I think there’s a reason I never had kids. Besides the fact I never tried to get pregnant. If it was meant to be, I firmly believe the universe would’ve conspired in ways to make it happen. But they didn’t.
So here I am, child free, and once again shaking my heads at parents who fucked up but can’t own it.
In this case, it’s the parents who have forgotten their kids in the back of the cars, which resulted in the child’s death. Now the parents want car makers to add a new safety feature to prevent future deaths: back seat car alarms.
WTF?
Okay, before you think I am a heartless bitch, I’m very sorry any kids have died in hot cars. It infuriates and panics me when I see pets left in hot cars. Thankfully I’ve never seen a kid stuck in one. But I imagine my reaction would be the same: jumping into action trying to find the car’s owner and/or get the pet –or if it was a child, then a kid– out of the car.
I listened to a dad who had left his infant in the back seat of his car for the whole day he was at work. My heart went out to him, and I totally get that his guilt is what makes him think petitioning car makers to install an alarm might spare other kids.
It might. Or it might be one more annoying noise in a car that people ignore. Like the Fasten Seat Belt one.
I personally don’t think it would matter. When you’re in that much of a rush and lost not living in the moment? If you think an alarm is going to jar you back into reality, well…there you go. You need to make some personal changes, man. Not expect others to do it for you.
That’s just being fucking lazy and irresponsible. The last thing our culture needs is encouragement to be any lazier.
Because you know what will happen, right? The first parent whose child dies in the back seat of a car with an alarm can say, “But I didn’t hear it! It must not have been working!”
Then they’ll sue the car manufacturer.
And that will be a sad day indeed.
You had the kids, you better find a way to take care of them. If that means altering your life so you’re not so scatterbrained, then get on it. Get a new job. Don’t have so many kids. Get a nanny to help you if you’re overwhelmed with the ones you do have.
Change. Something.
If you can’t remember your kids in the back of the car, you’ve got way —way— too much on your plate. You need to slow the fuck down.
I know I’m forgetful. Would I forget a kid in the back seat? I guess I could see it happening to some extent. If I had way —way— too much going on. Or dementia.
But I also know that even though I’m not a mom to any human kids, I am a mom to four-legged ones. I can’t imagine forgetting them in a car, because I know how fast they’d die –and how much they’d suffer. I like to think I’d be that conscientious about kids too.
People are human. We fuck up. It sucks. It sucks worse knowing there’s only ourselves to blame. But if you do, it’s best to throw back that bitter medicine fast. Get it over with and own it.
Backup cameras being put on cars after parents backed over their kids I understood. That was a safety issue that went beyond just trying to prevent tragic deaths like that. It can help prevent accidents of other kinds too. Plus, kids are tricky –and fast. Not to mention clueless. They’re not thinking about not being seen when they dash behind a car.
But this back seat alarm thing? Nope. That’s nobody’s business except the driver’s. It’s a life change issue, not a manufacturing one.