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.
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