Many caring and responsible parents have left their children alone in a car, not realizing the risks involved. One of those risks is the temperature inside the car, which can reach deadly levels in minutes. The results of a child left or forgotten in a vehicle can be fatal. Here are some helpful ideas:
- Teddy Bear Reminder: Keep a teddy bear in the child’s car seat when no one is in it. When the child is placed in the car seat, put the teddy bear in the front passenger seat. The teddy bear is a visual reminder that the child is in the back seat in a child safety seat.
- Look. . . Then Lock: Always open the back door of your vehicle when you reach your destination to make sure no child has been left behind. Put something you’ll need that day, like your cell phone, handbag, lunch or briefcase, on the floorboard in the back seat to remind you to open the back door.
- Make a Parent/Provider Agreement
- Parents agree to call if their child will not be attending school or d ropped off as expected.
- Parents agree to provide their child care providers with every possible phone number to reach parents, a family member or friend to confirm the whereabouts of a child.
- Child care providers agree that they must find the parents if their child has not arrived as expected or they have not received a call from the parents.
Never leave children alone in or around vehicles . . . Not even for a minute