Community Chat

[scotnovel]

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@violann wrote:

Whenever I read one of these tragic stories, I try to place myself mentally in the driver's seat with one of my infants in the car.

When my children were very young, I was able to be a SAHM, so I'm sure my mind wasn't so focused on professional responsibilities that an infant could have been forgotten.

When they were slightly older, perhaps 3 and 1, we'd talk to each other, sing, look for signs that we were gettig closer to Grandma's, etc. The conversations were fun and important to me. No chance of forgetting a 4 year old who had just belted out the refrain of "America the Beautiful".

It sounds as though we have the name of a new "syndrome" that explains how a child can be left in a car by a parent. Or is it that infancy and early childhood have been so devalued that getting to the jobsite has become hypnotic. 

I'll certainly never know.

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I agree this seems like it is happening more and more so is something "new".

However my spouse and I were at a New Year's party in the late 1970's and about 10:00 pm the hostess realized neither she nor her husband had picked up their 2 year old after work.  Luckily they had a babysitter who was used to their forgetting all about their child so she would just keep the child at her house.  She had called and left messages, but they ignored the phone because they were getting ready for the party.  I was appalled that they could both just forget their child. 

I wonder if we just hear more about these cases now and that this kind of thing has been going on longer than we think. 

[Noel7]

They say the difference is that babies used to be in the front seat in a car seat next to the parent driver.   Now the rule is to put them in the back seat where they are easier to forget or overlook.

[september]

My children are now 27 and 29.   I took care of my older nephews before they were born, so I think it's been the custom to have the kids in the back seat for over 30 years.  I was always aware of them being there. How can we forget our little ones?

[JaneMarple]

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@september wrote:

My children are now 27 and 29.   I took care of my older nephews before they were born, so I think it's been the custom to have the kids in the back seat for over 30 years.  I was always aware of them being there. How can we forget our little ones?

My children are 33 (twins),30 and 28, I'm in agreement with you that I always knew that they were in the backseat, they never rode in the front seat until they hit double digits.

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[september]

I would talk to my kids, even when they were infants, and even on longer drives.   I wonder if parents today are talking on their cell phones while in the car, rather than interacting with the kids?