the worst

LINDALE, Texas - An infant was found dead in a hot, parked vehicle outside Lindale City Hall on Tuesday after being left inside by one of the town's reserve police officers, authorities said.

The officer parked his truck Tuesday morning and drove a police car to a law-enforcement class in another town. About 3:20 p.m., the man contacted Lindale police in a panic and said he did not recall taking his infant to day care that day, Justice of the Peace James R. Cowart told The Associated Press.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/
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i don't understand how something like this can happen, involving parent and child. by no means to i want to dump on the guy. imagining what he must be going through right now, as a result of what appears to be a horrible accident, makes me ill inside.

that said, in the 3 1/2 years i've been a daddy, if one, or both of my girls and i are in an unfamiliar or uncontrollable environment (pretty much anywhere that is not our house) i'm all over 'em. i believe that makes me what is referred to as a 'chopper parent'. while i'm unbuckling my youngest from her carseat, my head is on a swivel keeping an eye on my oldest. before that, when each of them was just months old, when we'd be on our way somewhere, i was always looking in the rearview mirror at the mirror positioned in front of them. when we're at a skating rink or a jumpy house playland, even though my trusted family (and that of my wife) and/or friends might be near them to keep an eye on them while i'm tending to something else, i always have a visual 'leash' on them (i look for them every 5 minutes or so just so i know the general area they are in). i suppose i basically reflect something my wife once told me: "i know you're the only one that loves them as much as i do." when they are in my charge, i'm thinking of nothing else. i don't know, maybe it'd be different if i was looking more forward to where i was going after dropping them off. still, i can't imagine something like this happening to me. i forget keys, books, shades, etc. i can't imagine anything making me forget my girls.