Paris, June 27 (remote) According to French media reports, last Monday, a French father forgot his 14-month-old child in the car, resulting in the tragedy of the child's death. According to reports, this is not the first time this has happened in France. In addition, similar things have happened in other parts of the world.
Last Monday, a French father drove to work with his 14-month-old child. He was supposed to send the child to daycare before going to work, but he drove all the way to the office and forgot to send the child off. Not only that, he went straight to work and left his children in the car!
It wasn’t until the child’s mother reminded the father to pick up the child from daycare when he got off work in the afternoon that he remembered that the child was still in the car. Unfortunately, it was too late and by the time rescuers arrived, the child was not breathing.
This is not the first time such a tragedy has occurred in France. In October last year, a similar thing happened in Martinique, France. People can't help but wonder: How could parents forget their children in the car?
Neurologists and psychologists have been studying this problem for years and have given the syndrome a name: "forgotten baby syndrome." "Forgotten baby syndrome is when a parent inadvertently forgets the presence of a child, rather than intentionally leaving the child in the car to go shopping or do something,"
researchers said in a study published in 2020.
The consequences of a child being left alone in a car can be extremely serious: if discovered hours later, the child may become severely dehydrated, hyperthermic or hypothermic (depending on the weather), which can cause significant psychological distress for the child. harm, and may cause brain damage to to . In some cases, it has resulted in the death of children.
"In high temperatures, the body temperature of infants and young children may rise three to five times faster than that of adults, and they may be severely dehydrated by the time they are discovered."
According to the Consumer Safety Commission, June 2007 to 2009 During August, there were 26 accidents in France where children were forgotten in cars, resulting in a total of 7 deaths, most of which were children under 3 years old. 11 of these cases were caused by the negligence of guardians, and 14 cases were caused by guardians. Do it intentionally.
psychology professor and neuroscience expert David Diamond believes that in most cases, this symptom does not mean that parents are indifferent or negligent to their children. One possibility is that the child's parents are used to being alone. Go to work, but occasionally there will be the task of sending the child to day care, but his brain will do things according to its previous habits, so he will forget that the child exists. This is more likely to happen if the child happens to be very quiet or asleep that day.
Clinical psychologist Ilana Wasercztajn cautions that people may think that this kind of thing cannot happen to them, but in fact, it can happen to anyone, because for a moment, the subconscious mind takes over.
In order to prevent this tragedy from happening again, many countries have taken action. The Israeli Ministry of Health has launched an app that can recognize when a driver leaves the vehicle and alert the driver who leaves the car that the baby is still in the car.
Family and Children's Services in Ontario, Canada, recommends that parents place essential items such as bags or cell phones in the back seat of the car next to the baby to avoid leaving the baby in the car. Additionally, anyone who sees a child alone in a parked car should not hesitate to contact rescue personnel.
