Grandma responsible for death of 2nd Grandchild

[JustAskingThisQ]

https://www.wdhn.com/news/florida-grandmother-who-left-infant-in-hot-car-found-not-guilty-of-manslaughter/

I'm just watching this trial on YouTube and thought I'd look it up properly. This child, Uriel, was 7 months old and she left her in a hot car. Previously, she was looking after a toddler grandchild (same daughter's child) who slipped away while she was asleep and drowned.

I'm just gobsmacked.

I had an American pick up truck brand for a few years, and it reminded you several times, with an annoying alarm, to check all seats. I have been so sleep deprived in the past I can honestly see how it happens, just horrific.

@bumblenbean
I don't believe all the hot car deaths are accidents, it's a very easy way to kill a child and claim it was an accident.
Quite a few cases have been dads who it came out were having affairs/ splitting up, I'm not believing they were all accidental.

I agree. Seems to happen disproportionately in the US.

Grandma was apparently on two different meds which can make you drowsy. Also, at the meal with her friends, she was amusing them by giving baby a drink of water via a straw. It’s amazing her adult daughters made it.
Also, the response from the other daughter who arrived and called 111 was also a little odd. She refused to stick around even though her father was trying to revive her niece, because her son was in the car with her. She also somehow knew that baby Uriel had been left in the car without getting out of her own vehicle.

I think it’s one of those situations where we will never know the truth.

It’s possible to forget a baby in a car, especially when you have deviated from your routine.

And we know that young kids wander and get into ponds.

But to have lost two grandchildren in these ways is incredible.

I just don’t understand how all these people - the grandmother (first and foremost), the grandfather, the baby’s parents didn’t collectively decide together after the first tragedy that a baby can’t be left with the grandmother.

Many states in the U.S. have much hotter and/or more humid summers than we do so I'm not surprised it may be quite frequent, plus they as a society have never convinced me they take much pride in personal or collective responsibility.

ALL of the adults in these two situations are responsible for the death of two children. Absolutely unbelievable that their irresponsibly has gone unchecked by social services. No excuses two children died makes me so very angry and sad.

Yes, the average parent in the U.S. doesn't care about their own child's safety, unlike the superior people living elsewhere in the world. You never hear about British parents who irresponsibly allow their children to interact with dangerous dogs or feckless mothers who decide to prioritise moving in the new boyfriend they've known for five minutes over protecting their young children from possible abuse. Far too responsible for that.

As you yourself have noted, much of it is down to climate differences, and a pp also brought up that in the U.S., it's much more common that you must drive everywhere rather than walking or taking public transport, which greatly increases the likelihood of a child being left in a hot vehicle.

As a grandmother I am extra, extra nervous looking after grandchildren! Somehow the responsibility weighs even more heavily on me as a grandparent than it did with my own children (and I wasn't careless with them!)and if anything am over cautious! so I really cannot imagine how you would ever leave a child alone in a car never mind a hot one!

"I" and "myself" what do you mean?

That was my first thought when I read it. I ahd similar thoughts about family dinners and summarising it that way is aligned with British dark but dry humour.

It’s a correct use of the reflexive pronoun. What is it that is confusing you?

It's also tautology. I'm confused by "profoundly British". Are you being unkind?

As you yourself have noted, much of it is down to climate differences, and a pp also brought up that in the U.S., it's much more common that you must drive everywhere rather than walking or taking public transport, which greatly increases the likelihood of a child being left in a hot vehicle.

Also the lack of maternity leave means that children are being driven to daycare from a just a few weeks old. I can’t imagine how exhausted I’d have been if I’d had to go back to full-time work when my babies were 8-12 weeks.

Children can slip away and drown regardless of who is looking after them so I can see how she would have still been able to trust her mum to look after the other one. It's a really horrible situation and so very sad.

There are literally dozens of different cases when you search for "child dies when mother leaves them in car"

I can imagine someone feeling that there was nothing practical they could do to help, removing their own child from the potentially traumatic experience of watching their cousin's death (and presumably also therefore being in the same place in a hot car for an extended period).

The most shocking part of this is the mother entrusting the care of the second child to her grandmother! Why on earth would you do that!