Unocked Car

[Karried]

This story is really strange to me... a 5 year old climbs in the car and gets locked in from 8:30am - 5:30pm?? I know he is only 5 but couldn't he figure out how to unlock the door? or Honk the Horn? Maybe the battery was dead ... anyway, another reminder for us parents to not put anything past little children...

Don't leave your cars unlocked.. even abandoned ones.. check for old freezers and refrigerators and also make sure to tell your children in advance how to handle situations such as these that may arise ... (ie, try to roll down the windows or unlock the doors or if all else fails, find something to break the window or lie on your back and kick the window out).

Poor little guy.. good thing it wasn't 90 plus degrees.


"A 5-year-old boy that police and neighbors spent most of Sunday combing a south side neighborhood for was found Sunday evening, police said.

Thaddeus "Thad” Bottoms was found hiding in a car at 3333 SE 89 about 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

Thad had been reported missing about 8:30 a.m. by neighbors at a trailer park in the 9000 block of S Bryant Avenue, police Sgt. Gary Knight said.

"Thad has been reunited with his family,” Knight said.
Added Knight, "He is alive and well and unharmed.”
Contributing: Chad Crow, Staff Writer

[SuperScooper]

This problem could be easily fixed if parents just used a little common sense.

If your car is out of your eyesight, lock it. Teach your kids that cars and garages are not play areas. They should not go near a vehicle without an adult. (That was always a standing rule when I was growing up. Then again my parents owned classic show cars.) You should also keep your keys on you or out of reach in a lock box.

[rxis]

That is nothing compared to the stories I hear about the parents and family of the patients at Children's Hospital.

[Clrsailn]

My name is Heather, I am Thad's mother. Thad is 5yrs. old and AUTISITC. I have told him of stranger danger as well as locked cars his entire life. Please understand that what you saw on TV was not the entire story. My son went out of a door with 2 dead bolts and a standard lock. The car he climbed into had automatic locks that MALFUNCTIONED once he was inside. The doors and windows LOCKED and EVEN THE POLICE WERE UNABLE TO OPEN THEM, thus a broken window.

I do not like having to defend myself or my family for something that could and does happen EVERY day! My son is special needs and VERY WELL CARED for as well as educated. Thad's brain simply does not function as yours and mine does. He believed he was still in the neighborhood when he crossed the street as the home he was at also was a fenced property. He played in that back yard on a trampoline until in began raining at 11:30 am at which time he found shelter in the car. He changed his wet clothes into ones from the car, foraged for food and decided to take a nap until the rain was over. None of his actions were that of a child not thinking, they were of a lost child taking care of himself. He had realized he was lost after he left our home and attempted SEVERAL times to ask for help to get home and people turned my 5YR OLD CHILD away!!!!!

I just ask that before you continue to judge my parenting skills and the intelligence of my child that you arm yourself with the proper information and stop to think how you would want someone to talk to you or about you in this situation. Understand my son, while tested at children's hospital @ 3 yrs old tested at a 4th grade comprehension level and the articulation level of a 1 yr old. Intelligence was not the problem in this situation. I KNOW that I do everything in my power to assure my children a safe, happy home. One more thing, we had only moved to Oklahoma 28 days prior to his day.

It is no one persons place to judge me or my family and shame on you all for doing so...I am forever grateful to GOD for bringing my son home safely and see his story as one of inspiration and faith.

[Karried]

I apologize if I made you feel badly. I'm glad your son is home safe and sound.

If you read the comments again, you'll see that no one was judging your parenting skills. No one mentioned him getting out of the house. No one questioned this at all.. we've all had houdini children get out without our knowledge.

We saw the original article in the paper that barely covered the basics of the story. There were no details regarding autism or malfunctioning locks.. which is why I started the conversation with 'this story seems strange to me'.

We then discussed ways to prevent this happening in the future.

Glad it all had a happy ending. I can't imagine how scary it was for you.

[MadMonk]

...were of a lost child taking care of himself. He had realized he was lost after he left our home and attempted SEVERAL times to ask for help to get home and people turned my 5YR OLD CHILD away!!!!!

What kind of low-life turns away a 5yr old asking for help? I swear, some people just deserve a beat-down.

[PennyQuilts]

Mom, no offense but in your post you focused on the mental abilities of your child when, ESPECIALLY given his limitations, you should have been focusing on your own lapse in supervising. Since he is autistic, why weren't you watching to make sure he didn't wander off? Why does it matter that you'd only been here 28 days? I would think that would make you all the more cautious about keeping an eye on him until you learned the lay of the land. How could you not check the car after so many hours of him being missing? I can only imagine you must have been frantic and I am so happy that it turned out okay. But seems to me that instead of being defensive, you should be focusing on what you can do to avoid this in the furtue instead of shifting attention to others, including strangers who aren't raising YOUR child.

All that being said, I once lost my 4 year old at an 89ers game. I am not perfect either. At the same time, I am STILL beating myself up about it (and said 4 year old is now 32). I cannot imagine trying to defend myself if my disabled child wandered off on my watch - which was 24-7 as his mother. I simply can't imagine trying to make excuses. Where were you or his alleged caregiver when he was out talking to strangers and jumping on the trampoline? According to your post, he wasn't even in the car until nearly noon so that gives HOURS of his wandering around. How far behind him were you? If my child was out of my sight for more than 5 minutes I'd have been a blood hound on the trail. If you weren't watching him, why wasn't the caregiver? I have no problem judging a parent when a child's well-being is at risk.