Friday, August 1, 2008

Don't Forget Your Child?!?!?!

This is from the Dallas Morning News. It is a news article about parents forgetting their children in the car -

A number that's been growing, advocates say, since the early 90s, when safety groups started urging parents to put their car seats in the back because kids were being killed by the airbags during crashes.
Since then, advocates say airbag deaths have plummeted but kids dying of heat exposure in cars jumped ten-fold, to about three-dozen a year.
"Everybody goes on autopilot and forgets there may be a sleeping child in the backseat," said Melissa Bordes.
Her group, Kids and Cars, is pushing for automakers to install sensors to warn parents about children left in backseats.
"You have a sensor for your lights on, you have a sensor for so many different things, that are not life-saving. I think a life comes first," she said.

All I have to say is WHAT THE !*$*? How in the WORLD DO YOU FORGET YOUR CHILD IN THE CAR? If you're too busy to remember you have a child in the car, then maybe you shouldn't have a child! Uh duh. I had a child when I went into the car, listened to some Veggie Tales. Now I'm at the market...hmmm where'd my child go? Hmmm Oh no! They're in the car! Honestly! DUH! If you're too busy, get unbusy! There was a report of a father leaving his child in the car when he went to work because he forgot to drop the child off at day care. Hmmm another DUH. What didn't you do this morning that you do every morning?!?
It's so tragic that people are soooooo freaking busy with their own lives that they can't remember that their child is in the car! We are too busy and self absorbed in this country. Try putting someone else before your needs for once. Okay, so you hate everyone. How about your child's needs? Hopefully you don't hate them. If you do, I'd think about having another one first.
Another child died recently whose parents thought all their children had gotten out of the car, but their 14 MONTH OLD hadn't. They unpacked the car and then realized he/she was still in there. Ummm last time I checked a 14month old can't get out of the car by themselves, so it was your job, the PARENT, to remember that they were in there and to remove them! If you think your 8 year old is going to do the parenting and getting their sibling out of the car, think again! You're the parent, you make sure your child doesn't swelter to death.
While I'm on child neglect, another thing that drives me crazy is parents who don't buckle their children in car seats! I saw a van full of children today, most who should have been in carseats tumble out of the van and I didn't see any car seats. It is SO UNSAFE. Or children who are too big for carseats but don't buckle up. I saw a little boy, about 7, standing up in the car the other day. His father and passenger in the front were buckeled in. Umm good for them, but umm your child will still fly out the window! Newton's Law always applies "An object in motion will remain in motion unless and equal and opposite force acts against it." In this case, boy will still be in motion until something stops him, windshield, concrete. People don't realize how unsafe they are! If you don't want to buckle your child in, your child who you will mourn over for the rest of your life if they're killed because you didn't do something so simple as putting them in a carseat, then maybe you shouldn't have children either!
I just know too many people lately who have lost or are loosing their children to disease and tragic, freak accidents that couldn't be avoided and it makes me sad that other parents are literally playing russian roulette with their children.
Okay. I think I'm done ranting for one afternoon! I have to go wash dishes now.

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