# People who "forget" their babies in the car on a hot day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 20, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248 "2014-06-20T22:47:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/381 "2023-08-21T16:00:02Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > All this time she had her phone squeezed to her shoulder by her head, yakking the whole time. In my state she’s committing a crime. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/382 "2023-08-21T18:17:52Z")
Might be here too. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/383 "2023-08-31T02:07:37Z")
This Onion article struck me as funny. [Idiot Kid Dies After Being Left In Unlocked Car (theonion.com)](https://www.theonion.com/idiot-kid-dies-after-being-left-in-unlocked-car-1850775348) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/384 "2026-07-02T21:49:10Z")
It happened again, [this time in Broward County, Florida](https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/child-found-dead-inside-vehicle-plantation-police/). > “Unfortunately, the dad arrived to pick up his child. And when he arrived in the parking lot, he realized he forgot the child. He never dropped off the child at the school. He just went straight from home to his work. And, unfortunately, when he arrived at school, he realized the situation,” World of Discovery Academy [the early childhood education center that the child was attending] owner Leslie Novoa told CBS News Miami. I cannot imagine the horror of discovering that. Note that I regularly rent cars on business trips and many of the new ones have a warning when I stop the car to check the rear seats for passengers or cargo. So some attempt has been made at trying to prevent such things. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/385 "2026-07-02T22:12:49Z")
This is one of my greatest parental paranoias. It’s not an unfounded fear given how scatterbrained I can be. I installed a thing that plugs into my lighter called Clever Ellie that reminds me to check the back seat every time I turn off my car. It uses six different prompts to try to change things up. I still have daymares about this happening. I’ve had dreams. I once had a dream I was back at school, you know, the usual thing where you’ve missed all your classes, but in my dream I was killing it. I was acing tests left and right. I was earning the best marks. I was so proud of myself. Then I remembered I left my son in the car. My son is now six. My husband says, “you could probably get rid of the Clever Ellie now.” But I can’t do it. Maybe when he’s 18. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/386 "2026-07-02T22:17:58Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > This is one of my greatest parental paranoias. It’s not an unfounded fear given how scatterbrained I can be. I installed a thing that plugs into my lighter called Clever Ellie that reminds me to check the back seat every time I turn off my car. It uses six different prompts to try to change things up. > > I still have daymares about this happening. OMG @Spice_Weasel, I can certainly understand that. Just reading @Dewey_Finn’s post started me actually sweating and made me seriously wonder if I’m being remiss in not posting a daily general-audience MPSIMS thread titled **“ARE YOU SURE YOU DIDN’T FORGET YOUR KID IN YOUR CAR TODAY??”** What a stomach-churningly devastatingly tragic thing. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/387 "2026-07-02T22:18:00Z")
Yes, I expect your six-year-old can get out of the car on his own. But it’s such a nightmare scenario. In this case I imagine the horror of this guy’s co-workers, who now know that the poor kid was in the car the whole work day. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/388 "2026-07-03T05:49:13Z")
God, my kids made too much racket for me to forget them. But I know a teacher who lost her 2 yo like this. It ruined her life. Of course. Such a remarkable teacher couldn’t bring herself to teach again after the court case. Her marriage fell apart her older children were given to their Dad. Awful. I hope anyone who is dropping kids on a commute has the thing Spice has. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/389 "2026-07-03T12:27:58Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > God, my kids made too much racket for me to forget them. My kids were car sleepers, so it would have been easy enough to leave one. Fortunately, my only lapses were in forgetting to pick them up from day care. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/390 "2026-07-08T13:52:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It happened again, [this time in Broward County, Florida](https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/child-found-dead-inside-vehicle-plantation-police/). And again. I had to double check to make sure it wasn’t the same incident. This one involved a babysitter. > [@](#): > > A 2-year-old girl has died after being left in a hot minivan while in the care of a babysitter, police in Florida said. > > Officers found the little girl when they responded to a home around 1:35 p.m. Sunday in Hallandale Beach, about 20 miles north of Miami, Hallandale Beach police said. > > The heat index – what the temperature it feels like with humidity – soared to 101 degrees on Sunday in Hallandale Beach.. > **[2-year-old girl dies after being left in hot car while in care of babysitter,...](https://abcnews.com/amp/US/2-year-dies-after-left-hot-car-care/story?id=134513231)** > > A 2-year-old has died after being left in a hot car while in the care of a babysitter, police in Florida said. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/391 "2026-07-08T19:37:21Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > God, my kids made too much racket for me to forget them. I also have a loud child, who talks endlessly, so there’s a bit of a safety net there I suppose. Sometimes, though, he falls asleep. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248/392 "2026-07-10T09:50:49Z")
Before my daughter was born, a friend was giving me advice on parenting and I still remember it. Even the best parent is going to have a slipup sometime and hopefully nothing bad happens. Mine was when we were at my in-laws’ place and I was loading the car to go home. I thought that I had shut the door but must not have and my two-year-old son opened it and ran right out into the street. This being Taipei, there aren’t yards so it’s just a few feet to the street from the door. Fortunately, the driver saw him and stopped, but it could have been really bad. I feel sorry for the parents. When my kids were small, I took them to daycare by bicyle rather than car so it was never an issue for me, but the possibility would have terrified me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-forget-their-babies-in-the-car-on-a-hot-day/691248.md?page=19)