A Mother's Story

The other day while I was getting in my car in the parking lot of the grocery store I noticed the car next to me had 3 children alone in their car. One was an infant strapped in the infant car seat in the front seat, the other two were around 7 and 4, female and male. The 7 year old had the back door open on her side of the car to get some air I presumed because the inside of the car probably was getting hot. As I got into my own car strapping on my seatbelt, I had to roll my own window down right away because it was already hot in my car from just the few minutes I was shopping. I knew in my mind that the baby in the car next to me was probably feeling a bit uncomfortable. I motioned to the little 7 year old girl using a gesture and my mouth saying, "Aren't you hot?" She nodded "yes." I then motioned her to roll down the window for the baby. I felt helpless to them being a complete stranger. But I have read so many times of children being left in cars with the windows rolled up and they die from it from the heat and suffocation inside the car. I drove off wondering and concerned for them. There were so many stores around, who knows where the mother/person was. I felt the little deed Idid by motioning to that little girl to roll the window down for the baby might of helped, but again safety overall was still at risk for them. I hoped in my mind as I drove off that the mother/ person would come out soon. I felt the only thing I could do was to write this letter to people to read, and maybe it will change the direction of thinking.

I didn't understand why the mother or whoever would leave her children in the car, but I could figure it out in my own mind that she/they probably didn't want to bring the kids in the store, and maybe she felt it would be a "quick" trip anyways. Who knows. The thing is that we don't know how long the lines are in the check out counter anyways, and we can't predict how long we are going to be in the store. Leaving children in the car alone is a big risk. Not only for their own safety, but for the person leaving them thinking they will be safe. I wish people wouldn't be so rushed these days and putting children at risk by their own stupidity in leaving them alone. Yes sometimes we think to ourselves, "It will only be a minute, I'll just rush in and come right out." It is not the case.

I remember my own son when he was about 2 years old and strapped to a car seat in the front seat by me. I pulled up to the bank to do an ATM transaction. I thought to myself, "It would only be a minute." I got out of the car and went about 15 feet in front of it at the ATM. I could look back and see my son in the car if I turned around. Knowing in my mind "the safety of it" because I was so near by, I thought no big deal, it will only be a second. An old scruffly man walked by me, and I thought for a moment, "Eeek weirdo." But continued to do my transaction at the machine. When I was done, I returned to the car and got in. I had left the windows down a few inches, by the way. My son was totally sweating and beet red in the face. That shook me up realizing that even just for those few minutes he got hot. About a year later when he could talk better, he and I were just talking about different things and he said, "Mommy remember when we went to the bank that time? I slowly said, "yes...." He said, "That weird looking old man reached in the car looking around for something thru the window." I gasped. 15 feet behind me, in my mind thinking all was safe I left my son at total risk.

I never left him in the car again, no matter what. I hope people read this and think about our children's safety. I hope one of them is that mother or whoever it was who left those 3 kids in the car at the grocery store. Think about it.

Sincerely,
Patricia K. Jeffress