I totally agree, Rachel. The only time I can see a baby being locked in the car is when you didn't intend to lock the door in the first place, and in that case, how hard is it to break the window, really?

How can you just forget that your baby is with you? I completely fail to understand.

Now in my opinion, this qualifies as a whole new level of stupid. There is absolutely no excuse for any parent to forget that their kids are in the car with them. I have a 6 and 3 year old, and there is no time that I or my wife have ever left them in the car by mistake. The people that do this and the people that forgive them for it are absolutely insane. Kids are every parents' greatest responsibility and treasure.

The least parents can do for their kids is make sure they don't die by temporarily forgetting they exist. They're not groceries, for crying out loud.

There is no excuse for forgetting your child, ever. IMO this is just another sign of the increasing irresponsibility a lot of people display today.

You're right, Rachel, there isn't any excuse. Remeber the hospital President who left her months old daughter in her SUV, only to discover the baby's lifeless body when she finished the end of a ten-hour day?

Sorry but I don't buy it that you'd forget your baby is in the car and leave them there by accident. It one thing to be so darned stoned that you forget. But to be stone-cold sober and leave the baby to bake (or freeze) in the car???

Let's call something what it is: people who forget about their children are leaving them to die. Period.

At a very deep, perhaps subconscious level, a sober Mother or Father who "forgets" the baby doesn't want the baby in the first place. Note how often the parents are dual-income, upper-middle class professionals driving luxury cars (see the photo in the story Rachel links to). I understand they are stressed-out, but WTF?

Many professional people out there love their jobs more than they love being parents. It's an environment you can control, where you are looked up to, respected, perhaps even revered. Being a parent is the complete and utter opposite, and it is not as rewarding as some *often exceedingly selfish* people expect it to be. We as a culture also sell people a 'bag of goods' on how being a parent is supposed to be the most incredible, life-affirming thing, ever, and yet it's damn hard work, often with little or no reward. Add to that the fact that many people have children because it is either (A) what you are supposed to be doing, (B) what your friends are doing, (C) having a family is a necessary step on your company's career path, or (D) a baby is seen as the coup de grace of a successful life, and you have a lot of disillusioned parents out there. It's not the big of a leap to conclude that they are subconsciously taking care of a problem they can not consciously admit to suffering from.

Well, taking care of a baby does leave you tired and insane and useless, but it's still no excuse.

I mean, if you only had 4 working brain cells left in your head, remembering where the baby is should be the one thing you use them for!

Langtry - obviously has little faith in his fellow man and does not recognise the rewards of being a parent. I am of course only commenting on his last paragraph.

I am not ready to write everyone off as being disillusioned with parenthood as the root cause of leaving kids in the car "subconsciously." Leaving a child in the car is gross negligence and stupid. But there are a lot of parents that do grossly negligent and stupid things everyday. They probably were not cut out to be parents. If the parent brings harm to their children (or death) they should be punished and sterilized for all I care. If they forgot their child is in a car there is no guarantee that they won't do some other negligent act in the future to their other children. I am not ready, however, to subscribe the behavior to some sort of deep rooted psychological problem. They are just too stupid to be parents.

The rewards of a parent may be small ("I love you dad") but they are better than all the successes of a professional life. I defy anyone to articulate an adequate replacement for the unconditional love of a child. My children (ages 3 and 6) love me for who I am. They are ignorant of what protections and care I provide for them. They do not know what I do at work, they don't know our "social status." They don't care. They just run to door when I get home yelling "daddy's home...daddy's home." Better than that you want?

You know, there was a story here in San Antonio last year about a woman who left her kid in the car for 10 hours while she went into the bar, got blitzed, played 8-liner slot machines, and finally was walking out drunk with some guy she was going to shag when she realized when she got to the car that she'd locked him in there. He was 18 months old.

I think she was charged with manslaughter. Bullshit. That is murder. I'd even go so far as to advocate the death penalty for this shit, if for no other reason than to rid the gene pool of the enormous stupidity that this demonstrates.

(and by saying that, I in no way am advocating that the death of the child similarly cleanses the gene pool...I'm just saying).

I remember years ago, watching "Starship Troopers," when one chick was saying how she wanted to have kids, and so that's why she joined the army, cause only citizens could have kids.

And I remember thinking, while working in the grocery store, a similar thing. Some woman left her kids unattended in her shopping cart. Both of them easily under 2. She goes 5 aisles away to get something. I watched this unfold, and she gave each of them a PLASTIC PRODUCE BAG and said, "here, play with this."

I was in the act of removing the bag off of one of the kids' heads, when she returned, and acted indignant, saying something like, "don't you touch my kids!"

And almost instinctively, without really pointing out her error, I said, "you know, you ought to have a license to have them."

And you know, I'm a conservative, and I hate government intrusiveness, but damnit, it's come to the point that I really think people SHOULD have to have a license to have children. They should have to take classes on basic shit like not leaving your kids alone, not beating the shit out of them in the checkout lane (you know, that's what the ladies' room is for, after all...my mom used to do that and the sheer humiliation of being taken into the ladies room was worse than the spanking), not leaving them in cars, not letting your crackhead boyfriend babysit (and rape) them, not drowning them in the bathtub, not strangling them and burying them under the floor, and feeding them on a regular basis.

I agree...unless a sleeping baby was snuck into the car without their knowledge (and it was one quiet sleeping baby) there's no way to NOT realize there is a LIVING BREATHING creature in the car!!!

Hey! No fair on the drunk driving! Like Kinison said, "no one gets up and says, hey, I'm gonna go get drunk and then kill a family of four. It's just that's the only way to get our cars home!

I'll join the echo chamber here. There's no way I'd ever have forgotten one of my kids in the back seat of the car.

It ain't an accident; it's negligence.

I'm glad everyone here is so fucking blessed with superhuman powers of memory and the ability to keep things straight no matter how unusual their day is so that they can never forget anything.

The first time this happened to me, I WAS LUCKY that I was at home, and missed my 1-yr-old son in a few minutes, or else I would be one of those people you're giving hell to. After getting lucky that one time, and being scared so shitless I nearly passed out, I made sure it NEVER happened again, by ALWAYS laying the baby bag on the front seat, with the handles laying across my leg when a child was in the car. That's the only way I could be sure, because I can forget things in seconds, no matter how important they are, if something distracts me.

Again, if it had happened elsewhere, I'd have one less child now. I love both of my boys with all my heart, but it happened to me. If it couldn't happen to you, wonderful, but don't ASSUME that this could only happen because the parent doesn't care.

Sorry for the long post, but my heart breaks for everyone involved in these types of situations. There are all kinds of scary, pseudo-rational scenarios that are nightmarish for parents. Try your hands at these:

You have three children, ages 2, 5, and 8. It is winter--cold, threatening to snow, miserable. The 2-year-old is sick, and has been up all night (and so have you), but is now finally asleep Your spouse has left for work...and the other children have to go to school. Do you let them walk through the stormy weather? Do you drive them yourself, sparing their health and the cold? If you drive them, do you take the sick 2-year-old with you--waking him up in the process when he really should stay asleep? The school is only 10 minutes round trip. Surely you can leave the 2-year-old asleep alone in the house for 10 minutes for a quick drive with your other children, right ... ?

Or...

Same kids (2, 5, 8), but now it's summer. You have been running errands (groceries, dry cleaning, FedEx, car wash, a little bit of shopping) for several hours, and your kids have had it. On the way home, you remember that your 8-year-old needs his prescription medicine, so you swing by the pharmacy. Sure its hot, but the A/C in the car makes it bearable. The kids are screaming that they want to go home, they are tired and sweaty and bored and whiny and generally miserable. You get to the pharmacy. Surely its ok to leave them in the car for the 10 minutes it will take to pick up the prescription, right? 10 minutes? The car won't heat up that fast, will it? The 8-year-old can watch them for 10 minutes--you'll just lock the door to make sure that they're safe...

I'm not trying to make excuses for these parents; I think that it is horrible to leave kids anywhere where they could be in danger. I'm just trying to point out that the leap to justification is not that far--even for intelligent, rational people. Parenting is not for sissies, and when you are exhausted, strung out, craving adult company, and just trying to get through what can be a daunting set of tasks each day, sometimes bad choices seem justifiable--choices that you would never make under other circumstances.

Some years ago there was a trial where I lived of a father that had killed his six-month-old baby by shaking her to death. He was convicted of 2nd degree murder. At his sentencing he said, "There is no excuse for my action. I was tired from a trying time at work, and I just couldn't get her to stop crying. I tried everything for three hours--rocking her, singing to her, changing her diaper, leaving her alone in the crib to cry herself to sleep, feeding her--everything. But she wouldn't stop crying. In my frustration I shook her, and for a moment she stopped...and then started again. So I shook her again, and again, and again until she stopped."

My heart broke for the guy--not too dissimilar from my own circumstance at the time (young engineer, long hours, young children). While I have never reached that point--to shake my children to get them to be quiet--I can see how otherwise rationale people could get there.

It's not just training. It's the need of a support system for parents to help each other out. In each instance I have listed had the parent had someone else to help--a neighbor, friend, family member, whoever--they wouldn't have faced that situation alone, and there wouldn't have been need for rationalizing or justifying bad--and potentially lethal--actions.

women lose up to 20% of their brain mass during pregnancy.

Rachel and the chorus are absolutely right: there is no excuse.

But so is Wayne.

If you think that this or something equally horrific could never happen to you, you've already set yourself up for the distinct possibility that it could. Hubris is a very scary enemy.

I agree with Fletch; parents are so scheduled and worked out that they don't have anything left to give and can't cope.

My second grandson was a handful; almost from the moment he was born he was a screaming mess from colic and stomach problems, which continued for almost 6 months (Thanksgiving that year consisted of him being passed from one person to another walking the floor while the others ate; nothing the doctor did helped). His parents were so stressed out and exhausted that they would walk in my door when I got home from work, hand him to me, he would pass out on the floor, and she would pass out on the couch. When I went to bed, I would wake them, hand him back, and they would go home.

I'm glad that I was there to help, because I'm pretty sure one of them would have snapped.

Elizabeth
Imperial Keeper

Olajuwan:

Langtry - obviously has little faith in his fellow man and does not recognise the rewards of being a parent. I am of course only commenting on his last paragraph.

BTW: I am a she, not a he. I love kids, but I recognize that people have children for all the wrong reasons. Because of that, they end up vastly disillusioned with what raising a child is. It's a lot like the teenager who wants to have a baby so that someone will love her. As we all know, in order to survive infants and small children are by definition narcissistic -- they will use crying, acting up, etc. to get what they believe they need, whether that is food, water, attention, etc. They're going to get what they need regardless of whether their parent has the energy or wherewithal to answer that need. Is anyone surprised when "Teen Mom" is horrified to find that a baby takes everything and yet still cries, shrieks and has tantrums?

Parents of a more appropriate age are not that different, especially if they have, at best, midguided notions about having children. What about the Mother who was told that motherhood would be her most fulfilling role and yet she finds it isn't? What about the Dad who works 12-hour days and comes home not to smiling faces 'round the dinner table but to kids behaving like Brats? What about the parent whom, to her surprise, finds she resents the fact that child care takes up every last dollar she makes, and working a 60- to 80-hour work week is necessary if she and her husband want to pay the mortgage and send their kids to parochial school (because the public schools in their area are a joke)? What about the alcoholic Mom who gets pregnant again in spite of the fact that she can't manage the child she already has, and to whom she is likely to pass off her Bi-Polar Disorder, but she wants a baby anyway (a former friend of mine, in point of fact)? Do you think all of those people will do the right thing by their children all the time?

I resent your saying I have no faith in my fellow man (or woman). What I don't have faith in is people honestly assessing whether they are able to make the sacrifices that having a child and raise it to be a moral person entails. I also have spent enough time working in hospitals and mental health centers (6+ years) to realize that stressed-out, selfish or ill-suited parents make really bad decisions on behalf of their children. If someone sees their child or children as being the source of their life's greatest stress, do you not think that same person might desire to be rid of that child and subconsciously (or otherwise) make that happen? I know some do, and I think it happens more often than people realize.

As a stressed out, over worked, under slept, parent; I unequivocally state "There is NO excuse".
Sorry WayneB and whoever else agrees with WayneB, but I have been to the absolute depths of sleep deprived, migraned, flu ridden absentmindedness and there is NO way you can "just forget". It's your child for God's sake.

Humans are, by nature, creatures of habit. A baby is, by definition, a new addition to the routine. Compound the unfamiliarity by the inherent lack of sleep that new parents get and any way you slice it, dogs are still not babies. Rachel, I'm usually inclined to agree with you, but you're wrong here.

Not to say that parents bear no responsibility. I've never heard anyone excuse the behavior. I'm saying only that I understand how it could happen (which, incidentally, makes me that much more careful not to do it). I still think parents who neglect their kids should suffer legal consequences. I can't imagine a parent for whom that would matter, though. If I left one of my children to die, I'd want to kill myself--anything you do to me is irrelevant.

It's the parents, or someday parents-to-be, who think they'd NEVER do something like this who find themselves on the side of the road with thier own dead child's blood on their hands. I may be the world's greatest dad (I have the hat and shirt to prove it), but only because I know my faults.

...and I don't get why so many people are sympathetic to the parents when this happens.

I'm not. Fuck those supposed parents and their retarded compatriots who see nothing wrong with driving away from the house for a few hours while their little ones sleep. This has, unfortunately, happened more than once in my neck of the woods. One woman's children died from exposure because she left them in the car while she was at work. In winter.

I swear that I don't understand people. If you can't be bothered to take care of your children, stop having them. There's absolutely no excuse for this behavior. None.

There was a case of this near here a few summers ago. The newspaper had a story that made it sound believable that the parent would forget.

One parent always took the kids to school and the other parent took the baby to daycare, then both went to work. Same routine, everyday.

Then one day the parent who drove the kids to school also had to take the baby to daycare for some reason. Instead he(or she, I honestly can't remember) forgot that the baby was in the car and after dropping the kids at school went straight to work like usual. The baby was in the car sleeping, the parent totally spaced that he was there, and the result was a dead baby.

I worked in the ER at children's hospital in Oakland, and was there several times when there were kids who died because of accidents caused by their parents. It's horrible for all concerned, and I wouldn't presume to even think that the parents wanted it to happen. Accidents do happen. SUV backovers, garage doors, even knives sticking up in a dishwasher tray killed kids that I saw.

Screw these "forgetful" parents. I'm not saying that good people will never honestly make a mistake. Mistakes happen. But people need to accept responsibility for their mistakes, admit they were wrong, and stop making excuses not only for themselves but for others who do the same thing.

Those of you who admit you yourselves have screwed up: ok, we know it happens. But don't try to act like it's somehow ok or understandable because YOU did it. Admit that you made a serious life-threatening mistake, accept that you fucked up and could have killed your own child, and get on the "zero tolerance" bandwagon with the rest of us.

If you people out there giving your tacit approval to idiocy would instead share our outrage, maybe, just maybe, you could help scare the shit out of a few careless parents and wake them up to the problem - you might save some child's life by acting like it IS a problem that MUST be avoided.

Everytime you say "well, I can understand how this could happen..." you are basically saying to the world "go ahead and kill your baby... accidents happen."

Idiots. Wolverine treatment for all of you!

I couldn't agree more. Like the one that left her kid in the car b/c she couldn't miss work? Are you kidding me? You are eventually going to be on welfare anyway, so why not just come to the fact that you are yourself a genetic defect and lock yourself in the car. Then maybe the kid will be happy.

Saying "I believe it was an accident" is not the same as saying "go ahead and kill your baby". And it's not the same as giving tacit approval. That's just bullshit.

"You have three children, ages 2, 5, and 8. It is winter--cold, threatening to snow, miserable. The 2-year-old is sick, and has been up all night (and so have you), but is now finally asleep Your spouse has left for work...and the other children have to go to school. Do you let them walk through the stormy weather? Do you drive them yourself, sparing their health and the cold? If you drive them, do you take the sick 2-year-old with you--waking him up in the process when he really should stay asleep? The school is only 10 minutes round trip. Surely you can leave the 2-year-old asleep alone in the house for 10 minutes for a quick drive with your other children, right ... ?"

Uh-uh, no way. If it's winter and threatening to snow, you have no guarantee you'll make it back home quick. What happens if someone slides on an ice patch and hits your car?

Believe me, I know from sleepless nights, too, so I understand the example--my daughter woke up almost every hour, all night long, every night for at least the first year of her life.

Regarding your other example--not just no, but hell no! When I lived in New Hampshire, people'd break open your car to rescue a dog if you left it in the car in summer. (I had someone threaten to do that to me once, and I had left him in the car, parked right in front of where I worked, while I was in there for 5 minutes--and I left the AC on!) I don't even want to think about what'd happen if someone saw a kid in a car in those conditions. And that's NH weather, not Texas weather, too.

You're not in this to win a popularity contest with your kids: you're here to protect them so they can reach adulthood.

"In my frustration I shook her, and for a moment she stopped...and then started again. So I shook her again, and again, and again until she stopped."

I can understand that, having been that frustrated for just that reason. And I'd heard about this kind of thing before I became a parent, so fortunately I'd thought about what to do: put the kid down in her crib for a few minutes where she'll be safe, and go in another room where you can try to reset your temper.

We were also lucky with both our kids that my wife's family was close enough to help spread the pain out a little. An extra adult or two to increase down time helps a LOT.

At the beginning of each summer I hope and pray that this won't happen but unfortunately it does. I think the only person to blame is the parent(s) but the terrible suffering that the child went through before dying makes any punishment seem insignificant. I hope that with all the technology out there today that someone can invent something similar to the alarm that goes off if you leave your lights on. An example would be "BEEP BEEP Living, Breathing Person in Car. Please remove all humans from car BEEP BEEP" Or for people with animals there could be some variation.

David Gulliver: "ok, we know it happens. But don't try to act like it's somehow ok or understandable because YOU did it."

OutFreakingStanding!

Maybe part of it is the early separation of infants from parents via daycare. My kids have spent all their days (so far) with me and I feel like I've forgotten them if I leave them at gramma's for an hour. If you're used to having your kids around all the time, maybe you're less likely to forget them...?

I remember that daycare drop-off story Bad Penny talks about and at the time I thought it was sad that a baby was being dropped off like an accessory and that that was how that tragedy happened. I would think that if you can afford daycare - if both parents make so much that it's cost effective to put a baby in daycare - then you can afford to stay home. If you are unwilling to make sacrifices to do that, get a cat.

I'm sorry but 'I accidentally left my child in the car' to me is up there with, 'I accidentally ate the parking meter.'

These stories every summer about babies dying while left in cars absolutely confound me.

You should be thankful.

I used to be confounded by parents who neglect and abuse their children. Then I spent two years volunteering part-time in a group home for children of abusive parents.

You think leaving a baby to die in a hot car is bad?

I saw a kid at that home whose face was beaten so puffy that he could barely open his eyes.

Another girl was refused to let anyone touch her arms because that's where her psychotic stepdad used to put out his burning cigarettes.

One girl needed skin grafts because her mother held her hand down on a red-hot stove. When her brother tried to stop the abuse his mother dragged him upstairs, tied him face-down to the bed, and whipped him bloody with an extension cord. We had to teach him to sleep sitting up because we were afraid that if he rolled onto his back he'd pull his wounds open in the night and get an infection.

Another boy had been paralyzed from the waist down after his father pushed down two flights of stairs. The full-time volunteers told me that there were times when the kid prayed to God to let him die in his sleep, he was in so much pain.

You say you're confounded by neglectful and abusive parents?

I wish I was still confounded by them. I'd give anything to go back to being confounded by them, rather than knowing the things I know.

I was actually amazed it was a woman. Usually its the fathers that are dehydrating to death the children. Oh yeas.. I did just say that

Finally, we've found a way in which catty, obnoxious, cruel, shallow, narrow-minded, gossiping women contribute in a positive way to society: by ostracizing people who let their kids die in cars.

I don't think it's fair to be teabagging parents who forget their kids in general. There are two kinds of parents: the ones who forgot their kid and the ones who won't admit/don't remember the time they forgot their kid. Furthermore, some parents- especially among fathers- are simply more cognizant than others. Intelligence- or presence of mind, anyway- is not a moral virtue, it's simply a variable quality.

However, there's a damn huge difference between not remembering if your baby is in his room or in the living room and forgetting you brought a human being with you while you go jerk around for several hours. At a certain point, you have to draw the line between people who are scatterbrained and people who are engaging in sadism by having children.

Also, you have to take into account that a fair number of these "forgetful" people locked their kids in the car on purpose because they didn't feel like hauling them around but claimed to have a brainfart because otherwise they'd go up for Murder 2.

Dear WayneB, to quote you:
"I'm glad everyone here is so fucking blessed with superhuman powers of memory and the ability to keep things straight no matter how unusual their day is so that they can never forget anything.

The first time this happened to me, I WAS LUCKY that I was at home, and missed my 1-yr-old son in a few minutes, or else I would be one of those people you're giving hell to. After getting lucky that one time, and being scared so shitless I nearly passed out, I made sure it NEVER happened again, by ALWAYS laying the baby bag on the front seat, with the handles laying across my leg when a child was in the car. That's the only way I could be sure, because I can forget things in seconds, no matter how important they are, if something distracts me.

Again, if it had happened elsewhere, I'd have one less child now. I love both of my boys with all my heart, but it happened to me. If it couldn't happen to you, wonderful, but don't ASSUME that this could only happen because the parent doesn't care."

I hate to burst your bubble but caring and stupid are not mutually exclusive. I dont want to seem harsh but I am going to say it slowly and deliberately: S-T-U-P-I-D. stupid. STUPID. If you leave your child(ren) locked in a parked car on accident then you are, well, see the above. It doesn't matter what kind of day you had, or what else is on your mind. STUPID. I consider it to be Darwinism at it's finest. Anyone dumb (stupid) enough to live thier children to roast in an automobile clearly doesn't need to pass the stupid gene to the next generation.

get a grip, this isn't your wallet, keys, back pack, wtf ever, it is a life you are responsible for. My dogs travel in the car 2-3 times daily and haven't been "forgotten". Sheesh.

Stupid. .

There are two kinds of parents: the ones who forgot their kid and the ones who won't admit/don't remember the time they forgot their kid.

I hope that was meant to say, "There are two kinds of parents who forget their kids..." since otherwise you are saying all parents forget their kids, and that's so obviously not so, what else can I say?

I hope that was meant to say, "There are two kinds of parents who forget their kids..." since otherwise you are saying all parents forget their kids, and that's so obviously not so, what else can I say?

Nope, sorry. I was attempting to be diplomatic about it by avoiding specific contradiction, but that's basically what I'm saying.

During the time period in which your child is non-locomotive, you will have that moment of panic. If you say you're the proud parent of ten zillion little rugrats now all grown up and it never happened to you, you're either lying or you don't recall when it happened.

I'm sure there is a minority of parents who can argue with me categorically, but they're just that: a minority. Good for them.

I hope that was meant to say, "There are two kinds of parents who forget their kids..." since otherwise you are saying all parents forget their kids, and that's so obviously not so, what else can I say?

I think HitNRun's point was that every parent has "forgotten" or "lost" their kid(s) at least once, whether they admit it or not.

Think back. I'm sure you or one of your friends have a story like this: You're out shopping, you turn your back for a second, and when you turn around your kid is gone, only to turn up later, loitering in the toy aisle.

My parents still tell me the story of how they almost lost me at Disney Land. We were about to get on the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ride when I looked over and noticed a Dumbo ride only a few yards away. Being five, I was more interested in Dumbo than in giant squids and I wandered over to the Dumbo ride. My mom looked down, saw I was gone, panicked, and ran into the crowd looking for me. By pure chance, she happened to run in the exact opposite direction than I had gone. She might've run clear across the park if my dad hadn't kept his cool and spotted me.

Of course, I'm sure you'll point out that five year olds are mobile children, and we were talking about non-mobile newborns.

Even so, it's perfectly understandable that someone might "forget" their child somewhere, especially if they're a young and/or inexperienced parent. That is to say, it's conceivable that it might happen, but it's inexcusable to allow it to happen.

When I was in middle school my dad used to let me back his car out of the garage. One time I forgot to set the parking brake and after I closed the door the car rolled out into the street. Fortunately no one was hurt and there was no damage. Being an inexperienced driver, it was understandable that I would make that mistake. But it was still a monumentally stupid and dangerous thing to do.

Some people are just naturally forgetful. But if you're the kind of person that forgets things easily, then by God, you had better do SOMETHING to help yourself remember that you have a baby in the back seat of your car.

Rachel as a parent myself I am gonna say this; this is exactly the kind of situation where I would pray some clown like that Canucklehead Dog Cop Tre Smith would come on the scene, rescue the baby, and then handcuff the dumbass, shit for brains, waste of human DNA parent to the car so every passerby could beat the living snot out of him. Sympathy my ass!

This is exactly the kind of thing we need crowds of vigilantes for, not some dog. Baby cooking scum needs to be permenantly removed from the human gene pool for the benefit of the species.

And on a side note; for any and all of you parents who think this is even remotely forgivable, justifiable, or understandable:

You fathers can manage go from A to B each day without leaving your balls behind, so I would hope you would accord your infant children the same consideration.

You Mothers, if you can't chew bubblegum and walk without forgetting where your kids are, then I daresay you should do the human race a big favor and hang a "closed for business" sign on your vagina until such a time as you can multitask without risking an infants life.

I am so pissed off reading some of these comments I could spit!

Re: Creatures of habit. I got a new dog in March of this year. He goes with me in the car, a lot of places, starting from the first day. Guess what, I never forgot he was with me ONCE, not once. I have even left stores without the stuff I went for because it was taking too long. Nope, Don't buy this excuse.

Re: Tired, distracted, frustrated with work, etc. Never ONCE have a not "forgotten" I had my dog in the car, sleepless nights, stress, frustration with work, divorce. I'm susceptible to all the same forces as every other human. I don't have a super powered memory either. Nope, never "forgot" even once that the dog was with me.

You know what I forget? Things I don't care about. Yes, I'm suggesting that some parents don't care about or love their children.

When I say "new dog"...I mean, my first dog.

All this hair splitting about what's conceivable and what's excusable is sophistry.

First of all, I never said anything like this was excusable. I said it could happen to people who love and care about their children.

I also didn't say it wasn't stupid. I implied that people who aren't stupid can do stupid and inexcusable things without meaning to.

I never even said I was particularly fit to be a parent. I HAVE tried to do as good a job at it as I can.

I thought, like many of you, that the fact that he was a completely dependent child would make a difference. That a child was so supremely important that even I would be unable to forget something so precious being with me.

I found out I was wrong. You also notice that I made absolutely cetain that it never happened again.

There's a difference between people who are habitually careless with their children and those who have made regrettable mistakes with horrendous consequences.

"You have three children, ages 2, 5, and 8. It is winter--cold, threatening to snow, miserable. The 2-year-old is sick, and has been up all night (and so have you), but is now finally asleep Your spouse has left for work...and the other children have to go to school. Do you let them walk through the stormy weather? Do you drive them yourself, sparing their health and the cold? If you drive them, do you take the sick 2-year-old with you--waking him up in the process when he really should stay asleep? The school is only 10 minutes round trip. Surely you can leave the 2-year-old asleep alone in the house for 10 minutes for a quick drive with your other children, right ... ?"

If I had been up all night with the sick 2-year-old, before leaving for work my husband would have told me, "I'll take the other kids to school today, you stay home with the baby and try to get some rest." If he hadn't said that, I would have suggested it to him. What kind of a selfish fu*ktard would just leave and dump all responsibility in this situation on their spouse? What kind of a loser would let their spouse get away with that kind of behavior?

You're way off base, Fletch. I mean, it just seems as if you're looking for excuses to absolve these parents of their responsibilities. Having children means accepting your parental responsibilities: no excuses. Period.

Say a person needs to take heart medication every 8 hours.

One day this person will forget---stressed out, fell asleep, distracted---and almost die.

So, the person gets an alarm watch for 5 bucks and sets it to ring at 8 hour intervals.

Human error prevented by 5 dollar technology.

Forgive the otherwise well-meaning parents who forgot their kid. [I'm not saying they are legally innocent, however.] They are dying of guilt for their error every day---for want of a five dollar alarm watch.

Maybe the best baby present you can give new parents is such a watch.

And a sack of Xanax.

HitNrun: "There are two kinds of parents: the ones who forgot their kid and the ones who won't admit/don't remember the time they forgot their kid."

Only those two kinds, huh?

Hmm...

Here's a definition that you might find interesting and also very self identifying:

"psychological projection is a defense mechanism in which one attributes to others one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts or/and emotions. Projection reduces anxiety by allowing the expression of the unwanted subconscious impulses/desires without letting the ego recognize them."

So good to know you're omniscient, HitNRun. Every parent forgets their kids sometimes. Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say.

Annie: Nail. Head. Whack.

Thank you.

WOW. I really can't believe some of you are still actually justifying this shit.

I don't buy for a minute the idea that every single parent has forgotten their kid in the car. I just don't fucking BUY it. Should I take a poll? Could probably get a few hundred comment responses.

And, it is one thing to forget your older kid at the mall and an entirely different thing to forget your INFANT IN A HOT CAR FOR 10 FUCKING HOURS.

Usually, when people disagree with my post in the comments, I think, well yeah they have a point. There are gray areas. But not on this subject, I'm not backing down. There is no fucking excuse, reasonable explanation, or anything else for leaving a BABY in the car for several hours. I understand 1 minute, or even 10 minutes. Several hours? FUCK NO. Those people should be sterilized.

"So good to know you're omniscient, HitNRun. Every parent forgets their kids sometimes. Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say"-Boyd

Are you fucking batshit our of your ever-loving skull Boyd?

No "Every" parent doesn't forget his or her kids.

What orifice of your body do you pull that particular brand of bullshit from? I ask only because I went rooting around in my own bog hole and couldn't come up with BS that even remotely stank that bad.

Not only does "Every" parent not forget their kids sometimes, not "Every" parent beats their kids either. Imagine that? Not "Every" parent lets their kids act like punks to strangers, not "Every" parent lets their kids run around like stray out of control dogs when out in public, not “Every” parent will make other people suffer when their kids start pitching a fit in public, not "Every" parent will toss their tweenagers in the car and dump them off at the mall for 5 hours for the Mall security to babysit. Not every parent is nearly as irresponsible as you would like him or her to be so that you can feel better about yourself.

Most responsible parents who understand their role as parents go to great lengths to not forget their kids, but for them it is never really an issue in the first place, because keeping a visual on their children and continuously monitoring the safety of their children becomes second nature and doesn't require any additional thought.

You my friend are so absofuckinglutely batshit out of your mind if either believe or condone anything different, and for the love of god I hope you don't have offspring of your own already or as it would behoove the human race of those of your ilk never procreated. It is people who believe as you do, or can find sympathy for baby cookers that end up with kids of their own on the back of a milk carton. What a Jacktard!

I'm sure you or one of your friends have a story like this: You're out shopping, you turn your back for a second, and when you turn around your kid is gone, only to turn up later, loitering in the toy aisle.

But this isn't forgetting, it's taking your eyes off them for a second or two. That's sort of unavoidable and not really comparable with actually forgetting the kid is there. The only time I've forgotten a kid is if I'm at the park say, watching them both and suddenly I think, "Where's [younger kid]?" Then I realize she's in my lap nursing. A bit like losing your glasses on the top of your head.

HitNRun: Sorry, but I don't think every parent has actually forgotten their kid(s). Just because YOU may have, doesn't mean everyone has. I may call myself "forgetful", but I would remember forgetting my kid, sorry. You can tell yourself all you like that non-forgetting parents are rare but it won't make it true.