Don’t lock the baby in the car!
Lest you think somehow think I’m a grandparenting expert, as opposed to someone figuring it out as she goes along like everyone else, let me tell you what I did a couple weeks ago.
We only have one car, so when we once in a while need two, one son and DIL let us borrow theirs. I picked up Baby Granddaughter in the borrowed car. After getting home, I went around to get Baby out of her car seat. Her door was locked. So I went back around to the driver’s side, pushed the button for all doors, and heard the click of the locks operating. Thinking I had pressed “unlock,” I shut the driver’s door. Went around again to get Baby out—and her door was locked. At that point, I remembered that with this 2011 Honda, unlike our 2015 VW, you can lock the keys in the car.With rising panic, I realized that not only had I done that, but I had locked my house keys and phone in the car, too—and OMG THE BABY WAS IN THERE!!!!!
Very, very, very fortunately, we were in front of our house, Grandpa was home, the car was in the shade, and it wasn’t hot. So Grandpa quickly made phone calls: We had DIL’s car key; loaning son had the spare but was too far away. A locksmith would take too long to get there. So, 911. Meanwhile, I alternated between freaking out and interacting with Baby, singing “Wheels on the Bus” with hand motions through the window. Baby, bless her heart, was totally calm, smiling her adorable little half smile at me, as if asking what the heck? Why aren’t you getting me out? (An image of Cindy Lou and the Grinch comes to mind.)
At some point, I knew we were going to have to break a window, but I had no idea how to do that safely—not a good idea to shower Baby with glass. When the very nice firefighters arrived, sirens sounding and lights flashing, they agreed, and of course had the right tool and knowledge. One of them explained that it would be cheapest to replace the main front driver’s side window, vs a little one (her father, she said, owns an auto repair shop). So they broke the window—no glass on Baby—and I got her out.
What a sweet hug—I didn’t want to let her go! Baby had stayed calmed throughout, even through the sirens and breaking glass. I, on the other hand, was a wreck the rest of the day.
So you knew this before you started reading, but don’t lock the Baby in the car.
Most crucially, being in a closed car can very quickly be deadly on warm days—thirty to forty kids die that way annually in the US.
Even if you have a little time, as I did, it’s not necessarily easy to break a car window. In our case, the car window was tempered glass, so I could have broken it with something—apparently hitting a front side window with something pointy and long enough to avoid cutting your hands in the process is best. On newer models, however, your front side windows may be laminated, in which case, you need a cutting tool to get through them—absent that, in all likelihood the rear side windows are tempered glass and breakable. I guess you’d have to risk the glass shower on Baby in a dire situation (eek)…in any case, AAA says it’s important to know whether your car windows are tempered or laminated glass.
For good measure, here’s how to break a car window from the inside.
This Grandma wound up with yet another lesson in humility, grace, and gratitude, along with some knowledge about car windows neither I nor any reader has to use!
PS. Thank you so much to the car owners and Baby’s parents, who were all so gracious about my screwup.