly, tried to wrestle a gun from a police officer at the scene. Several people -- including Mary Parks of Blacksburg -- have driven from their workplace to the day-care center to pick up the child theyd thought theyd dropped off, never noticing the corpse in the back seat.
***
The quality of prior parental care seems to be irrelevant, he said. The important factors that keep showing up involve a combination of stress, emotion, lack of sleep and change in routine, where the basal ganglia is trying to do what its supposed to do, and the conscious mind is too weakened to resist. What happens is that the memory circuits in a vulnerable hippocampus literally get overwritten, like with a computer program. Unless the memory circuit is rebooted -- such as if the child cries, or, you know, if the wife mentions the child in the back -- it can entirely disappear.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html
It's the same process that can cause you to leave your keys in the car or lock yourself out of your home. No one wants to think it's possible that it might happen with a kid instead, but it can, and has.
Whether or not this particular case is one of them, however, is what the police are investigating.
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Why do an internet search about infants dying in hot cars because you are so afraid of it happening? [View all]
MoonRiver
Jun 2014
OP
The most helpful thing I've seen is to always put your purse or briefcase in the backseat with the c
yeoman6987
Jun 2014
#5
A legal CNN commentator, Sunny Hostin (?), says she left her daughter in the car for a few minutes
MoonRiver
Jun 2014
#6
Torch, please please please read the article that JHB posted above me. Please.
KittyWampus
Jun 2014
#84
I don't understand how someone can be "prone" to leaving a child in a hot car.
MoonRiver
Jun 2014
#16
According to the search warrant, he told police he googled about infant deaths in hot cars
pinboy3niner
Jun 2014
#17
Your naive belief in the innate goodness of people is misplaced but uplifting.
Michigander_Life
Jun 2014
#26
It has nothing to do with that. I'm fully aware that there are parents capable of this.
kcr
Jun 2014
#28
That's not fair. kcr is not "supporting" him, he/she is simply waiting for all the facts.
arcane1
Jun 2014
#101
So you accidentally typed that you wondered if I had an agenda, but didn't mean it.
kcr
Jun 2014
#52
At that age, they're generally not strong enough to open the belt straps on the car seat.
Brickbat
Jun 2014
#53
A 22-month-old wouldn't have the hand strength to open the buckle on a carseat.
winter is coming
Jun 2014
#66