Testing the Hypothesis Part 1

Children vs. Cars – Heat Stroke Prevention 

Opportunity: Since 1998 there has been an average of about 39 children who have died as a result of heatstroke due to being forgotten or simply left in the car. That number doesn’t even include the countless number of close calls that occurred where a child was about to survive. What is sad is that most people believe it would never happen to them but in reality, it is something that could happen to anyone of us.

• The who: Parents of American children under the age of 6. 
• The what: Leave children in the car resulting in a heatstroke. 
• The why: In most cases, parents are forgetting about the children. 

Testing the Who: I believe that this opportunity is available anywhere in the world. It isn’t just restricted the America. And it could be parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles, males or female. Anyone runs the chance of forgetting a child in the car. And although heat stroke can happen at any age, according to the statistics available those 6 and under are the ones this tends to happen to the most. This could be because they are still in a car seat where they need the assistance to be unbuckled from their car seat.

Testing the What: Heat strokes occur in children because their bodies have not fully developed yet and cannot handle the rapid change in heat that goes on in the vehicle when it is not running with air. This could happen to any child just because no one is safe from tragedy and sometimes mistakes do happen.

Testing the Why: In most of the case’s I’ve read about, the caregiver simply forgets the child in the car because they have things on their mind, they think they already dropped off the child when they really haven’t or they maybe were running late for something. In other cases, people do it thinking that nothing could happen by leaving a child in the car for a short amount of time. What those fail to realize is the “greenhouse effect” that quickly occurs with a car. Now, I wouldn’t say that those are the only reasons someone might leave their child in the car but according to stats more than 55% of these incidents occur because the caregiver forgot.

Interviews

• Interview 1: A Mother 

For this interview I spoke to a mother who has 2 children. She is single mother, full-time worker and a full-time student. While she hasn’t experienced forgetting her child in the car, (or at least admitted to it) it was important to me to get some feedback from a busy mother’s perspective. I read to her some news articles I was able to find online about children who suffered heat stroke. She was devastated that a poor defenseless child suffered so much. I asked her what kinds of things remind her to check for her little one in the car and she said that it is just instinct for her. Normally the children make some sort or noise and she tries to make conversation with them to in order to keep them from getting agitated in the car seat.

• Interview 2: Soon to Be Mother 

I interviewed a mother-to-be for this one, to get insight of her perspective. This is her first child. I started by asking her what kinds of things she thinks she would do in order to remember her quiet little newborn in the back seat. She said to me that it will be something she will have to adjust to. Since it’s always just been her and her husband in the car it will be a new step they have to incorporate to make sure that their child is safe. She believes that since she will be placing her little one in the back, which is a new step, then she will remember to get him/her out. She stated that she has hear people placing their purse or something of importance in the back seat near the car seat so that you train yourself to check the back.

• Interview 3: Teenager with little Siblings 

So, for this interview, I felt it was important to interview someone who wasn’t exactly an adult, however had exposure to taking care of children under the age of 6. I first started by asking if she has ever left her little sister in the car. She answered that she has but only while she went in to the gas station when a pump was not taking her card. She stated that it was easier to go in really quick and pay, than to unbuckling her 4-year-old sister whom at the time was sleeping. I asked her if she has ever heard of the Greenhouse effect. To which she responded yes, she did. I asked her if she realized that when she leaves a car off with windows and doors closed, that she essentially created a greenhouse environment for her sister. To which she responded no. She figured since it was going to be really quick then it shouldn’t be a problem. She stated that she heard of stories of people leaving children in the cars causing them to have a heat stroke but she assumed that must have been after a few hours.

• Interview 4: A Grandmother 

The grandmother I interviewed had 3 children of her own and now has taken part on raising each of their children. I started with the question: have you ever forgotten your child in the car. She answered no but that she does hear a lot on the news about children who have died due to heat stroke. In her opinion it is all the use of technology that causes this to occur. She said that nowadays people are glued to their phone that they forget to look up once in a while and see what they are missing. She proceeded to say that she thinks all those who forgot their child in the car probably remembered to grab their phones. I asked her what reminds her that she has a child in the car. She said she doesn’t need a reminder, she found it laughable that a person needs to be reminded they have a child.

• Interview 5: A Father of 2 

I felt it was important for my last interview to gain the perspective of a father. My first question was if he has ever forgotten any of his children in the car. He stated that while he didn’t actually get into the store he did have a brief moment where with his first child he did. He stated that it was one of the first few time he went out alone with his baby. He got out of the car, made it a few feet around the car, then realized what he'd done. He of course went back and got his baby. He stated he didn’t know exactly what was going through his mind. I asked him if he's heard of any of the stories on the news of children who suffered through heat strokes due to being left in the car. He stated that he has and he is terrified that would ever happen to him. I asked him if he would ever consider buying something that would remind him that there is a child in the back seat. He stated that at this point in his life he probably wouldn’t but, if it was something promoted when he and his wife were preparing for their first baby then they would have looked into something like that.

Summary: So overall from the interviews I had a lot of mix responses between people who have and have not left a child in a car. No one of course had ever left a child long enough to cause any harm to the child. The last interview did bring a good point to me in that maybe people who already have children may not want to purchase a device to help them remember they have a child in the back seat. This is mainly because they have already adjusted to loading and unloading their child. However, because of the news article I have come across that vary in age, this makes me believe that maybe it would attract new parents a lot more than parents who have old kids but that doesn’t necessarily mean they wouldn’t buy them. The grandmother did bring up another point with the cell phone use. Since people tend to grab their phones most of the time when leaving the car, therefore maybe something can be incorporated with the phone.