Here is my editorial about it!
I’m not sure what is more disturbing….the mother who left her child in
the car knowing that it is wrong, or the blogger and author Skenazy who claims that it is OK to leave a
child unattended. Her quotes, “I feel as if we’ve criminalized something
that we all know in our heart of hearts is generally safe.” and “I also think that a parent is capable of
deciding if it makes sense to leave her kids in the car for the duration of
an errand” are ludicrous. The STAGGERING
number of child abuse cases reported (not to mention those that unfortunately
not unreported) indicates HANDS DOWN
that not all parents are capable of making wise decisions when it comes to the
well-being of their children. Skenazy
should be ashamed of herself for fostering anything but the well-being of
children in our world. The mother made a
mistake, the child is ok (luckily) and hopefully the mother will never do such
a thing again. It is a VERY difficult and
unfortunate lesson to have learned, but Skenazy’s attitude and comments are
detrimental to the advancement of increasing child safety.
I’ve been there before….I’ve wanted to leave the niños in the car a BILLION times because of …..name the scenario. You are too tired to lug the children form the car; I can see them from the window; it is just easier to leave the child in the car; or LITTERALLY it will only take 3 seconds. It doesn’t matter. Our job is to protect our children and nurture them. Is doing X errand so important that you are willing to compromise the well-being of your child? If your answer is YES, I mean if you THINK about and it and decided that the answer is still yes—then you do deserve the hassle of having the authorities called on you.
I have called 911 4 times
and counting when I have found children in cars alone. The most disgusting of them all was the woman
who was shopping in DSW. I saw her and
she ended up behind me in line. I didn’t
know she was the owner of the sedan parked in the Fire Lane with hazards
on. When I peered into the car, her two
daughters were there. She was in the
store for more than 20 minutes, taking her time, browsing at all the
shoes. Unfortunately she returned to her
car before the police could even be dispatched.
I will continue to call 911.
EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
