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Selfish Parenting and the Children Who Suffer

The Associated Press has written an article–”Sentences vary when kids die in hot cars”–that leaves me rather numb. As the headline gives away, the article is mostly about what should be done to the parents who forget their children in hot cars during the summer, thus burning and dehydrating them to death. I’m not sure I understand how a sentence against a parent who did this should be any different from the sentence given to any other neglectful parent. Is not allowing your child to slowly die over a seven-hour period considered neglect? And no, I really don’t think it should matter if mom and dad were just “really, really busy” on that particular day.

All of this seems to ignore the core problem, which society is beautifully good at doing. The problem is not only that the child is dead or that the car was too hot or that sentencing a parent who neglected a child in this way is a hard thing to do. The real problem is that there are some really selfish people out there who are in charge of the lives of children, a task which requires a certain level of maturity and, dare I say it, selflessness.

The article’s opening sentence says, “Kevin Kelly is a law-abiding citizen who, much distracted, left his beloved 21-month-old daughter in a sweltering van for seven hours.” I’ve no reason to doubt that this man loved his daughter. Sadly, though, love ain’t got nothing to do with it. Good sense, responsibility, and maturity do.

But, for a moment, let’s just go light on the parents who do this. Sometimes you are busy, sometimes you are inexperienced at balancing all there is to do in a day. All understandable things. What I can’t seem to fathom is that parents who do this seem to actually be quite good at not only forgetting their children, but forgetting them for seven hours. Don’t these people wonder–let’s say after three hours of not seeing their children–what misstep might have occurred?

I’m not a parent, nor do I plan to be for a number of years, so please, anyone and everyone feel free to tell me I’m being too judgmental, blah, blah, blah. I will say that to a great degree I don’t believe anyone is “ready” for the children they have, because you cannot imagine all the ups and downs, twists and turns that will come with parenthood. However, I’m pretty damn sure I won’t forget about my own flesh and blood for seven hours while they slowly get baked in my car.

Comments ordered from oldest to newest.

pelf

Perhaps this gives way to parents for “intentionally forgetting” their kids in the car? I’m sorry this sounds awful but I’ve recently read a few cases where parents murdered their children. Sickos.