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Liberal_in_LA

(44,397 posts)
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 02:05 PM Aug 2015

left 1 kid of 4 in shopping cart and driving off, realized baby was missing after 40 minutes

"I got into my car, and normally I put my cart away," says Peterson. "But I didn't need to because I parked at the front of the store and I never park there. And I drove away."

The baby was spotted almost immediately by an off-duty Phoenix police officer, who took the infant into a nearby Supercuts salon.

Fortunately, the boy was not injured and he is doing fine.

But in the days that followed, Peterson faced a blast of criticism on social media, as people called her a drug addict and a terrible mom.

But Gilbert police say Peterson returned to look for her baby within 40 minutes when she realized her mistake.

"As I was pulling into the garage, my 3-year-old goes, where's baby Huxton?'" Peterson says. "His car seat is right behind me. I turned around and realized it was gone."

"It was still a long time," Peterson admits. "It was still 40 minutes. It was not two hours. And I never took my other kids out of the car, so it wasn't like I knew I left him. I thought the whole time he was in my car."


12 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
crime that deserves misdemeanor penalty police are charging her with
2 (17%)
not a crime but family should be monitored
0 (0%)
not a crime but she deserves the wrath she is getting from internet
1 (8%)
horrible mistake, she came back when realized kid was missing leave her alone
9 (75%)
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left 1 kid of 4 in shopping cart and driving off, realized baby was missing after 40 minutes (Original Post) Liberal_in_LA Aug 2015 OP
Been there, though not so young...and it was my fault. Erich Bloodaxe BSN Aug 2015 #1
Heppened to me, too Warpy Aug 2015 #2
You must've been a handful - LiberalElite Aug 2015 #8
I think most of us can be grateful that our mistakes aren't discovered. Brickbat Aug 2015 #3
How old is the baby? gollygee Aug 2015 #4
If you can't keep track of your offsrping, then I would say you got too many. LisaL Aug 2015 #6
You could try having a little compassion gollygee Aug 2015 #11
My cousin who had seven Worried senior Aug 2015 #5
Sounds like she didn't get caught because she left the kid at home. LisaL Aug 2015 #9
i don't have kids but LiberalElite Aug 2015 #7
Bad mistake LittleBlue Aug 2015 #10
The realization of what she had done was probably the worst moment of her life. Nye Bevan Aug 2015 #12
Too many kids. Dont call me Shirley Aug 2015 #13
I remember being sleep-deprived eissa Aug 2015 #14
I love the number of people piling on to crap over this woman for daring to have kids. Lancero Aug 2015 #15
Perhaps she should simply countingbluecars Aug 2015 #16
Again... Lancero Aug 2015 #18
yeah.. when I park in not my usual area at work.ˇˇˇconfusion at the end of day! Liberal_in_LA Aug 2015 #17

Erich Bloodaxe BSN

(14,733 posts)
1. Been there, though not so young...and it was my fault.
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 02:16 PM
Aug 2015

Think I was about 8 at a guess, didn't want to go on another family outing, so I told the parents I was tired, stuffed a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt with other clothes, arranged them under a blanket in the back of the car. And darned if it didn't work, and they drove off thinking I was sleeping back there. Not so funny when they showed up again 20 minutes later, mad as all get out to get the real me.

But really, if you've got 4 kids to deal with, I can understand losing track occasionally.

Warpy

(110,913 posts)
2. Heppened to me, too
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 03:01 PM
Aug 2015

only my overtired dad just spaced out. They came looking for me later. I was three.

Face it, parents of young children are the most sleep deprived adults on the planet. In a complex society like ours, kids are occasionally going to be left in dangerous situations they never faced when we were hunter-gatherer types and left the cradle board hanging on a tree near the blackberry bushes.

Once is a mistake. Twice is the beginning of a bad habit. Three times, they lose the kids while they take parenting classes.

gollygee

(22,336 posts)
4. How old is the baby?
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 03:13 PM
Aug 2015

4 kids, and one (at least) is a baby? (And is it an age where it's still waking up over and over again at night?) Yeah, your brain is a mess. Horrible mistake.

gollygee

(22,336 posts)
11. You could try having a little compassion
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 03:35 PM
Aug 2015

I found another article that said they children are all young, and the baby is only 2 months old. I think it's more likely a sign the mom could use some support. There's a lack of sleep and all sorts of hormonal stuff going on at 2 months.

Worried senior

(1,328 posts)
5. My cousin who had seven
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 03:23 PM
Aug 2015

kids I think at the time put all in the car and drove off heading for town 8 miles away. Got part way there and remembered she left the baby sleeping at home. Went back of course but no one thought she was a terrible mother because that happened.

LisaL

(44,962 posts)
9. Sounds like she didn't get caught because she left the kid at home.
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 03:27 PM
Aug 2015

If it were in a public place it would be a different story.

LiberalElite

(14,691 posts)
7. i don't have kids but
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 03:26 PM
Aug 2015

i imagine that it was just a matter of :

1)doing something out of the routine (not parking in the usual place) and
2)being distracted (with all the other kids)

Not to be flippant, but file it under "shit happens." She isn't an awful mom.

 

LittleBlue

(10,362 posts)
10. Bad mistake
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 03:29 PM
Aug 2015

But I think we have too much of a tendency to judge people on what could have happened.

99.9% of the time when a parent loses a child, a stranger will take the child to the store counter. Yet the online mob will imagine a parking lot full of child molesters and people driving recklessly, rather than the reality that most places in the US are safe for a briefly misplaced child.

Nye Bevan

(25,406 posts)
12. The realization of what she had done was probably the worst moment of her life.
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 06:21 PM
Aug 2015

And I, and I suspect most DU parents, are thinking "there but for the grace of God go I". It's good that this story had a happy ending.

eissa

(4,238 posts)
14. I remember being sleep-deprived
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 06:34 PM
Aug 2015

when I had infants. It truly does a number on you. I didn't know if I was coming or going. Fortunately, I never had an experience like this, but then again I only have two kids several years apart. That was tough enough, I can't imagine four.

Lancero

(2,983 posts)
15. I love the number of people piling on to crap over this woman for daring to have kids.
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 06:47 PM
Aug 2015

To all the people saying "TO MANY KIDS!', well... Her body, her choice.

That said, if you've ever forgotten something - ANYTHING - no matter how 'little', well congrats - You have the capability to forget a child as well. It's not to hard, really. People get into a specific routine, something little changes and - due to how the human brain is wired - that little change doesn't register and your brain goes back to the routine. In this case, put kids 1,2 and 3 in car, load groceries, put cart in up, grab baby 4. In this case, she parked in a diffrient spot - a little change - and her brain continued to follow the routine - kids 1, 2 and 3, load car, but wait - She doesn't walk over to put the cart away this time, so when she gets back to the car her brain has skipped that step and, because the routine is to grab kid 4 when putting the cart away, when she found herself in front of the car her brain told her 'ok, routine done - go home now'.

Of course, some people haven't bothered reading up on how the brain handles routine tasks so they tend to go with the emotional, burn the evil woman in fire, response rather then the logical, I understand how this can happen but thankfully everything turned out ok, route.

Edit - http://www.parents.com/baby/safety/car/danger-of-hot-car-for-children/

But that isn't the only factor in heatstroke deaths, and safety experts stress that the backseat remains the safest place for children. Another major contributor, one that's more difficult to comprehend, relates to the brain. "These are not negligent parents who have forgotten their kids," says David Diamond, Ph.D., a neuroscientist in the psychology department at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, who has reviewed the details of many hot-car deaths and has spent time with dozens of parents who unintentionally left their child in the car.

Understanding what they did, he says, requires grasping how two very different parts of the brain work. There are the basal ganglia -- the "background system" that controls our habits. "It allows us to do things without thinking about them," Dr. Diamond says. When you're training in sports, for example, you repeat an action over and over to fine-tune your skills. Once it's time to compete, the action is automatic. "Your basal ganglia take over and you don't have to think about how to bounce or shoot the ball."

Then there are the parts of the brain that control new information: the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. The basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex essentially compete with each other, Dr. Diamond says. When you change up your routine and do something different, then the new details have to be processed by the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex to override the basal ganglia's strong desire to perform actions out of habit.

The basal ganglia play a big part in driving. "Once you've driven from Point A to Point B enough times, you can do it without thinking," Dr. Diamond says. "You might not even remember the trip." If new information enters the picture (say, your partner calls to ask you to stop at the store and buy milk), your prefrontal cortex and hippocampus have to kick into gear to incorporate it. "But it's common to drive right past the store and come home. When your partner says, 'Where's the milk?' you feel flustered because you remember the conversation, but for some reason you came home instead." Why? Because you were on autopilot. "The basal ganglia actually suppress the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus from bringing that memory to your consciousness," explains Dr. Diamond.

...It's one thing to forget a gallon of milk and quite another to forget a child? ... isn't it? Dr. Diamond has been challenged in this way many times. "As a parent I sympathize with that view," he says. "But as a scientist I can tell you that the basal ganglia can suppress all kinds of memories, even of things that are the most important to us."

countingbluecars

(4,766 posts)
16. Perhaps she should simply
Sun Aug 30, 2015, 06:59 PM
Aug 2015

make it a habit to count her kids before driving off. Worked for me when taking 25+ kids on school field trips.

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