Don't Leave Your Kids in the Car

It happens every summer. Every time it happens I have to ask "how?"




Thankfully no one has left his child in a hot car in the St. Louis area yet this summer, but it's bound to happen at some point, especially with the scorching heat already beating down on us.



It seems to happen more and more as families get busier and busier. Last year, 49 children died of heat stroke in hot cars in the United States. As of May 31, eight kids have already died in hot cars in the United States this year. More than 500 children have died in hot cars since 1998.





Every time a child dies in a hot car, people are ready to crucify the parent who left that child in there to suffer an unimaginably horrible and painful death.



Sometimes, the public outrage is justified. Mom went into a beauty salon for a haircut and pedicure and didn't want to bring the sleeping baby inside so the baby stays in the hot car while Mom runs her errand.



Other times, a change in routine leads to a child being forgotten because he was sleeping peacefully in a carseat while Dad went to work as part of his daily routine, completely forgetting to drop off the baby at a baby sitter's house. The public outrage is not quite as justified in those cases, but it's still there, ready to hang the responsible parent.



The parent is already facing the worst nightmare a parent can ever imagine: being the cause of his own child's death. Our society is busy, often overbusy, overworked, under-rested and overstressed. It's certainly not an excuse. But it's a situation I think most of us can identify with.



I've forgotten my purse, my lunch, the important errand I needed to run, an appointment and forgotten to turn off the coffee pot, but I've never forgotten my child. I can't imagine forgetting my child in the car (or anywhere else for that matter) but I can't say with 100 percent certainty that it would never, ever, in a million years happen. I hope it would never happen, but it could. Well, maybe not now. Boogie is pretty darn vocal every time we're in the car and I probably couldn't forget she was there even if I tried.



It could happen to any of us because all it takes is 15 minutes in a hot car to kill an infant. And that's on a 75-degree day, according to the national non-profit child safety organization KidsAndCars. A child's body temperatures increases three to five times faster than an adult's, especially in a hot car, and in less than half an hour, the temperature in a car can increase by 35 degrees.



"The biggest mistake people make is to think 'It couldn't happen to me,'" said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org. "Memory experts point out that if you've ever forgotten a pot left burning on the stove, you've seen how easy it is to have a dangerous memory lapse."



KidsAndCars has a few suggestions to help busy parents remember to check the back seat for their child and prevent a tragic death:



* Put something in the back seat so you have to open the door when leaving the vehicle: cell phone, employee badge, handbag, etc.



* Move a stuffed animal from the car seat to the front seat to remind you when your baby is in the back seat.



* Ask your baby sitter or child-care provider to call you within 10 minutes if your child hasn't arrived on time.



* Focus on driving. Avoid cell phone calls and texting while driving.



* Every time you park, open the back door to be sure no one has been left behind.



If everyone just glanced inside vehicles as he walked by or asked about a co-worker's young child every morning, maybe, just maybe, one less child will die in a hot vehicle this summer.







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