So, a news story just came on my local news, talking about how a dozen children have already died in the U.S. this year due to parents leaving them in the car because "They forgot about them"(Right as the reporter said that, it cued to a Father saying "I just completely forgot that I had her in the car, I was completely on autopilot"). I...I just don't see how this is even remotely possible, I mean, my brain is honestly racking itself trying to find a logical, reasonable way that I could ever forget that my child was in the car, and I can't come up with any(and the parents they interviewed weren't arrested or brought up on charges, so no drugs or alcohol were involved).

It just seems to unfathomable to me, for a few reasons. The first reason being, that if the kid is to young to really remind you "Hey, I'm in the car", then the child is also to young to get his or herself in and out of the car, which means YOU PUT THE CHILD IN THE CAR!!! That is a pain in the butt! It's not exactly an easy task with some of the new-fangled, super-safe child safety seats they have nowadays. If you put your child in that thing, I just don't see how your mind could possibly let you forget the torture of that by the time you get where you're going, which means you'll remember to take them out. The next reason makes it even more illogical: What kid above the age of 2 isn't going to start screaming at the top of their freaking lungs the moment you get out of the car and start walking away? I mean, maybe it's just my kids, but once that car stops, they wake up immediately if they were sleeping. I guess maybe if they don't they'd die in their sleep, but if they wake up, they would get out by themselves.

I don't know, it just seems to me that the only way a parent could "forget" is if they do it intentionally, or a mind-altering substance is involved, because I don't care how stressed, how on "auto-pilot" you are, you don't just forget the creature that yells and screams at you 24/7. It's impossible. I don't even get away from it in my dreams half the time ><

So, what about you forum, what is your opinion on this subject? Could you forget your child in the car? Do you think parents who have are lying when they say that they just "forgot"?

I tend to forget about my kids in the car, unless they bang on the trunk lid to remind me they are in there!

I'm quite confident that I wouldn't be able to just forget about something like that. That's pretty baffling. Since you bring it up, I wouldn't be surprised if some parents lie about it so that they wouldn't have to admit that they were aware of it and simply assumed it would be fine. I suppose it would be hard to admit that your stupidity bad judgement was responsible for a death. Lying or no, I think it's incredibly stupid.

Yeah that kind of stuff sickens me even more so that the parents just get away with it.

I read that story yesterday, very sad.

To be honest that is probably something I would accidentally do, not for the whole day or anything, but like 20 minutes maybe.

If I was in his shoes I don't think I would be able to live with myself...

I always make sure my wallet/keys/cell phone/whatever else hasn't fallen out of my pockets when I get up. If I can do that I think I can remember to check if the human life I created is with me or not.

Holy [censored] I have a child!?!?!?!?!?

It amazes me that it's physically possible to forget your kid is in the car. The reason I say that is that when my daughter was little keeping track of her was literally a 24 hour job. It was ingrained in my mind. No matter what I was doing, a small part of my mind was thinking about where she was.

Yes, he's in the car.

I know it sounds absurd, but it does happen. My friend did it once. We went to Gamestop one day, took his daughter, got to Gamestop, and we BOTH forgot we brought her, took 5 minutes of us poking around inside before he said "Holy [censored]" and ran out of the store, I was perplexed. 2 minutes later, he came in with her in his arms, and he looked petrified.

I mean, if I forgot as well, I guess it must be pretty easy.

That is exactly what a good parent should do. I was the same when my children were small, if I couldn't see them I wanted to know why. You have to be so careful these days, there's a lot of strange people out there.

In my sixties I remain a dedicated confirmed bachelor who never fathered offspring (that I am aware of). Had that not been the case I can see myself forgetting about them every once and awhile. I have a deplorable memory. I forget any and everything. Heck, I've forgotten my name on occasion.

Those are examples of terrible parents. I am aware of everything I do in the presence of my children. If I put my kids in the car with me there is no way I can forget they are there.

I'm a bit of a ditz, I could see myself accidently roasting my kid. This is why I shouldn't be a parent.

I'm far too caring to leave my niece by herself when I take care of her. My own child? I'd never, ever let them outta my sight.

I agree. It's sad that the child has to suffer for their parents stupidity or laziness.

I wouldn't leave them in the car unattended anyway, so I wouldn't be in the position to forget.

I can't judge beyond it being parental failure. Don't know the circumstances that caused it. It's not any more different than a cable box on top of a TV or stairs without safety rails. It's not pardonable because it's avoidable. But, other than being proactive and promoting child safety, nothing else can be done.

My parents never forgot me in the car but outside of it once. I was half a year old and they took a taxi and drove away for 50m until they realised I wasn't there and turned around

How can I forget my kid in the car? He screams loud enough all the time I could never forget.

I never forgot about either of my kids, now matter how hard I tried.

I did lock my keys in my car with my 18 month old daughter also inside. This was 1995 and I didn't have a mobile phone, I had to wait around until someone who did have one came by. I called my (at the time) wife who had to come get us; the only other car we had was my old crappy manual transmission truck and this was 2 days after she had given birth to our youngest daughter. She was not pleased with me at all! My daughter was completely fine, she just went to sleep with no worries at all.

I once forgot my ice cream cone in a car. when I realised my mistake it was to late guess what happened next? Yup! Someone stole it! Because when i went back to get it it was gone all that [censored]s left was the cone and I think he soiled himself in there because there was this smell in there that never went away after that day! I tried reporting the theft but they hung up on me

People who forget that they have kids shouldn't have kids in the first place...purposefully leaving your kids in the car is bad parenting.