Every summer, stories about pets being left in the sweltering heat of cars, windows rolled up, are scattered across news pages. And every now and then, you get the story about some moron parent doing the same thing to their child.
Well, I got to witness the latter this past weekend. I was out and about here in Humboldt when I heard the God-awful cries of a small child coming from an SUV in the parking lot. I looked over and noticed the windows were rolled up and before I could go over to see if what I was hearing was really true, out comes Captain Idiot herself, running over to the vehicle from the store she was just in, audibly yelling words of comfort to her child.
Sorry, but apologies just don't cut it. Some may think this woman simply forgot her child was in there. Forgot? That's absolutely bone-chilling. There was an episode of Oprah a couple of years ago where her guest was a woman who had accidentally left her baby in the car with the windows rolled up on a hot summer's day and, obviously, the baby died.
The woman still seemed perplexed as to how this could have happened, years after the fact, but surmised her mind was probably on other things, given her busy lifestyle. Oprah then suggested what parents should do is leave something valuable in the backseat with the infant, so when they get out of the car, they'll reach for the item (a purse, wallet, cellphone), notice the infant and be reminded to bring it into the air-conditioned store with them.
I almost fell out of my seat.
I feel like the "valuable item" in the backseat should probably be the child itself! I understand parents run busy lives nowadays and sure there are times where you're zipping through the city like a chicken with its head cut off, popping into the grocery store, dropping off suits at the dry cleaners, watching your other kid's soccer game, getting your driver's licence renewed, blah blah blah. We all lead busy lives and some days are more hectic than others but blaming a brain fart on the death of your infant is just insanity.
Forgetting to bring home some milk because your mind is bogged down in other stuff. Forgivable. But, "Oops, I locked my child in the car when it's 40 degrees Celsius with the humidex?"
Give me a break.
Sometimes it really bothers me that people are just able to have kids without any training or rigorous background research beforehand on their level of idiocy. Even animal shelters send those looking to adopt through questionnaires and followup visits. But as for the human race, dingleheads with the I.Q. of a turnip can pop out as many kids as they want (hello, Octomom).
Leaving your kid, or pet, in the car to sear like an ahi tuna on a hot day is disgusting and any person who has done this should be ashamed. But scarily enough, these are the same people who wouldn't dare leave their cellphone near water or their $1000 Coach purse on the passenger seat. I mean, God forbid something happens to those things.
Suffice to say, the numskull woman I saw over the weekend isn't up for Mother of the Year.
Do you agree that leaving a child in a Toyota sauna is always unforgivable? Or are there times where it can be excused?
CM
