Ah that article, that scared me shitless when I first read it while my wife was pregnant. A single "oops" that really doesn't just fuck a person up, it ruins their entire life.

“Death by hyperthermia” is the official designation. When it happens to young children, the facts are often the same: An otherwise loving and attentive parent one day gets busy, or distracted, or upset, or confused by a change in his or her daily routine, and just... forgets a child is in the car. It happens that way somewhere in the United States 15 to 25 times a year, parceled out through the spring, summer and early fall. The season is almost upon us.

If you ever accidentally left food in the microwave for a few hours, this could be you with children.

Anyways here's the archive org link since the primary link is paywalled.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240617002402/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

Having gone through what is essentially sleep deprivation torture when raising twins, I believe this and the guilt would be unimaginable.

I was going to be dropping my son off at daycare before work (something I usually didn't do), and my normal routine was to stop at Wawa for breakfast. I stopped, got out, grabbed my breakfast, got back in, and only then remembered that he was in the back. He had been VERY uncharacteristically quiet prior, and I was tired, and I just... forgot he was in the back.

It caused absolutely no harm (I was only in the Wawa for 5-10 min), but it was a very sobering moment. I can definitely understand how it happens.

Piggybacking your comment to say that this kinda shit would happen a lot less if we had mandatory maternity/paternity leave.

To a much less serious degree it happened to me/my daughter. Brought her in one winter in her car seat and set her down next to my bed with her coat still on. Instantly fell asleep on the bed for at least an hour. When I came to she was drenched in sweat. Obviously panicked and got her out but she seemed unfazed, stretched a little, and went back to sleep. Still feel bad years later.

When my oldest was about 1, I buckled him in, but didn't realize the carseat wasn't buckled in.

About a mile down the road, I turned and we went tumbling across the car in his car seat. It was completely upside down by the end.

The only thing that kept me calm was that he was cackling with laughter. He thought it was the funniest thing. Never made thay mistake again!

As a new parent... This terrifies me

All went well, we got underway, and upon arriving at our destination I realized I never actually did up the safety restraints.

This happened with my youngest once. I forget what lead up to it (this was 16-17 years ago), he might have climbed into his seat on his own or something that deviated me from my routine, but as we were driving he said something about his buckles, and his sister, sitting next to me started yelling at me because I forgot to buckle him.

I'm gonna add this here in case it helps anyone else.

A friend of mine uses a long dog leash to prevent her from forgetting her kid in the car. She uses the handle end with a loop and ties that end to the carseat and then attaches the hook end to her belt loop or purse. Now she can't leave the car without acknowledging the carseat.

She just leaves the dog leash attached to car seat all the time and attaches it to herself when she puts on her seatbelt.

I thought it was a great solution that doesn't involve removing shoes or buying a new car with seat sensors. Hope this helps someone else, or at least gives them peace of mind if they choose this method.

for me, i always put my work bag in the back seat for this reason. I would have to open the back door to get it out. Never happened but it was a concern and i completely have a tendancy to be on autopilot in the mornings.

Tribes of 150 humans, mixed with all age groups. Mother often dies in labour plus no real way to tell who the father is means the whole tribe pitched in to raise the children.

I think about this a lot. When I say I never want to have children, this is probably the reason why. Like an animal in the zoo, I understand that the environment is not ideal to have offspring in.

In Massachusetts it is state law that a child care center/home/facility call parents if a scheduled child is late being dropped off. For this reason I think it's a great regulation.