Leaving Kids In Cars - Please Stop This Fatal Distraction
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Already this year two little ones have been left in cars by inattentive adults to die in the sweltering heat. It’s called hyperthermia and in Florida heat stroke can happen in a very short time.
If you think it cannot happen to you because you are an attentive adult, that's probably true, But it has happened to other attentive, responsible adults.
Please read this excellent piece in the Washington Post magazine section from March 8. Fatal Distraction tells us that all kinds of adults have forgotten their children in cars, from rocket scientists, to doctors, to postal workers, both men and women. If you have forgotten your cell phone at home, you can do it. You'll likely never look at the situation the same way again.
Pass this information onto everyone you know who has a child they carry in a carseat in the back.
A few things you can do to prevent this tragedy come from the advocacy organization Kids and Cars. These measures don’t cost anything but can save a life.
If you carry a child, put something you’ll need like a handbag, a lunch, an employee badge on the floor board of the back seat. Always open the back door of your vehicle every time you reach your destination – make it a habit. It’s called the Look before you Lock campaign.
It may sound ridiculous, but put a reminder of the child in the back seat with you in the front. A large stuffed toy that you normally keep in the child seat, replace in the front seat when you drive. It’s a visual reminder that you have a little passenger, sometimes a silent one, in the back seat.
Another good tip is to arrange to have your day care provider call you if the child does not arrive as scheduled. Many children’s lives could have been saved with a simple phone call.
Always get involved if you see a child trapped in a car. In fact, if walking through a parking lot, be in the habit of glancing in the back seats for children or pets that might have been left behind.
Please read the article and send it around to parents and caregivers. I will think of it the next time I read in the paper about one of these senseless, preventable tragedies. #