Tips to Ensure You Don't Leave Your Baby in the Car

But what if it slips?

I mean, it gets all wet and slippery, and down it goes.

I just can't see taking that risk.
Maybe it's because I don't have the experience, but I wouldn't give a baby or toddler anything small enough to get down his/her throat.


OK, here's how careful I am...this weekend I had this coupon to get free tartar control dog chews....I was thinking, maybe the cats would like to chew on them too...like like to knaw at rib bones.

The older cat just licked it, but the younger one kinda got into it and started chomping down on it a little. They are are 2 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter....I'm watching him and he's trying, I swear to God, to choke himself on it.

I took it back and gave the packet to my neighbor w/ 2 dogs.

If a little-un finds something he/she likes to chew on, it ain't slipping.

True story: when I was an infant, my parents were taking me to a babysitter's house on Thanksgiving Day. (The nursery where they were going wouldn't take babies under six months.) They left my older brothers, ages 2 and 3 1/2 in the car, telling them to stay put. Both my parents took me up to the door, mom holding me, dad carrying diaper bag, folding crib, etc.

My brothers got out of the car and ran into the street. The older one was hit by a car, flew through the air, and landed on his head. My parents actually saw this happen from the porch. They took him to the hospital, certain he was dead. He was in a coma for weeks, but emerged eventually. He no longer knew how to walk or talk and had to start over developmentally. It all turned out fine in the end, but this could happen to anyone, no matter how careful they are.

The temperature here is over 100 degrees as we speak. Earlier today I was left alone in a parked car, with the windows up, for almost two hours.

My friend and I had been at the bar and we were on the way back to my house when he decided to stop at his sister's house. He told me he would be right back and left, taking his keys with him. After five minutes it started getting hot as hell in that car. Fifteen minutes went by and the car was a furnace. I couldn't roll the window down because they were electric.

Approaching the two hour mark and my clothes were saturated and my breathing came in labored gasps.

At that point I got out of the car.

But that was about as close to death as I've been in over a month.

oh...like the way something round wouldn't slip?


I just wouldn't take that risk.

Don't leave 'em on the top of the car either.

DrewDad ~ that's so sad.
Mac11 ~ I can't imagine your parents feelings at that moment.

My husband & I were in Fiji years ago, and on this particular day we were watching an impromptu volleyball game betweent the hotel staff and a visiting Australian rugby team. Everyone was scattered across the lawn watching, cheering, jibing. On a beach towel in front of us was a family. The baby, maybe 18 months, was chewing on a cigarette lighter. The business end of the lighter. I tapped the mother on the shoulder and pointed it out to her. She shrugged and put it in her beach bag. The kid went after it. I took it away from him. The parents didn't notice.

To our left was another family. Their two toddlers were busy with a beach buggy -- one was trying to push it over a small cliff, while the other was trying to climb into it. My husband jumped up and grabbed the climber just as the buggy crested the hill. The parents never noticed.

We left before the game ended. Our nerves were shot.

Do you still have the lighter, tico?

If parents would be responsible, and just keep their baby in their lap while driving, it would be very difficult to forget to take the kid with you. Or if the car is too hot inside, strap the little bastard to the hood. Always within your sight.

just like brittney!!
she is such a wonderful mom!

Brittney gets a bad rap. I hate to imagine what kind of parent folks would consider me, if every moment of my life were scritinized through a camera lens.

Or strap the kid to the tire. The constant thump..thump..thump...thump noise would be a reminder as to the location of the child.

I have always thought Drew's life was fraught with peril, thanks to you, Drewdad. You monster.

The whole issue can be avoided by cultivating a colony of fire ants in the carseat.

That way there's an audio cue the whole time the brat's in the car.

My daughter ate the cat food before - does that make me a bad mommy?

I actually fell out of the car on the exit ramp from the highway when I was a toddler - fortunately the car behind us so this and stopped. There is a reason for those backseats to have those locks so kids can't play with the doors.

My kid ate cat poop once. (Longhair cats have the most tremendous dingle-berries.) The poison control people laughed at me.

I rest my case, drew.

I am. I regularly frighten my children into behaving by telling them stories of how they will be turned into Gustavratzenhofers if they continue jumping on the couch....

Alrighty, I got one for ya..and it involves my husband and myself...

About 13-14 years ago, we had this 67' Chevy SWB PKU, you know, the kind with the flared bed, twin pipes, 3 speed on the column, bad to the bone pickem' up truck. Just needed a good paint job...ok, enough about the truck....lol (I kinda miss that thang'..lol)

So..we are over at a friends house picking up her children, 4 of them to be exact. And they are all in a hurry to go with their Uncle Nellie and Nie-Nie to their house to stay for a few days. And they are running rampant to get into the truck to go with us. Were standing there talking with our friends (the parents), but we stopped midstream and told them DO NOT get into the truck, to wait on us..because they could knock it out of gear. WE even went to the door to make sure they heard us, seen that they were standing there beside the truck talking...

They didn't listen....

The next thing we know, we hear kids screaming...and we run outside to see whats going on...

K* had crawled up into the drivers seat knocked it out of gear, while *A was climbing in on that side....and the other *K who thought he was ten foot tall and bullet proof decided he'd try to get behind the truck to stop it from rolling.

While it started rolling, *K who was in the drivers seat standing up.. turned the wheel..and it rolled in a half circle backwards, while the door knocked *A down and left her lying flat on her back petrified...and the bigger brute *K finally just moved out of the way...leaving the truck to roll into the lot with the bulls....the whole time the fourth child was just standing there gawking...never said a word.

Talk about a nervous breakdown...no one was hurt, just scared...but crap happens, even with the best of intentions.

We had the same thing happen a few years later with the same kids, and a very large Ford Cab Tractor, this time it went through a barbwire fence, down a hill and towards a pond, while 3 men watched through the window...this time it was 5 kids...w/my oldest onboard for this feature.

You talk about an angry woman that turned loose on 3 grown men when they told me that!!!