NationStates Jolt Archive

Everyday I am amazed and sadden by how much humanity has gone down in the hand basket to hell. Today I was driving home from the audiologist, and I was listening to The Jeff Katz Show on the radio. Today's subject was about leaving kids in hot cars, mainly because as things heat up in the Spring and Summer, parents should be extra careful about leaving their kids in the car, sounds reasonable right?

Well, one of the callers to the show was this female doctor who stated that sometimes people can get so overwhelmed and so caught up in their own world, such as bills, career, payments, etc. that they may forget that they have a child in the back and accidentally leave the child in a hot car. Jeff stated that just because you have a busy life, and busy with work doesn't meant that your child should not be top priority, when a jobs or possession takes over the welfare of your child, then you should be ashamed. Which I agree, if you have a child, then that child should take top priority in your life.

So after that caller went, a guy actually sent an e-mail and basically told Jeff that he shouldn't have humiliated the female doctor, and shouldn't have told her that she should be ashamed. (Note: He didn't tell her specifically that she should be ashamed, he just said that anyone who put jobs and possession priority over their child should be ashamed), and that he states that it's more important to be respectful than right.

Look, it's not about being respectful, or being sensitive, or any of that. When you have a child, then that child should be top priority in your life, and when you fail to take responsibility for that child, and let that child come to harm by doing something stupid like leaving the child in a hot car, then you should be held accountable for that action, maybe the parents who do that should be ashamed, maybe having shame would be a good thing to have once in awhile.

Just thought I'd share that with y'all.

Everyday I am amazed and sadden by how much humanity has gone down in the hand basket to hell.

Your amazement means your expectations of humanity are far too high. I'm honestly not suprised by any of this.

Your amazement means your expectations of humanity are far too high. I'm honestly not suprised by any of this.

That is so true.

It sounds like the lady was saying that stress can overtake her awareness of her child's well-being. That's understandable, I suppose. It doesn't justify leaving a kid in a sweltering car, but all parents are going to drop the ball due to stress now and then.

Yeah, I mean, it's not like an experience like this (if they'd survived) would cause any seriouse repercussions in adult life. It's not like their prioreties would be skwed (if they didn't receive brain damage) as an adult.:rolleyes:

Without hearing the actual interview, I cannot pass judgment.

It sounds like the lady was saying that stress can overtake her awareness of her child's well-being. That's understandable, I suppose. It doesn't justify leaving a kid in a sweltering car, but all parents are going to drop the ball due to stress now and then.

It really doesn't matter how much stress you are under, you don't forget about your kid or say "the hell with it" and leave him/her in a hot car because your mind was busy and tired. Who the hell would think this is at all understandable? Hard to think all that would trump the safety of your child.

Everyday I am amazed and sadden by how much humanity has gone down in the hand basket to hell.

You say that we are going down. When were things better?

It really doesn't matter how much stress you are under, you don't forget about your kid or say "the hell with it" and leave him/her in a hot car because your mind was busy and tired. Who the hell would think this is at all understandable? Hard to think all that would trump the safety of your child.

Try hard to understand the difference between an explanation and a justification.

No one is saying you should leave your child in a hot car.

You say that we are going down. When were things better?

Back in the Garden of Eden. Then Adam and Eve had to eat that damn fruit, things been downhill since then.

You say that we are going down. When were things better?
In the good old days. Back before women had the vote and we started coddling our children with this new-fangled "education." When I was a boy, I worked 169 hours a week in the steel mill, and it made me strong and industrious.

In the good old days. Back before women had the vote and we started coddling our children with this new-fangled "education." When I was a boy, I worked 169 hours a week in the steel mill, and it made me strong and industrious.

That reminded me of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb-BdIiJO-A

Try hard to understand the difference between an explanation and a justification.

No one is saying you should leave your child in a hot car.

The lady on the guy's show sounded like she was making an excuse for people who do this. Trying to dismiss the seriousness of this act is wrong on every level and I have no problem saying this.

Not that I ever said that anyone thought it was fine to begin with. Understandable does not equal being fine with it.

Everyday I am amazed and sadden by how much humanity has gone down in the hand basket to hell. Today I was driving home from the audiologist, and I was listening to The Jeff Katz Show on the radio. Today's subject was about leaving kids in hot cars, mainly because as things heat up in the Spring and Summer, parents should be extra careful about leaving their kids in the car, sounds reasonable right?

Well, one of the callers to the show was this female doctor who stated that sometimes people can get so overwhelmed and so caught up in their own world, such as bills, career, payments, etc. that they may forget that they have a child in the back and accidentally leave the child in a hot car. Jeff stated that just because you have a busy life, and busy with work doesn't meant that your child should not be top priority, when a jobs or possession takes over the welfare of your child, then you should be ashamed. Which I agree, if you have a child, then that child should take top priority in your life.

So after that caller went, a guy actually sent an e-mail and basically told Jeff that he shouldn't have humiliated the female doctor, and shouldn't have told her that she should be ashamed. (Note: He didn't tell her specifically that she should be ashamed, he just said that anyone who put jobs and possession priority over their child should be ashamed), and that he states that it's more important to be respectful than right.

Look, it's not about being respectful, or being sensitive, or any of that. When you have a child, then that child should be top priority in your life, and when you fail to take responsibility for that child, and let that child come to harm by doing something stupid like leaving the child in a hot car, then you should be held accountable for that action, maybe the parents who do that should be ashamed, maybe having shame would be a good thing to have once in awhile.

Just thought I'd share that with y'all.

That's Darwinism in action. It's not enough to just make the little rugrats. You also have to have the brains to keep 'em from getting killed.

Back in the Garden of Eden. Then Adam and Eve had to eat that damn fruit, things been downhill since then.

So, you avoid answering the question by making a joke? Cute.

Even if you were being serious, things have been far, far worse in the past.

Stress is no excuse for endangering the lives of your own children. I mean, they're YOUR children, you'd think they'd be a priority...

Try hard to understand the difference between an explanation and a justification.

No one is saying you should leave your child in a hot car.

This, apparantly, needs to be quoted over and over, because obviously people aren't getting it.

An explanation is not an excuse. It's not an attempt to justify anything. It's just a description of what happened and how it happened. It's the first, necessary step towards understanding a problem so that you can attempt to solve it. If you skip the explanation, you run the very real risk of not understanding the problem fully, so that any attempts to correct the problem are more likely to fail. You may wind up making things worse - happens all the time.

So when somebody is trying to explain something, suspend judgement for a moment and listen hard. Understanding the problem is the first step towards solving it. Deliberately failing to understand because you don't want to listen to an "excuse" won't help anything.