a PSA
Via vonnie_k, a Washington Post story about otherwise competent and loving parents who have accidently left a child in a car, with fatal results. It's very difficult to read, but it makes some important points about the neurobiology of attention, routine, and memory. These accidents tend to strike when parents face a combination of stressful distractions *and* a change in their routine. The problem was virtually non-existent before passenger-side airbags moved infant seats to the back of the car, and the more recent recommendation of rear-facing infant seats has only made the problem worse.
Some of the most important information comes in the accompanying Q & A with the author: there are a few brands of car-seat alarms that can help prevent these tragic accidents, plus there are a couple of brilliantly simple mnemonics that anyone can do for free. I'm surprised these simple ideas aren't being publicized just as widely as the "Back to Sleep" campaign against SIDS. Here they are:
(1) Put something you know you'll need (your briefcase, your cellphone, your wallet) on the floor in the back of the car, every time you go somewhere. That way you'll *have to* open the back door of the car when you get to your destination. Obviously, this keeps you from forgetting your baby on any individual trip, but I think that doing it even when the kid isn't in the car would be useful, because it would help make opening the back door an unvarying part of your routine.
(2) Keep a large, gaudy stuffed animal in the car seat when your child isn't occupying it. When you put your kid in, move the stuffed animal up to the front seat, as an additional visual cue to prompt your memory. (This technique wouldn't work for me, because I would never remember to put the toy back in the seat afterwards, and it would just sit in the front seat the whole time and I would get used to it. But for some people, it might be really handy.)
I take this very seriously, because if I weren't making a lot of sacrifices to simplify my life, I am *exactly* the person this would happen to.
Some of the most important information comes in the accompanying Q & A with the author: there are a few brands of car-seat alarms that can help prevent these tragic accidents, plus there are a couple of brilliantly simple mnemonics that anyone can do for free. I'm surprised these simple ideas aren't being publicized just as widely as the "Back to Sleep" campaign against SIDS. Here they are:
(1) Put something you know you'll need (your briefcase, your cellphone, your wallet) on the floor in the back of the car, every time you go somewhere. That way you'll *have to* open the back door of the car when you get to your destination. Obviously, this keeps you from forgetting your baby on any individual trip, but I think that doing it even when the kid isn't in the car would be useful, because it would help make opening the back door an unvarying part of your routine.
(2) Keep a large, gaudy stuffed animal in the car seat when your child isn't occupying it. When you put your kid in, move the stuffed animal up to the front seat, as an additional visual cue to prompt your memory. (This technique wouldn't work for me, because I would never remember to put the toy back in the seat afterwards, and it would just sit in the front seat the whole time and I would get used to it. But for some people, it might be really handy.)
I take this very seriously, because if I weren't making a lot of sacrifices to simplify my life, I am *exactly* the person this would happen to.