Please, parents, know where your child is at all times!

Imagine a nice, sunny day. On the hot side; the temperature hovers around 95 degrees with 63 percent humidity. No breeze stirs the air. It's just plain hot, humid and miserable.

Now imagine a car, sitting in a parking lot. In the sun. The doors are locked, the windows rolled up.

Now imagine a child is inside that car...

A tragedy.

It happens every summer. It happened again yesterday.

A 9 month old boy died after being left inside a parked vehicle. The mother, a manager at an apartment complex in Fort Worth, apparently forgot that he was in there...

From July, 2000 though June, 2001, 78 children in the United States 14 and younger died as a result of being left unattended in or near vehicles that were not in traffic. 35 percent of the deaths occurred when a child was left in a hot vehicle.

So far this year, 10 children across the United States have died. And the summer's just getting started. Record warmth already covers much of the Nation, with little respite in sight.

A child's heat regulatory systems are not fully developed; even a few minutes being left unattended inside a hot car can prove to be fatal. Organs can begin shutting down when the body's core temperature reaches 107 degrees.

Inside a parked car, temperatures can rapidly exceed 100 degrees within five minutes. Within 15 minutes, temperatures can soar to 120 degrees or higher! Even locating the vehicle to a shady spot or opening the windows a crack does little to influence the internal temperature.

Last year, four children in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex died after being left unattended in parked vehicles on hot days.

A five month old boy was left inside a car by his mother while she went to her waitress job. (March 21, 2001.)

A two year old boy was left inside a vehicle while his parents took a nap. A NAP. (June 3, 2001.)

A three year old boy climbed into his parent's parked SUV; the doors locked and the child wasn't able to unlock the vehicle; he was inside only 20 minutes. (July 11, 2001.)

A two year old boy climbed into his parent's car while they attended services at a mosque. He was discovered missing 15 minutes later; by then, it was too late. He was rushed to the hospital, but died three days later. (July 27, 2001.)

Why did these children have to die? What were these parents thinking?

How can a mother or father forget their child is inside their car? How can they go to work or take a nap or just not know where their child is? This is hard for me to understand; it moves me to tears.

Any child's death is devastating, but if a parent just takes the time to know where their children are at all times, I believe these tragedies can be prevented.