re: There are bad days and terrible days; 2 year old dead after being left in a car

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What happened here reeks of bullshite.

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As I said earlier, as a parent I hope you're right. When something like this happens and it truly is an accident it is even more terrifying IMO.

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Not only because she forgot to stop at daycare, but she went through the entire day

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If, and that is a big if, it was truly an accident, it isn't better or worse because she sat at work the entire day. If in her mind she dropped her kid off at daycare, why would she think otherwise at work? I don't run back to my car after two hours just to double check and make sure my kids have been dropped off.

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All that contained in a hot SUV would smelled worse than raw sewerage by the end of the day... and the mother didn't notice

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Right. There is no way she could avoid seeing or even thinking about this all day long

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Falling happens in seconds, sitting at work for 8 hours while the kid is dying of heat stroke is different.

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Forgetting to drop your kid off is also a momentary lapse. There weren't multiple checks in place to make sure it happened and she ignored all of them. If this was truly an accident, then in her mind she dropped off the child and that was that. There wouldn't be any reason to think otherwise or go check in the car if it was an accident.

Again, I understand the cynicism from others, because this isn't exactly an easy situation in which to find yourself, but that doesn't mean it is impossible for it to truly be an accident.

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If you cant remember something that simple, you would need some serious medical attention

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I don't think it works that way though. If she made it to work and everything is back on track in her subconscious, there wouldn't be any reason to backtrack or check herself.

My, My! So many perfect, flawless people in this thread!

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You realize what that poor kid did before dying?

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And this has what to do with anything other than your self righteous need for vengeance?

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Hopefully that "errand" receives a little more thought than taking a shite or paying the light bill.

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Everyone naturally tries to conceptualize this happening to them and that they are above the level of screwing up like these parents have. The problem with that is almost every time it occurs, there's a series of events that lead up to forgetting the child in the car.

To use your light bill example. It isn't as simple as you just forgetting to pay it. It's that you believe it was paid because your spouse had it setup on autodraft, but y'all recently changed banks and didn't setup the new checking account. Since you have it on e-bill, the utility company sent you reminders about the non-payment. But the reminders went to the newly established "Clutter" feature on your Outlook that was automatically setup because you upgraded to Office 16. You also didn't balance the account for last month because the time you set aside to do that, you got a call that your mom was in a car accident and you needed to go pick her up.

Malcom Gladwell discusses this in one of his books as the "swiss cheese effect". 99% of the time if you stack 15 slices of swiss cheese on top of each other, you can't see through to the table at any point. But 1% of the time you'll have it to where the multiple slices all match up. Despite all your attempts to be proactive and attention to detail, you can still fail.

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To use your light bill example. It isn't as simple as you just forgetting to pay it. It's that you believe it was paid because your spouse had it setup on autodraft, but y'all recently changed banks and didn't setup the new checking account. Since you have it on e-bill, the utility company sent you reminders about the non-payment. But the reminders went to the newly established "Clutter" feature on your Outlook that was automatically setup because you upgraded to Office 16. You also didn't balance the account for last month because the time you set aside to do that, you got a call that your mom was in a car accident and you needed to go pick her up.

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Not at all the same. To make it a BIT more relevant, you would need to get the bill ready to go in the morning. Take the bill to your car, tape the bill to the back window, potentially listen to or talk to the bill during your drive, and have that bill be the most important bill you've ever received in your life. A bill that you've focused on and taken care of for two years and taken to the payment place dozens of times. And then you suddenly "realize" 8 hours later that you didn't take the bill where you were supposed to.

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Didn't read the whole thread, but I see a number of people saying "routines are powerful". Well if that's true, then she would have driven to the day care, not straight to work.

I had a lapse the other day, I was out at my Clients offices, and walked out with my lunch...right past the cashiers, because I was hurrying to catch up with my clients to meet up with them.

I didn't realize it until I had gotten almost all the way back upstairs. But I did realize it. It was a very small insignificant thing, but it didn't take me long to notice that I didn't do something I normally do.

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Again. That's what happens nearly every time. You realize just shortly after what you did wrong. In your example its when you catch up to meet with your clients, and in the walk there your boss stops you and asks a multitude of questions related to a project that's going to make or break your performance for the quarter.