As the weather begins to get warmer there is one thing that we all must begin to think about. It’s the worry of young children dying in hot cars. I just heard a story last week where a young boy died because his sister forgot that he was in the car. She was taking him to the daycare where she worked at. Every year there heartbreaking stories like this. Just last year approximately 39 kids died in hot cars last year.
La La Land Mommy: The Power Of Second
I have older kids. My kids are 15 and soon to be 17. I have kept my nieces and nephews every now and then but they aren’t with me on consistent basis. Which makes me even more alert when they are in the car. Part of my job at my current job where I work at an after school program is I have to pick up children from school. When I started driving I was taken through the process of what’s called second check. The process is really simple and takes less than 5 minutes I have to verify each child by name on my list as they get on my van. When I get back to my job I have to verify each child as they get off. After that I get on my van and walk back checking each row of seats and then do the same when I walk back to the front. After I do that then a co-worker will get on the van and do the same thing. This lets us make sure the children haven’t forgotten anything but most importantly that no child has been left on the van.
I recently just found out how effective this was. The other day I picked up my routes like normal. Verified the children as they got on. When we got to the school I was verifying the children as they got off. I then counted the children. Went down my list again and I noticed a child who I had counted had not got off the van. I quickly looked at my line of kids and didn’t see the child. My co-worker got on the van to do her check (sometimes the co-worker checks first and then me). She walked to the back of the van and the child had fallen asleep while I was driving. Even though we found the child I got on the van and did my check anyway. She and I looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief because without us doing that the child could have easily been in danger. Everything worked out because of this.
I share this story to say. Please, please be sure to do everything you can to ensure the safety of children. Here are a few tips:
- Set a reminder in your phone that will go off maybe every 5 minutes that will remind you that a child is in the car.
- Get a rear view mirror that will put the child in your view. There is even one that you can put in front of the child’s face. My husband had one when our kids were little.
- Have someone call and remind you that the child is in the car. Especially if you don’t normally have children in the car.
- Put something of value like your purse, shoe, laptop, coat, or anything that you will have to retrieve when you get to your destination.
- Have someone you know go out and check your car.
- You can even write a post it and put it on your dashboard.
- Start doing things that will remind you that you are going to have the child in advance.
All these tips are basically to make sure children are safe. Sometimes things happen but if you do everything possible you can save your child’s life. These tips are especially helpful for people who are not used to having small children with them often. I just wanted to share a friendly reminder as the days get hotter.
You really should be using royalty free images. This photo isn’t the best picture to go with the article ether..it’s incredibly unsafe with how loose the buckles are.
Thank you so much for that input. I will try to find a better picture. Used another website I go to.
These are some great tips. It is important to remain mindful whenever young children are in our care. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
All good points. It is definitely important to check, double check and even triple check yourself. You can never be too careful when it comes to kids :-).
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Yes it is so sad to hear of children dying after being left in cars. It is a situation that is so preventable. These tips will definitely help assure that children are safe.
I like the power of the second check. I have a 5-year-old and I always make sure I check. When I arrive at my destination my GPS ask if I have taken her out of the car. Leaving a kid in the car is something I remind my parents and in-laws. I also had a talk with my kids.
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So true. I always checked on my son when he was a baby.
Thank you!
These are such good tips! And some of them are very easy to remember, like putti,g your purse in the back seat.
Thank you!
Excellent tips! Stories like this break my heart every time. The tips listed are easy but are also critical to saving a little ones life.
Thank you!
It is so easy for people to be judgmental. But the main focus should be doing whatever it takes to make sure kids are safe. Kudos to you all for going to extra mile.
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These are excellent tips Katherine and so important. My kids are older now but I definitely used the mirror when they were younger.
Thank you so much!
These are good things to remember and I’m glad you have that list. It’s a great thing that your employer put in place those safeguards. It’s so easy to get caught up and them miss something or someone.
These are great tips! It’s so important to make sure kids are safe and not forgotten about!
I was driving behind a bus earlier and saw the, “this vehicle has been checked for sleeping children” sign and I said to myself, I wonder if they really do check thoroughly…? I’m so glad to hear that you and your partner do!
I hope they really do check. We definitely check it. I wonder where I could find a sign like that.
Leaving a baby in a car is so scary. It always seems easy to judge others, but even the best of us need to double check over and over again.
Yes I definitely agree. Its best to just double check. Anything can happen.