The Los Angeles Times reports this tragic story:
A woman returned home from grocery shopping with her three kids, 6, 4, and 2. She unloaded the groceries and assumed the older kids got the 2-year-old out of the minivan. Hours later, she noticed he was not in the house, so she checked the minivan. He was inside the closed vehicle with the windows up, unconscious. He died.
So far I am not in a puddle of tears and misery, like I normally am after reading a story like this. I am keeping it together to share it with you, because I can see myself in the same situation. Every day when I get home with Kyle and Brady, I let Kyle out of his car seat and ask him to walk to the front door while I unload Brady. I assume that he gets to the front door safely. But what if someone else were to pull into the driveway and not see him? What if I got distracted, which is easy enough, and left Brady in the car?
My heart goes out to this family. There is no reason on Earth that this should have happened, but it happened. Let this be a reminder to keep an eye on your kids.
Why did you have to write about this? I cannot handle these stories.
I agree with Tina! I am now a puddle of tears and misery. I’m gonna go kiss Aliza and make sure she is still breathing!
We’ve had a couple of similar stories in TN recently, but the parents were leaving babies in the car while they went in bars. For that, I have no sympathy.
But when I hear these stories of the average distracted parent running errands, juggling kids?
It is a real, there-but-for-the-grace-of-God moment for me.