Child, What Child?

I'm all about technology, I'm the first to admit that.  But I think they are going a little too far with it's use now.  I just saw something on the Today Show (I'm on vacation and that's what the wife watches) that has me really annoyed!

So what was the technology?  They are putting a sensor in infant car seats to alert the parent that a child is in the car seat when you turn off the car and open the door.  What happened to people being expected to parent and know when their children are with them?  This is just stupid because it's giving them an excuse to blame something other than being self-centered.  Technology has a tendency to fail, but look beyond that.  This requires that you take the steps to set it up and use it properly.  The piece wasn't detailed enough to show what is involved but there has to at least be some kind of batteries in the seat (another failure point) and some kind of receiver for the parent to carry.  That receiver may be their cell phone but that's more that needs to be set up.  The problem I see there is that the only ones that will take that time are the ones that really don't need it.

And how often do you hear experts saying that we need to put the technology down?  This is part of the problem.  Rather than expecting a parent to be a parent, we've determined that adding more technology is the best path to take.  Really bad idea!  Now when someone leaves the kid in the seat, they can claim that the alarm didn't go off.  Then they can sue the maker of the seat and as we all know, the judge will side with the plaintiff because it's what we do here in the US (I believe I've gone off about that before).  The problem here is that it's just as easy to ignore something like this as it is to ignore the ding from leaving your lights on or your keys in the ignition.

Of course, this also doesn't account for the biggest excuse that we are hearing about when it comes to these, "I was only going in to the store for a quick minute."  Nor does it solve the issue surrounding leaving pets in the car.

So what's my solution?  Perhaps we need to make laws stronger about leaving your child in a car.  That's right, hold people responsible for their inability to be a parent or pet owner!  Put a minimum jail time, even if the child survives.  Technology isn't a solution, it's an excuse.

Just because you can have kids or own pets doesn't mean you should...