In the last four months there have been at least seventeen child heatstroke deaths related to being left in a hot car. That’s seventeen too many in my opinion. From years 1998 to present there have been 623 deaths. That number is staggering to me. All I see lately is a news article about this child or that child. Some have been rescued before they died but most weren’t found for hours. These poor children are too little to be able to unlock a door or open it themselves. They can’t call for help or get attention. They are alone and I don’t understand it. I’m not talking about the parents that leave their kids with the intent of them dying, they are their own brand of evil. I’m talking about the parents that do it accidentally or without intention of harm.
I have two children. My oldest will be eight next month and my youngest is two. I can honestly say that I’ve never forgotten my children in my car. I’ve never just left them to go shopping either. I can’t understand the thought processes of the parents that do. That can put their children in the car but then forget they are there, go to work, and never have that moment of “Oh shit,” and save the day and their child. Or the parents that would rather leave their children in a car to shop. If you can’t get a babysitter than either take your kids with you or DON’T GO SHOPPING.
I could never imagine forgetting my kids but maybe it’s because my kids aren’t quiet, they make it known that they are there, or that generally when traveling with them, my husband is with me. He always asks if they are okay back there and talks to them. I don’t think I will ever really understand, and I don’t think I really want to. Thinking about it makes me wonder what those kids felt the whole time. Whether they cried or were just asleep and that makes me sick.
I don’t remember when but there was a video that a woman posted of herself in a hot car. I remember thinking, this means something, that it shows that anyone can be affected by being in a hot car. Because even adults can die in a hot car, it would just take longer. Our bodies are able to make attempts to control our body heat but children don’t have that ability yet, at least not enough to make a difference in saving them. I felt like this video was showing us what it looked like to be in a hot car but it wasn’t until this man posted a video did people really pay attention.
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhd4s14mABy1B9q8nS
He’s all over the news, all over facebook. I applaud anyone willing to take the challenge he put out there. Maybe it would help, but I don’t know. It’s sad that it has been happening for so long, that so many kids died because of reasons that just aren’t good enough.
Please don’t leave your kids or pets in a car ever. It can only take minutes for the car to get to over 100 degrees even on a cooler day. They can’t help themselves and it’s our job to protect our kids.
I got the statistics in the beginning of this post from this site. http://www.ggweather.com/heat/ It has a lot of information about heatstroke deaths!
Hard To Blog 