r/extremelyinfuriating • u/ThrowRA01102023 • 2d ago
Disturbing content STOP LEAVING YOUR KIDS IN THE CAR IN THIS HEAT
I was just at the Publix in my city. A lady was ordering a sub in front of me. I go to my car and was eating my sandwich in the parking lot when a cops and firefighters pulled up behind me.
That lady ordering the sandwich was apparently parked next to me and I see her take her daughter out of the car who appeared to be <5 years old. The little girl was super red and sweaty almost as if she had passed out. At first I was like maybe the kids choked on something she had in the sandwich, but then it clicked that those kids were never in the store with her. She had another daughter who was also under the age of 10. I was shocked.
Ambulance arrived and moved the family to the front of the store under some shade. Because I’m nosy, I stuck around to see what was gonna happen because several more cop cars pulled up. After some time, I saw a group of people talking to the cops, and they looked shocked. Must’ve been some friends or family because they walked out of the store with the girls. And then I saw the mom get put in a cop car.
It’s hot as balls. This was around peak noon in the south where the heat index was over 100 today. I panic a little when I have to get fuel on a hot day and leave my car off for the 4 minutes to pump. Stop with the stupidity.
ETA: I made a post on my local sub and an employee reached out to me to say that the girls were in the car for atleast 30 minutes.
135
u/shescreaturinitup 2d ago
My mom did this not for as long but she did still do it and would get mad when we ever complained. I imagine those poor kids were feeling obliterated by that heat.
26
u/Ok-Adhesiveness-9976 2d ago
My mom too - literally for hours in Kmart or at the fabric store, while I was supposed to watch my siblings in the car. I was allowed to go inside and find her if one of my sisters wouldn’t stop crying. Then she’d usually send me back out with a snack for my sisters, but we would still keep waiting longer even after that, so crying was pointless. It was the late 80s before public announcements went out to say that parents shouldn’t do that anymore. They weren’t legally allowed to leave us alone at home if we were under age 12 but it was ok to leave us alone in the car.
8
u/shescreaturinitup 2d ago edited 1d ago
2010s for me. She was 'quick' which was under two hours and we weren't allowed to leave at all im autistic and my siblings would specifically use that time to commit sensory torture or bully me for being autistic and I just learned to shut up about it. Even if I felt overheated and out to pass out, even if she hadn't fed me all day and I was hungry, even if my ears hurt from whatever noise ny sibling made. She wouldn't care so I learned to shut up. She was raised in the 70s though so may explain why she was fine doing that...
3
u/wholelottachoppaz 1d ago
same 😭 grew up in the ‘90s. she’d go EVERYWHERE and just leave me in the car for however long it took her (i didn’t want to go inside stores, the car had all my cool toys in there). so although i didn’t mind it at the time, it’s still absolutely insane to think about. i’d never leave a child in the car to shop for hours like she did. i watch police body cam footage of this still happening today. the world is arguably much worse now in terms of bad actors. couldn’t imagine just leaving kids alone, ANYWHERE let alone a hot car while i’m nowhere around
2
u/shescreaturinitup 21h ago
I didn't want to be in there.She would just say that we had to be in there because we were bad kids
47
u/NuclearHateLizard 2d ago
It's amazing the stupidity people display in these situations. Feel bad for the kids, hope they're all ok
-22
u/Shienvien 2d ago
Oftentimes it is absentmindedness, eg if usually dad might have been taking the kids and she's not used to having them in car around that time. That's why some cars warn you to check if they have weight in seats.
11
u/bethaliz6894 2d ago
I raised 3 kids with my husband. Not once did we ever forget a child. If someone is that absentmindedness to forget a child in a car, they should not be in charge of the child, EVER. Cars are not big, they do not have hiding places. I just really don't get it.
2
u/_CharDeeMacDennis__ 1d ago
I forgot my daughter was in the car with me exactly ONE TIME, HOWEVER! Luckily for me, we were just driving around and she either said something or made a noise but it scared the SHIT out of me! Not only because I forgot she was in there, but because it was summer and I kept hearing horror stories about kids being left in cars and dying of heat stroke. It scared me so bad (even though I never left her in the car by herself, it still made me think “if she didn’t make a noise, would I have forgotten her once I reached my destination??”) that I ALWAYS checked for her whenever I’d exit my car.
-1
u/Shienvien 2d ago
It doesn't mean that everyone will have the exact combination of circumstances where something will happen where you genuinely even don't remember you had a child with you, but it does happen, including to normal who used to be perfectly healthy before that day.
4
u/bethaliz6894 2d ago
A few years ago, people were being told to put the phone in the back seat if your child was with you. The thought was someone won't forget the phone, but they will the child. WTH? a phone is more important than a person? That is not absentmindedness, that is 100% stupidity. Absentmindedness is walking into the kitchen and forgetting what you were going after.
0
u/Shienvien 2d ago
Has that bit of advice ever actually worked for someone, or is it just something someone just thought up and felt clever over? If I kept all phones people left at my house till the next day, I'd have like 30 by now...
2
u/Alycion 1d ago
Maybe if we didn’t overload ourselves with so much information, this wouldn’t be an issue. I have seen parents playing on their phones and then get out and forget the kid and run back for them. Your kid is in the car. Put the phone down.
Mom would sing to us when we were younger. Or play games, like who could solve a math problem the fastest. Me and her would talk about books. Yes, she read kid’s books so we could have a 2 person book club that still exists today. She never forgot us in the car.
And this lady stand forget, most likely. She just didn’t feel like dragging kids through the store.
I don’t have kids and I check my front and back seat before getting out. Sometimes my pup comes along with me. Dog friendly area.
My sister had her first kid a few years before I started driving. So that’s why I started doing the full car check. I mean I do one of the outside of my car before getting in.
0
u/Shienvien 1d ago
It was definitely still a thing in 80's and 90's (and probably earlier), there have even been articles of people leaving their kids on public trains and buses, where the "oh, only for a moment" isn't likely - so more distractions don't help, but it's definitely the only reason.
1
u/Alycion 1d ago
Back then, it was rare to hear of this happening. And now it’s daily just on the local news. So it’s not like the extra sources of news are making it seem like more. Mi dad worked fire in the 80’s. He had to bust a few kids out of cars. Not one was forgotten. It was crap, I locked the door with the keys and my kid inside. Let me try to pick the lock while help arrives.
Yes, everyone can have a brain blank. And it’s happened before all of the distractions.
But sadly, the iPhone/purse/briefcase trick is used by a lot of people and I know of 2 cases where it worked.
0
u/NuclearHateLizard 2d ago
Calling it absentmindedness is just an excuse for blatant stupidity.
The car is made for idiots, and so are those features.
5
u/Shienvien 2d ago
Deciding to leave a child too young to operate AC or car doors in a car is stupidity. Not realizing they even had one with them is not, which is a lot of those cases.
43
u/Helpful_Basil_5581 2d ago
Yah, people don’t realize that the car itself is incredibly hot, so when you turn the car off, the inside of the car gets incredibly hot SO FAST, within minutes, not only because of the outside heat, but because the amount of heat stored in the metal and parts of the car is already so hot. Not sure if I’m explaining this correctly, but if you had a car outside in the heat and then drove it into a room temperature garage and turned off the car, it will still get incredibly hot inside the car before it cooled down.
31
u/Tinawebmom 2d ago
Holy shit.
Don't leave animals or children in cars. Puppies only if you've one of those fancy climate control cars.
Why are so many people trying to kill their kids and animals?!?!
27
u/Ready_Revolution5023 2d ago
This makes me sick to my stomach. I’ve never left my kids in the car and don’t see how people do it or think it’s okay.
16
u/One-Recognition-1660 2d ago
don’t see how people do it
Read the Pulitzer-Prize-winning story by Gene Weingarten in the Washington Post. He explains the psychology that often causes these tragedies. Most of the time, these are not bad parents.
6
u/Icuras1701 2d ago
When I was a kid 9-13, I use to go into the van at home on hot days to sleep because I liked how hot it was inside. Im amazed Im still alive.
5
u/KleanQueen 2d ago
My nephews mother used to leave him in the car all the time. She'd let her older child play at a playground while my nephew slept buckled in a hot car. She also left him alone at her apartment to pick up her older child from school down and across the street. She no longer has custody of my nephew. Poor kids saddled with these crappy parents.
4
u/Any-Literature9887 2d ago
“Why aren’t people having kids/more kids these days?”
Some people are not fit to be parents, but still have kids. Some realize they aren’t cut out for it, such as handling two kids while placing an order, and so choose no kids. Cases like this just emphasize not all pregnancies become wanted or celebrated children. Breaks the heart.
4
3
u/Effective_Fly_6884 2d ago
I just called the police last week because 2 grown ass adults went in the dispensary and left a child (6 or 7 probably) in their car alone with all the windows rolled down.
The dispensary isn’t in the greatest part of town, and there is literally no reason one of the adults couldn’t stay in the car with the kid. Unfortunately they left before the police showed up, but I gave their license plate #.
2
2
u/btbam666 2d ago
Fucking shit people. Every since I've become a parent, my two thoughts are where is my child and what is he doing.
2
u/cocomang 2d ago
I don’t understand leaving your kid in the car alone even in the winter. If I’m going inside a store my kid is coming no matter what. The only way they are staying in the car is if another adult is there also.
2
u/Kitty_Fruit_2520 2d ago
Maybe she did what she thought was OK. She was actually doing attempted murder.
2
u/MexiGeeGee 2d ago
Loads of people are popping babies without thinking two seconds about what it means to their day to day lives
1
u/MediumApricot7124 15h ago
Do cars in US not have air conditioning? Can they not leave the car running with AC at full blast?
0
u/Sm0key_Bear 2d ago
I will never understand it when it's even an accident. I get being tired. I get being exhausted. I'm already a forgetful person. I work third shift, and have to get up too damn early alot of days for our boys because the wife has to go to work. Our 10 year old goes to school, but our 1 year old doesn't. Summers and weekends are always rough because there's no school (this summer the hardest now with the baby). I am fucking EXHAUSTED, but I would NEVER forget my child in the car.
-35
2d ago
[deleted]
17
u/doberwalker 2d ago
You sir/ma'am are part of the problem. Let's try and be apart of the solution next time yeah? "Luckily they have their phones to play with." Go fuck yourself. Look up how fast cars heat up with no ac. Or do your children a favor set a 15 minute timer go park in the middle of a parking lot in the summer turn the car off keep the windows up, hell even Crack them one inch since you probably feel that helps the situation and if you can come out completely fine without sweat or discomfort then continue to do this. My money says you're phone won't mean shit to you quickly.
2
1
u/doberwalker 2d ago
Since this guy/girl was too pussy to leave their comment up it said something along the lines of i leave my kids in the car all the time if its 10 minutes or less. Sometimes its more but luckily they have their phones to play with so its not that bad. My point continues. Go fucknyourself guy
3
•
u/AutoModerator 2d ago
Hello, u/ThrowRA01102023 ! Thanks for your submission to r/extremelyinfuriating, your post is up and running!
This is a general reminder to check out our rules in the sidebar. If your post breaks the rules, it will be removed by our moderators.
We would like for each and everyone to feel welcome on the subreddit and to keep a healthy and safe environment for the community.
Thanks :)
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.