Episode 650: STOP Leaving Kids in Cars

[00:00:16] Greetings and welcome to Dreas Point of View. I am your hostess, Dreas. And in the next 10 minutes or less, I will be offering you my perspective on a topic that I feel passionate about. So please make sure that you are following the show at Dreas Point of View on IG, Facebook, and Threads, as well as on X and Spill at Dreas Point.

[00:00:38] I don't even know if Spill is still around, is it? Because I'm hardly on that, but I am on that. So, if you want to follow along, feel free. So, I had a couple of things I wanted to discuss today and all the thoughts came in one day.

[00:00:57] But I am going to narrow it down to talking about a story that I read, which was so troubling. And I read this story every summer. And it had to do with a guy who went to daycare.

[00:01:21] This was in Florida. To pick up his child and they told him that his kid didn't show up that day. And then he was overcome with panic, went out to his car, and then there was a kid in the backseat. And he already, you know, passed away.

[00:01:46] And I don't know. It's still early yet. I don't know what happened to him. But I'm like, it just made me think how troubling that is on just so many levels. That you're that busy. So, you went to work that day, forgetting that you had your child in the backseat.

[00:02:11] And then, so you went the whole day, basically. Just out of sorts. And you were just that. I just, I don't know. I just can't even imagine. I don't have children. So, I can't say, well, I can, but I can't say if that would happen to me. But isn't that one of the, I mean, it's your child. It's like forgetting an animal.

[00:02:38] But I'm sure you remember your cell phone, but you left your child. And then I read a stat that said an average of 38 children die from heat stroke after being left in a car. Children's bodies heat up three to five times quicker than ours.

[00:03:02] And even when it doesn't feel that hot outside, those levels inside are just too much in just 10 minutes. And it said that 20% of people, they are, it's done intentionally.

[00:03:31] And another 25 to 30% happens when a kid finds their way into an unattended vehicle and they're trapped. The majority happen with kids who are under the age of three. And 33% are less than a year.

[00:04:00] I just, there is one that says, and then I read a post. There was a bunch of posts on threads where people were, there were more people who were justifying doing that than not. And that was more troubling.

[00:04:26] So, you're just going to forget your whole child that you live with every day and you're just going to forget them in the backseat. And you had some people saying if they were to leave something in the front seat or leave something in the backseat, then they wouldn't forget like leaving some type of stuffed animal in the front seat.

[00:04:55] Then they remembered to look in the back or leave your phone and your purse in the backseat. Now, I don't, like I said, I don't have children, but I don't even leave my phone in the car. Granted, I don't leave anything in the backseat either. So, I can't even imagine a car seat.

[00:05:21] You know, if, yeah, that's just atrocious. I mean, you may as well start putting them in the front seat. I mean, if that's the case, if you're going to leave them, but I just can't even imagine the family, the mom, and just everything from that. Stop leaving these kids in these cars. Then I saw something the other day where I believe it was in a casino.

[00:05:50] And there was somebody walking past. They saw, thank God they did, they saw a kid left in the backseat. The police were there. They had to bust the window open. And the mom comes out and she's making all these excuses, saying the stuff that she had to do during the day. And she had to go in and look for the dad.

[00:06:13] And then come to find out because of cameras, it showed that she was in there for some hours. So, I don't know what came out of that, but kids definitely aren't for everyone. They really aren't. I mean, and I'm not saying leave them at home. Obviously, don't do that.

[00:06:38] But what happened to, let's say, I'm not talking about those who forget now. Those who don't forget and intentionally leave them in. Why don't you crack the window at the very least? Like, you want to leave them and kill them? Like, I don't understand that. Why can't you have the AC going?

[00:07:04] Why can't, I just don't understand. I don't even hear that much about animals being left in cars. But I always hear about kids. So people care more about animals than they do their children. It just really disgusts me. Stop leaving these kids in cars. Just do whatever you need to do. Put whatever you need to do in the front seat.

[00:07:29] Make post-it notes if you have to, that you have a kid in the back seat. Just leave a blanket or whatever up front. Don't leave your purse. Leave whatever. Because you won't leave your cell phone. Put your cell phones, your book bags, your briefcases. Put your important things in the back seat along with your child. So you don't forget them, please.

[00:07:57] Because I just, it really just aggravates my soul to hear these stories. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it advises people to always check that back seat before you lock the door.

[00:08:21] And you can find more statistics on the Kids and Car Safety Database or by going to National Safety Council Hot Cars page. And I wonder what the penalty is for that. Like, I wonder how much time these people get. But I've never looked into that. But I just, it's just really disgusting.

[00:08:47] Feel free to leave a review on my website, thedreuspointofview.com. And you can catch up on my other episodes. As well as subscribe to my free weekly newsletter, which comes out on Saturdays at dreuspointofview.substack.com. As always, I thank you for listening. This has been Dreya's Point of View.