To most parents, forgetting your child seems impossible. Yet, every year, we always read or hear about heartbreaking and tragic stories of babies and toddlers who died as a result of their parents forgetting them in their cars. That's an unfortunate event that happened to a one-year-old girl, Her father apparently forgot in his car for 24 hours.
What really happened?
According to Metro magazine, the parents have not been named by the police because investigations are still going on, the police said the child's adoptive father, from East Nashville, forgot about his daughter after dropping her siblings off at a nursery.
The one-year-old was left strapped in a car seat in her dad's pick-up truck that was parked at the family's home in Nashville, on a sunny Tuesday afternoon. She was discovered the next day by the child's mother. The one-year-old who is yet to be named by the police was immediately rushed to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville where she was pronounced dead by doctors.
Nashville has been experiencing a heatwave, with highs on getting up to 31C (89F). However, inside the truck, with the windows closed, temperatures could have soared to around 48C (120F).
Vehicles heat up through the greenhouse effect, as the combination of heat from the exterior surfaces of the vehicle and sunlight entering through the windows can turn it into an oven unbelievably fast.
When a child or a pet is kept in such an environment, this could cause them to have heat stroke within minutes.
According to Fox News, a similar event also occurred earlier this month in South Texas, when a seven-month-old baby girl was left in a hot car by her father who apparently forgot to take her to day-care before going to work.
The car was parked in a school's parking lot where the father worked.
Unfortunately, when emergency services arrived the seven-month-old girl was pronounced dead.
The best way to avoid making the same mistake of forgetting your child in a car?
Accidentally forgetting a child is a situation parents may be less than willing to admit to.
Anyone without kids might find it hard to believe that a parent could leave their child behind while out and about. As possible as this situation can be, it's also preventable.
The best way parents can avoid making this tragic mistake is by either placing a shoe, a purse, a teddy bear, or their cellphone in the backseat with their child. This way, you’ll have something to pick up off the back seat of your car where your child is strapped in.