Lady Forgot Her Kid Today.

[Wesman61]

We were in line at Costco behind a Lady with a Son about 7 or 8 and a toddler with downs syndrome about 2 or so. After she left we were checking out and my Wife noticed the lady had gone off and left the toddler setting there in a shopping cart! We started looking around and saw her in the hot dog line. The box boy pushed the little guy in the cart over to her. She looked and realized what she did and got all embarrassed. I can't imagine how terrible I'd feel if I went off and left my kid.

[RichieD]

Having your kid wander off is one thing, but forgetting your kid is :facepalm

[Wesman61]

The little Feller was just setting there quietly looking around. Talk about sad.

[Hwoltage]

I ran off at the fair once when I was a very small child and according to my dad it was an absolute catastrophe, my mother was FREAKING OUT!! They found me on the motorcycle merry-go-round and I'm quite lucky I didn't end up with a leash after that day. How a mother could just forget about a toddler is beyond me...

[SteveO]

I don't have kids, but I occasionally will take my niece and nephew (ages six and eight) to the store, out to lunch, etc. Now keep in mind that I am not used to having kids around to watch, but I NEVER forget that they are with me.

[brlfq]

Geez. You guys are tough! She was a few yards away and fortunately, good folks were there to make sure the kid was OK.

We once left Caleb(~ 4 years old) at Mamaw's when 6 adults and 3 other kids got into 2 cars and drove to a restaurant. We broke every traffic law on the books getting back there. He was fine; just a bit disturbed that he couldn't find Mamaw! We learned to count kids that day.

[Hwoltage]

We aren't tough, that woman is ****ing stupid.

[defcrew]

When I was about two I wandered away from the house and my mother found me at a construction site eating lunch with a bunch of carpenters. Helicopter parents are just about as bad as the ones who dare to stray ten yards from the child to the hotdog line.

[SteveO]

When I was about two I wandered away from the house and my mother found me at a construction site eating lunch with a bunch of carpenters. Helicopter parents are just about as bad as the ones who dare to stray ten yards from the child to the hotdog line.

There's a slight difference between a two-year-old not paying attention and wandering away from Mom, and Mom not paying attention and wandering away from a two-year-old. :)

[XKnight]

My dad once forgot my mom at a highway rest stop. We haven't seen her since...

[Hwoltage]

Oh man that is messed up! LOL!

[brlfq]

We aren't tough, that woman is ****ing stupid.

How old are your kids?

[Hwoltage]

You forgot your child. What were you asking?

BTW I wasn't insulting you. I was insulting the woman the OP wrote about.

[Hwoltage]

Oh also, I have no children.

[defcrew]

There's a slight difference between a two-year-old not paying attention and wandering away from Mom, and Mom not paying attention and wandering away from a two-year-old. :)
True. My kids walked two blocks to school from the time they were in first grade. Some folks who lived on our street said they "just couldn't do that" with their kids. It just struck me as insane. I know not all blocks are created equal but paranoia runs amuck....IMO.:o

[pfflam]

You people are harsh . . . she is probably absolutely knackered and wandered a few yards away.

Serial killers and kidnappers aren't around every bush, and if they were, I am not sure that a few yards would make a difference.

Somehow I think the parents can sympathize a little more . . .

[KCWM]

My mom left me at a gas station once when she was taking me to the airport. I got out to pee outside of a gas station and she didn't realize it. I sat down between two gas pumps and cried. She got about a block away and realized it. Any time I bring it, she always apologizes for it.

It's always easy to be the internet tough guy sitting at the keyboard... :facepalm

[Jahn]

reminds me of this crazy story - my wife was watching this on TV and i told her to turn it off when she got to the part about reaching out for the kid and the skin just falling off like a spare rib:

http://www.everythingoprah.com/2009/06/brenda-slaby-left-baby-in-car-oprah-show-june-25-2009-tips-on-how-moms-can-slow-down.html

i swear, sometimes oprah puts some crazy stuff out there. why do women find this stuff cathartic? i find it pure horror. like i need to tell myself to slow down in life so THIS doesn't happen? my god.

[Zilmo]

Oh also, I have no children.


Get back to us when you do.

[Hwoltage]

I will. I can guaranty you I won't ever have forgotten them at the godamn grocery store. You lose your cell phone at the store not your children.

Gotta love people who use the vulnerabilities of their own children to cover for irresponsibility. In no way am I trying to be a tough guy. This is just my opinion and you're offended by it.

[brlfq]

Oh also, I have no children.

I'm not shocked. You might find that when you do, your perspective on the idiocy of folks who do changes dramatically.

[defcrew]

I will. I can guaranty you I won't ever have forgotten them at the godamn grocery store. You lose your cell phone at the store not your children.

Gotta love people who use the vulnerabilities of their own children to cover for irresponsibility. In no way am I trying to be a tough guy. This is just my opinion and you're offended by it.
Trust me...your opinion will change. I was the most awesome parent in the world until I had kids.:D

[brlfq]

I will. I can guaranty you I won't ever have forgotten them at the godamn grocery store. You lose your cell phone at the store not your children.


It is my fondest wish that when you do have children, leaving one for a few minutes inside a store is the tiniest thing you screw up raising them!



Gotta love people who use the vulnerabilities of their own children to cover for irresponsibility. In no way am I trying to be a tough guy. This is just my opinion and you're offended by it.

YEAH. I'm offended by some armchair bozo pontificating about a Mom who slips up for a minute or two. Raising children is so much more than you think it will be!

She's raising a Down's kid. Most likely that was her choice. That puts her up at the top of the list for me. I've been a father for 25 years and I can't imagine what raising a Down's kid would entail. You don't have a clue.

[DC1]

When your child is born, there is a question placed in your mind.

The question?

Where's the baby?

Your mind asks you that every few seconds for the next 20 years or so.
This is why someone wandering off is so incomprehensible to many of us.



dc

[dividedsky]

My mom did that to me when I was 5 or 6. She was a kindergarten teacher and I went to the school where she taught. A bunch of classes went out of town to the circus and on the way back to the bus 3 of us at the end of the line got separated from the class. Apparently they didn't do head counts back in the 80s because they were 15 minutes down the road before they realized 3 of their students weren't on the bus. We found a cop who offered us a ride home but that freaked me out way more than being left behind for some reason. Anyway the bus came back pretty soon so it was all good. To this day my mom hates when I bring it up. One time I wrote a story about it for a class and they picked me to read it aloud at the mall. She was mortified but I think it's funny.

[stevieboy]

There's a slight difference between a two-year-old not paying attention and wandering away from Mom, and Mom not paying attention and wandering away from a two-year-old. :)

Which was more in danger, the kid wandering away or the one left sitting in a shopping cart?

[pfflam]

There may be a fault of understanding in this story, it is possible the woman assumed her 7-year old was wheeling the cart, she may have even asked him to watch the baby.

It sounds more than just possible to me, but in either case, the possibility that it could be the case just underscores how different things can be than you assume.

[Average Joe]

so, she was human and slipped up for moment. No biggie imho. Of course she shouldn't have, but people do occationally drop he ball and this is minor. for contrast about a year or so ago a father round here forgot his toddler in the car and the child died from dehydration. THAT is inexcusable

[bluesjunior]

Much ado about nothing in my opinion. Read the story in the link to put some perspective on it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1281541/Chinese-boy-chained-lamp-post-father-tried-sell-street.html

[phoenix 7]

Much ado about nothing in my opinion. Read the story in the link to put some perspective on it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1281541/Chinese-boy-chained-lamp-post-father-tried-sell-street.html

Yikes! Those stories take bad parenting to a whole new level.

[jimfog]

If I were forced to choose between a kid and a hot dog.......














I'd rather have the hot dog.

[yucatown]

I don't think so. "Good folks" were there to help in this situation, but under different circumstances she might not have been as lucky. Not paranoia, just the reality of a dangerous world.

You people are harsh . . . she is probably absolutely knackered and wandered a few yards away.

Serial killers and kidnappers aren't around every bush, and if they were, I am not sure that a few yards would make a difference.

Somehow I think the parents can sympathize a little more . . .

[Midnight Lady]

We aren't tough, that woman is ****ing stupid.

Oh also, I have no children.

I will. I can guaranty you I won't ever have forgotten them at the godamn grocery store. You lose your cell phone at the store not your children.

Gotta love people who use the vulnerabilities of their own children to cover for irresponsibility. In no way am I trying to be a tough guy. This is just my opinion and you're offended by it.

Yes I am offended by you calling a mother ****ing stupid. When you have to take two children with you WHEREVER YOU GO, without a break, when you are trying to take care of the requests of one while the other sits quietly, when you have more on your mind than most of us can possibly imagine..... get back to us then.

What she did was a great big OOPS, no doubt about it. She will never forget that she did it, she will wake up at night thinking about it, and she will forever be far more careful than she was on that day.

Don't criticize anyone unless you have been in the same situation yourself.


I have found that the only "perfect parents" are those who have never had children.

[agradywills]

What a day and age when you have to worry about your children being taken away/abducted.

[Hwoltage]

Sure. Hate me because I take the safety of your children seriously. Typical.



I have found that the only "perfect parents" are those who have never had children.

Obviously you have never met mine. :aok

[SteveO]

Which was more in danger, the kid wandering away or the one left sitting in a shopping cart?

That wasn't the point at all. Kids are kids. If they see something that interests them, they forget about everything else at that moment.

[Midnight Lady]

Sure. Hate me because I take the safety of your children seriously. Typical. Obviously you have never met mine. :aok

There's no "hate" from here. I simply was offended by the "****ing stupid" comment directed towards a mother who on that day was not perfect and made a large mistake.

[Hwoltage]

It's important to not consider my comments sexist or directed at anyone specifically because they are a mother.

Yes, my choice of language was inappropriate with words that shouldn't have been used but what she did was extremely stupid.

The situation is this:

Individuals that abduct children don't have episodes where they are walking around and suddenly the idea hits them at which point think "Hey, I think I'm going to abduct a child today!". No. They plan. They chose a place and they sit there and wait. They look specifically for areas where there are bound to be higher than average amounts of children with either no parents or situations in which the guardians are distracted for periods of time. The food court at Cosco fits this criteria to a T. It is right on the other side of the registers with no barrier to separate the shoppers bagging their merchandise from the people eating at the food court. They are always very crowded and in an environment like that a person could abduct either a neglected or wandering child literally in seconds.

[90wreck]

Sure. Hate me because I take the safety of your children seriously. Typical.

O.k.

[jefesq]

Parents left one of my brothers at a gas station once. Course there were four of us in a big buick wagon. Quick unauthorized vehicle u turn on the freeway. There on the hood of a PA state polic cruiser, was my brother chowing down on a trooper bought ice cream.

[RonH]

I love how people jump all over someone in these cases, yet they have absolutely no idea what is going on in that person's life. Maybe she is the horrible mother/person that some want to make her out to be. Maybe she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is having a very hard time. Maybe someone close to her recently passed away. Maybe some other traumatic event has taken place and she is having a hard time holding it together. The sad thing is people just can't wait to pick up the stones.

[crosse79]

I don't have kids yet, but I can imagine sometimes you can slip up. Look at me, sometimes I don't even realized I've walked way ahead of my wife. :D

[crosse79]

Here, you have the worst parenting possible....

Baby sytarved to death while parents busy playing online games....
Baby fed rotten baby formula, and beaten when crying....

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jHqH3wgIItT7pxlEEg-JJao77ecgD9FVTCOG0

2 years jail? The world is such an unjust place!! Puts this whole thread in perspective?

[Jove]

On a family trip years and years ago, we were in NYC and my 6 year old cousin got on the Subway when there wasn't enough room for the whole family. We didn't realize it until it was driving off and he was just twiddling his thumbs in the seat. Oblivious.

In NYC especially, that's a scary thing, but mistakes happen.

Being a personal assistant, I have recently had the unique opportunity to live like a dad during the week. The family I work for has a 3 year old daughter and a 12 week old son. A lot of times the husband works all day so I am forced to help the Mrs. with daily tasks. Well let me tell you...I don't know HOW this family lives without me. The 3 year old always wanting attention...the 12 week old NEEDING attention. Karate class to keep the older entertained..stressful. Then going grocery shopping, trying to get the baby out of the car-seat while the 3 year old wants to wander through the parking lot. Finding how to arrange the children in the shopping cart..no room for groceries. The 3 year old is JUST old enough to know what she wants to snack on and whines and whines for it in the store, and the baby just needs constant eye contact and silly faces to stay smiling. Add on to that the difficulty of actually being the mom, with the feedings and diaper changes. PLUS, the thought of trying to work or have any social times as these parents, and the scary reality of what trying to sleep must be like for them..I can't even fully grasp how hard it must be to raise kids.




Luckily someone helped the Costco Mom out and frankly, made this nothing but a disorganized mistake.

J

[Hwoltage]

Does anyone understand the concept of discipline anymore?

When I was a child I didn't whine, I didn't throw fits in the grocery store, I didn't cry and piss and moan for attention. I didn't make things harder than they had to be because I knew if I did I was in deep shit. I only remember being struck by my father once, and my mother once.

Unbelievable.

[Hwoltage]

Sorry. Really, I'm smiling. :)

It's no wonder literally every person born before 1940 thinks my entire generation is shit. And for the most part they are right.

Really, I'm :)

[brlfq]

It's no wonder literally every person born before 1940 thinks my entire generation is shit. And for the most part they are right.



I know lots of folks in the 70+ age group. You'd be surprised to find that they frequently defend the young! They remember how silly and uninformed they were and remind us 50 somethings that "it's all gonna be OK".

You'll punch out a bunch of kids, assume the leadership of our Country/Earth, correct a lot of stuff we older folks thought was just hunky dory when we was fab, make the best decisions you can based on what the current cool ideas are, and make a bunch of well meaning but dumb mistakes. Thus it has always been and thus it shall always be. ... . ....

[pfflam]

It's important to not consider my comments sexist or directed at anyone specifically because they are a mother.

Yes, my choice of language was inappropriate with words that shouldn't have been used but what she did was extremely stupid.

The situation is this:

Individuals that abduct children don't have episodes where they are walking around and suddenly the idea hits them at which point think "Hey, I think I'm going to abduct a child today!". No. They plan. They chose a place and they sit there and wait. They look specifically for areas where there are bound to be higher than average amounts of children with either no parents or situations in which the guardians are distracted for periods of time. The food court at Cosco fits this criteria to a T. It is right on the other side of the registers with no barrier to separate the shoppers bagging their merchandise from the people eating at the food court. They are always very crowded and in an environment like that a person could abduct either a neglected or wandering child literally in seconds.Every post you make digs you a little further into your full idea of your opinions.

How is it that you know what child-nappers do?!
How is it that you understand the situation in the OP?
How can you be sure that the woman's 7-year old was not supposed to wheel the child over a few yards.
Why is it that your reactionary moralizing seems to equate being a few yards away in a hot-dog line with driving away and leaving the child in a subway?!

The only thing I am getting from your opinions is that you are proud of your self for having them, despite the fact that they may be completely off-base.
Its far easier to cast stones about and puff up the self-righteous chest of indignity when you literally don't understand

. . . and you simply cannot understand till your penis has sprung an offspring of its own. That is one thing I understood after my child: there is no way to understand what it is like except to have a child

[Hwoltage]

First and foremost, I watch the news. That is how I "know what child knappers do". Don't most people? Knowing these things is how you protect your child is it not?

As far as the rest is concerned, I stated an opinion, I was continually confronted so I responded. If you interpreted my conduct as grandstanding, well, then I guess that's exactly what took place: You interpreted my conduct as grandstanding. Being a 29 year old male with no children I guess I should have known better than to argue in favor of being responsible. Jesus.

[paulrocker]

It's not a matter of being responsible. It's just having kids and knowing sometimes even with the absolute best intention and careful consideration of your children, sometimes you drop the ball.

If you want to try an experiment, go jump in a pool and try to watch a 4 year old for 2 hours. If they don't scream bloody murder in about 1/2 hour b/c you didn't see the ball coming that whacks them in the head or the 4th kid from the left that decided it was okay to grab onto your child to keep afloat, well done.

It's not laziness or bad parenting, its just that you get to see the ridiculous amount of variables at play, and after a while you realize that it's impossible to keep full attention at all times.

Now compound that by two or three kids, and add that even on the best day you can only maintain so much constant attention (and I mean constant), and sprinkle on some stress, this would be a very natural occurrence.

[Midnight Lady]

Sorry. Really, I'm smiling. :)

It's no wonder literally every person born before 1940 thinks my entire generation is shit. And for the most part they are right.

Really, I'm :)

Since you're 29, you get a break here. Everything you said about child abducters is quite true... the issue
is that you think you're telling us something we don't already know.

To have a child is to be scared ****less that something will happen to them. For most parents,
the child's life becomes more important than their own. I would happily throw myself in front of a train
if I thought I could save my child's life.

We try very hard to be perfect parents. We stress and worry and sweat. We read and listen and we ask advice of those who know more than we do.

Your comments were made with the best of intentions, but my words here are to let you know who your audience is and why you got the reaction you got.

It is like someone who has never picked up a guitar telling you how to play.

It's really that simple.

(and for the record, I was NOT born before 1940!!!)

[Matt Jones]

Sorry. Really, I'm smiling. :)

It's no wonder literally every person born before 1940 thinks my entire generation is shit. And for the most part they are right.

Really, I'm :)

Just keep working on your poast count. That seems to be all that matters anyway. :munch

[getbent]

Oh also, I have no children.

Keep it up!

[getbent]

Jesus.

Is that you? Oh man, sorry for taking you to task for judging... I mean, hey, it is your job...

you should put your identity in your sig, it would keep us from giving you any grief!

[defcrew]

Does anyone understand the concept of discipline anymore?

When I was a child I didn't whine, I didn't throw fits in the grocery store, I didn't cry and piss and moan for attention. I didn't make things harder than they had to be because I knew if I did I was in deep shit. I only remember being struck by my father once, and my mother once.

Unbelievable.
You're awesome.

[Hwoltage]

You're awesome.

A little redundant don't you think? I'm going back to bed.

[90wreck]

A little redundant don't you think? I'm going back to bed.
Good.

[ducblancpale]

Raising a kid is tough and raising one with down's syndrome is tougher....the mother needs help and not admonitions from society. I would have offered to look over her kids for 10mins while she ate that hotdog. Damn...so many out there who are full of self righteousness and no compassion for fellow human beings.

[DC1]

Raising a kid is tough and raising one with down's syndrome is tougher....the mother needs help and not admonitions from society. I would have offered to look over her kids for 10mins while she ate that hotdog. Damn...so many out there who are full of self righteousness and no compassion for fellow human beings.

You can get understanding when you walk off and leave your kid, but compassion?


Hell no.


When you have children, life is no longer about you. It's time to be an adult and insure that the little one you were given is protected and cared for. Should she be yelled at and harassed? No, because she clearly recognized she blew it and was contrite. But she does not need compassion, she is responsible for a little life that cannot protect itself. The only compassion here is for the child. The mother is responsible, and thank God, she recognizes that.

dc

[ducblancpale]

I'm not talking abt having compassion for her act of leaving her kid behind but the fact that she has a kid with down syndrome. I am not condoning her mistake but hey, does it make one feel like a bigger person bitching and whining about her mistake behind her back? Why not step up there and then and see how you can help her instead? Cause the former is so easy and the latter so hard?

Too many perfect people with perfect black and white logic in this world :sarcasm

[tonedaddy]

It is my fondest wish that when you do have children, leaving one for a few minutes inside a store is the tiniest thing you screw up raising them!

Exactly.

When I was about 3, my parents, incredibly conscientious as they were over the 18 years they were responsible for me, once went to church one night and after the service left me asleep in a pew. They drove home before they realized I wasn't around.

I'm guessing the rare peace and quiet had them distracted.
:D

[pfflam]

It's not a matter of being responsible. It's just having kids and knowing sometimes even with the absolute best intention and careful consideration of your children, sometimes you drop the ball.

If you want to try an experiment, go jump in a pool and try to watch a 4 year old for 2 hours. If they don't scream bloody murder in about 1/2 hour b/c you didn't see the ball coming that whacks them in the head or the 4th kid from the left that decided it was okay to grab onto your child to keep afloat, well done.

It's not laziness or bad parenting, its just that you get to see the ridiculous amount of variables at play, and after a while you realize that it's impossible to keep full attention at all times.

Now compound that by two or three kids, and add that even on the best day you can only maintain so much constant attention (and I mean constant), and sprinkle on some stress, this would be a very natural occurrence.
Well said!