Think You'd Never Forget About Kid in Car? Try Again

A dad in Atlanta is facing murder charges after apparently forgetting about his child being inside a hot car, and Aaron Gouveia at Time knows exactly what you're thinking: "Oh my God, what a horrible parent. I would never let that that happen." Except Gouveia knows just how easily this kind of thing can happen. In an incident six years ago that the parent blogger is just now copping to publicly—he never told his wife until this week, either—Gouveia explains how he set out to go shopping in frigid temperatures with his baby boy in the back seat. It was only when he got to the doors of the supermarket that he realized he had forgotten his shopping list in the car.

"Oh, and one other thing," he writes. "When I realized what else I had forgotten, I learned the true meaning of 'panic attack.' I just stood there, paralyzed by a deeper fear than I have ever known." His kid was fine, and Gouveia could rattle off plenty of excuses, but the bottom line is that he "simply forgot" about his son, who likely would have frozen to death if not for that missing shopping list. He suspects he's not alone in this kind of close call. The Consumerist, meanwhile, has a list of tips for people who drive kids around—like, say, leaving your cell phone or wallet in the back seat, too. "If it sounds like we’re begging, it’s because we are," writes Mary Beth Quirk. "Every summer as the hot weather approaches, it’s always a good idea to reissue the plea to parents and other caretakers to please, please, not leave children locked in cars with the windows up." Click for her full post, or for Gouveia's full post. (More child safety stories.)