Last Updated on December 9, 2019
It gets very hot inside a car on a summer day. It’s a story we do every single year, sometimes more than once per summer.
People brush off the story, chiding us for pointing out the obvious.
Then there are stories like this one that answer the question of why we keep reminding people of what everyone clearly doesn’t know.
Yes, a woman is accused of leaving two children and a dog locked in a car while she shopped. Charleston Police say witnesses saw the kids crying inside the locked car. Employees at the West Ashley Walmart persuaded the kids to unlock the door at which point they were escorted inside the store.
Fortunately, the children didn’t suffer any significant injury; apparently, the dog didn’t either.
But considering the fact that the heat index was expected to reach as high as 117° today, they could have died in that car.
It is inconceivable to me that someone would leave a child alone in a car any time of year these days. But as oppressively hot as it has been the past few days, there is no possible excuse for leaving a child or animal in a car under these conditions.
There just isn’t.
@AislÃngeKelloggdeGómez My kids are mouthy – always have been 🙂 I’ve WANTED to leave them in the car, but no, you don’t do that. And I don’t see what can be so much of a big deal – it seems like this time it was more that the kids would have made it much harder to go to the store and I get that. But you make another decision, like wait til later or bring someone else to help. You don’t leave them in the car, period – weather or not.
@AislÃngeKelloggdeGómez @RickCaffeinated Twice, I managed to leave my laptop locked up in my trunk after stopping by the grocery store on the way home from work. In both cases, I worked on my desktop computer that evening and never needed the laptop. So the laptop thing, as relatively important to me as it is, is barely understandable.
But they’re talking about a child. At some point, one would think that if you forgot your child in your car — even if he were sleeping — you might notice he wasn’t around.
Sooner or later. (Hopefully.)
@RickCaffeinated
One would think your child WOULD be the most important thing (well, person) in your vehicle. Almost all children fall asleep in moving vehicles, but who forgets them?! Yikes.
@RickCaffeinated Wow…That would have been my same reaction, too, Rick! I bet that anchor regrets making that remark. I’m sure he or she is STILL hearing about it. (And rightfully show!)
@annedreshfield The therapist option is a good idea, although if she couldn’t afford the kids, she probably couldn’t afford the treatment necessary to break her from the habit.
@AislÃngeKelloggdeGómez I can imagine the visceral reaction from the public was huge for that judge’s ruling — but honestly, if her children were in danger because of her actions (hello? What about drug-addicted mothers who have their children taken away?), it makes sense. Maybe she should have seen a therapist first to see if there was an underlying mental reason for her to keep being pregnant, but I can’t imagine that wouldn’t have ended the same way. It’s a sad reality that some people just can’t stop themselves, and are harming others in the process.
@annedreshfield
Very much so.
I suppose that this is really a right that can’t be taken away, but it seems like it shouldn’t be one.
A few years back there was a story about a New York judge who remanded a woman into custody to have surgery to tie her tubes. The reason: she had child after child that she cannot support or afford (even with all the government subsidies that people like you and I pay for out of our paycheck taxes) and the judge ruled that she be sterilised.
You can imagine the huge response this received. I hate to say it, but I wanted to send that judge a Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and any other gifts to cover any other holidays I could. I felt that this was a great decision. It’s probably just wrong to do that… but is it?
Food for thought…
@AislÃngeKelloggdeGómez I’ve never thought of the driver’s license vs. child rearing in that way before. Strange and fairly disturbing in that light, isn’t it?
@annedreshfield
I agree. There are times when the human race is a huge disappointment. Of course, I also say that it is amazing that to drive a car one has to take a written and a practical test. But the most unfit, uncaring people can reproduce without any qualifications. I know that is not the solution and I’m usually being facetious, but it is true at times that the system seems most unfair to too many children.
Sometimes I just…don’t like being associated with humans. Ugh.
One of the stories locally the past few weeks was of a Dad who did the same thing, this time just forgetting the child was back there. So the anchors suggested putting something important in the backseat if you’re a parent, like your purse or your briefcase. Or as I yelled at the TV, “OR YOUR CHILD – HELLO”.
People really disappoint.