re: ATL - Toddler Left in Car

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I'm just disagreeing with whoever it was that equated it to a household task.

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That's the straw man I mentioned earlier. He wasn't literally comparing the alarm to your child. For frick's sake man, he was describing the uncontrollable brain activities that occur in every human being. The fact that this stuff is so rare tells you that most people have the ability to prioritize and keep focus on the most important thing in their life, but the fact that it happens to normal people should at least freak you out that all it takes is one uncontrollable brain function (like imagining you dropped your child off as part of a mental checklist) coupled with some outside variable like spilling hot coffee on your crouch, to throw everything out of wack. Again, I'm sure that happens every day and people still don't kill their kid, but it happens.

That's literally all that is being said.

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What I find most interesting is that people are against the idea that a kid is part of a routine but support the steps such as a car baby monitor or stuffed animal.

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I've never suggested they can not be part of a routine, and frankly I would have never had the need for either of those aids...but if it helps the absentminded not cook their kids then by all means.

We all have routines. Hell...if you've ever thought about it you probably dry yourself off in almost the exact same pattern ever time you get out of the shower. It's frightening just how beholden we are to stuff like that. But...you simply have to be able to focus on changes. Especially when the change is the safety of your own child.

Again...my kids are now past this point being 11 and 7. But...that does not mean I'm no longer on guard for other things. My job is to make sure they make it to adulthood. It really does take effort and, frankly, it would be a lot easier if I paid less attention. Others clearly do. But what I've found is that they seem to be the group from which we hear these stories about bad things happening. I can;t help but see the correlation.

Look...this is one of those parenting issues many can't really agree on. My in-laws think I'm overprotective. Of course, when we go to their house they almost never have any fricking clue where their kids are, and wonder why bad things happen to them routinely. For me, this isn't a mystery.

Stuff around the house doesn't get done because of the baby, not the other way around. I'll come home and the wife will apologize for this or that not being done, but you're taking care of an infant. What are you going to do? That's our life now.

One thing people could do to prevent this is to leave your cellphone on the back seat next to the kid before you start driving. Sad to say this, but you are bound to notice a missing cell phone sooner than you realize you forgot your infant in the car. This could almost be a fool proof method to prevent these tragedies from happening.

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After that, since I work from home, I kept each of the guys with me during the day as I ran errands until they went to kindergarten. We were in and out of the vehicle many times a day...many times to places that had had my attention.

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so your routine changed frequently? it wasn't the same exact everything, everyday, for years?

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Actually it's very relevant. Passing judgement on parents when you're not one yourself makes a big difference.

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This argument makes me want to punt kittens. I've never done heroin and then raped a woman, does that mean I cannot say they should be in jail?

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I'm going to do all of those things. Not because I am absentminded in the slightest, it's because taking extra care to prevent anything from happening to my child is of the utmost importance.

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Then I will tell you this will not be an issue for you.

As a parent, there are tons and TONS of things that can and do happen to our kids that fall completely outside of our control. It's staggering just how much you worry, and it's one of those things you simply do not understand until you're a parent. these are the things that can and will keep you up at might.

It's precisely because of those things that I make it a priority to NOT allow preventable things to harm them. If I can prevent a disaster by just paying more attention, then that can't possibly be time poorly spent.

I place this issue squarely in the totally and completely preventable category.

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There are interesting readings on the dangers of routines on your consciousness.

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I almost missed a connection a few weeks ago. I fly in and out of Houston 99.9% of the time, but this time I was connecting in DC and going to New Orleans where my wife and child were staying with my mom while I traveled for work.

I get off the plane, go to the big board to check the gate, stroll over and wait to board. I decide to get my boarding pass printed because my phone was about to die. It took me and the gate agents about 3-5 minutes to realize that I was trying to get a boarding pass for the flight to Houston (left at the exact same time mine to NOLA). If I hadn't have gone to get my pas printed, I would have missed my flight.

That's never happened to me before in any capacity, but the change in routine and my mind somewhere else (my child who was in the city I was supposed to go to no less), and bam.

Again, I am not comparing this to my child in the literal sense. And I know some of you didn't want science brought up in here, but that shite happens, and it's crazy.

Every parent is capable of doing this. I have bad memory problems at times and this would be so easy if I didn't make it a priority to be constantly aware of my little boy. This isn't anything special about me: I believe most all parents snap into this mode when they first see their child. Stories like this make me more cautious. They don't give me cause to pay myself on the back.