Posted on 06/29/2006 1:07:30 PM PDT by rawhide
A 5-month-old baby died in a minivan Wednesday after the mother apparently forgot to drop the child off at day care.
The tragedy was discovered about 5:30 p.m. outside the Wonder Years 2 day care. The baby's mother stopped at the day care after work to pick up the child and was told by staff that the baby had not been dropped off. She realized then that the baby had been in her minivan all day.
"The mother had forgotten to drop off the child at day care in the morning," said Curt Kreun, owner of Wonder Years 2. "She actually came in the building to pick up the child and then realized what had happened."
The child was in a car seat in the back of the vehicle, according to Sgt. Jeff Burgess of the Grand Forks Police Department. A Wonder Years 2 staff member made the 911 call, according to Kreun.
(Excerpt) Read more at grandforks.com ...
"The child had probably passed away a while before she got to the day care," Kreun said.
Kreun, who has been in the child care business for years, said near-tragedies happen all too often.
"I know people who have gotten to work and realized they forgot to drop off their kids and had to go back."
Kreun said it would have been impossible for passersby to see the baby in the van, which had tinted windows.
"I walked around that van about 14 times after they left, and you would not have been able to see in there," he said.
I just don't understand this - How do you buckle her in and forget she's there on the way to work?
a retard.. complete retard.
I have never understood these kind of stories. I do not have children, but just do not see how it is possible to "forget" your child in a car for hours.
I see nothing wrong with day care. What I find upsetting is how how a mother "forgets" about a baby in the car. Funny how this always happens in the summer.
Idea - proximity alert. Baby seat with sensors. If baby is in the baby seat, and no adults are in the car - baby seat will start beeping. After a few minutes, the baby seat will then page or send a text message to the parent. Failing that, the baby seat will then interface with the vehicle's alarm system and start blinking the lights and periodically honking the horn.
Or when the car is turned off, if the baby seat is occupied, it will beep immediately. Lots of possibilities for interfacing baby seat sensors and the vehicle for the purpose of alerting the adults.
Who knows? Up all night with a crying baby? Post-partum? Just a ditz? Brand new routine dropping the baby off at day care and it slipped her mind?
Or something more sinister and nefarious?
you're rushing to work...half asleep...u place your baby in the car seat in the back...you're still half asleep, and the child is asleep...you're in a rush, someone calls your cell, blah blah blah...u forget to go to the day care...baby is still asleep in the back...you're still asleep but in a rush...you get to work, get preoccupied, the day goes by...you think you dropped your child off at day care that morning (because that's routine)...but you didnt...realize it when you get to the daycare, and then find your child dead in the back of the car...stupid, stupid, tradgedy...but not implausible...
Probably they just don't die in the other seasons.
Good point!
A woman way too busy to take care of it.
"Monster" is unkind and inappropriate. If this was an accident, the woman is probably already suffering enough from her own guilty conscience. If, on the other hand, this was pre-meditated, then "sick" is a more apt description.
She is not a monster for enrolling a 5 month old in day care. Some people do not have the affluence to take months off of work to care for a small one. Accidents and tragedies happen. Please have a little sympathy for this mother.
All I know is that I would NEVER leave my dog with a stranger nor would I ever forget that my dog was in the car.
I agree, this is really not all that implausible.
Beeler, Before I got married and became a stay at home mom I had to work part time as a single mother and put my son in a home day care. It wasn't what I wanted at the time, but I don't consider myself to have been a monster.
The monster is the mother who obviously has to much on her plate to think about her kids or them being a priority to her that she leaves them to die a horrible death in the car all day.
A woman who has to work for a living? Not everyone can afford to be a stay at home mom.
A monster like me, I guess. My 3-month old goes to a day care once a week, and will go three times weekly this fall.
you know, this isn't a bad idea which is sad seeing we may need it since there seem to be some serious neglectful parents out there.
Yes. These are good ideas.
It's because the Nanny State now requires kids to be in the back seat. That's why you never used to hear these stories.
... This number has skyrocketed since the early 1990s due to the prevalence of airbags. For safety reasons, child seats are increasingly placed in the back seat of the car, making it easier for the parents to forget their child....
Then how about not having children until you can afford to do that, at least until they are in school? What about thinking of the child first? Plus, we don't know that she couldn't afford it, many women work because they want the new car, vacations, bigger house, etc...
Or is it that you only hear about it in the summer when the end results are tragic?
"What kind of monster would enroll a 5-month old in day care?"
One whose husband left her and her child and has to eat?
Good thinking. I was just grieving over one more precious baby left to die alone in an oven, thinking COME ON! WE CAN SOLVE THIS PROBLEM PEOPLE. I for one am sick about how many children die every summer from stupid, inept, stressed out, drugged out, OR WHATEVER, parents.
"I FORGOT"don't cut it!This sounds intentional to me and the mother is playing out a plan to try and get away with something.
I just don't get it.
A clip on or velcro sensor pack would probably do the trick for a simple device.
I forgot my laptop in my car for about 30 minutes once. I got home and went in to play on my computers because I had just bought a new toy and about 30 minutes later I remembered and freaked out and ran to the car. Luckily my laptop was not injured.
btw, I live in deep south east texas, the heat here is horrid.
Serious question: how many people here could have ever forgotten you had a child in the car with you? No matter how old or where they were sitting?
I'm not a mother, but when my children were young not an hour would go by without me thinking of them no matter how busy I was.
I can't understand this heartless neglect.
Nice thought, but it's too late for these folks.
Kids happen.
"What kind of monster would enroll a 5-month old in day care?"
How about someone who has to put food on the table, clothes on the children and a roof over their heads? Not everyone can afford to stay home or hire a nanny.
so anybody who has their child at day care is a monster-
Who do you people think you are!
done with freerepublic, unfortunately-I'm tired of the constant judgement by people here. Not every body makes a million bucks
There might actually be something to this. It is a tragic situation. It seems to be easy for us to be judgmental on these things, but since it seems to happen with some regularity to people who are otherwise "normal, good parents", there is clearly a need for solutions. Thank you for thinking in terms of solutions.
Then we need to get rid of the airbags to prevent babies from dying.
That's not a good answer, but doing nothing is inexcusable.
Thank your lucky stars you are not a parent in a society that now requires two incomes to keep heads above the water - and/or that you are not doing two full-time jobs at once (job outside the home and job of parent in the home) that can leave you stressed, frazzled, rushing and prone to make mistakes - even tragic ones.
The old Cheyenne prayer comes to mind; "Great Spirit, help me not to judge another until I have walked in their moccasins many moons."
"send a text message to the parent."
and the message begins - "Hey dipsh*t,..."
Not a bad idea though - the seats could have plugs that could plug in to the car's electrical chasis, just like the newer clips they now have installed in the crevice of the cars backseats.
I've had it the other way around were after I handed off the younger one to my wife, or another family member - I'd be a few miles down the road and get that striking fear that he was forgotten even though everything was completely in order. I just figured that was the undercurrent of my consciousness working correctly.
It must be comforting to know one is infallible
I consider this to be more the fault of government mandating child car seats and that they be placed in the rear seats of the vehicle. It is very easy to forget a silent, sleeping child in the back seat of a car, especially when you are gearing up to face the stress of the coming work day.
Add to that the feminaziation of our society that would make this woman feel she needed to work anyway. Then the overtaxation that almost requires double incomes.
Yes, this individual woman carries a lot of responsibility, but in the interest of protecting children our government has set up children to become victims!
If we waited until we could afford to live on 1 income for 6 years (that's if we only have 1 child) we'd never have kids.
We can afford to have a child. We just can't afford not to work and have a child at the same time. We don't live extravagantly. We don't own lots of expensive toys. We both drive used cars. We don't take expensive vacations. If we're lucky we get back to Ireland every other year to see his parents.
But we do need 2 incomes. Perhaps this lady is in the same boat.
It does get a little tiresome of reading some of these posts and reading how many individuals have the answers to all of everyone else's woes.
If the authorities would actually do their job and stop buying these lame excuses for child murder, we'd see an astonishing number of parents suddenly find their memories and tend to their children. Instead, the wonderful authorities are aiding and abetting these sad excuses for people to get away with murder...
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