This morning, my cheeks literally hurt from smiling so much at Baby J. She was entertaining me at 6:30 a.m., bouncing around the room with the clown toy she got from Gan as a gift, and singing along with the music. I took a break from making DH his breakfast and lunch, sat down at the kitchen table, and just soaked it all in. I couldn’t help but think just how much joy Baby J. brings to my life. Even when I have to discipline her, which I hate to do but I know is necessary, I do it with such happiness in my heart that I even have her in my life to discipline.
I feel this happiness whether she is making me sing the Daughters of Tritan song 50 times in a row (like this morning) or when she is running around the house, grabbing at toys and shouting “Sheli” (mine in Hebrew).
I assume that every parent feels this joy when they interact with their children, and I can just imagine the happiness is amplified when you have more than one child.
So, you can imagine how absolutely horrified I was when I passed a parked car on Monday, and found a sleeping toddler strapped into her car seat. No parent in sight. I was walking home from gan pick up, with Baby J. strapped into her Bugaboo, all warm and cozy against the rainy weather. We were a couple of houses away from our apartment when I noticed the parked car. I don’t know why I gave it a second glance, but when I did I realized there was a little girl fast asleep in her car seat. I looked around as parents hustled around me, on their way to or having already picked up their own children at the various daycares that are located on, near and around our block.
I tried the door handle and it was locked. I looked into the front seat and saw a purse on the driver’s side seat, which as a New Yorker was also pretty shocking. It wasn’t bad enough that there was a sleeping child in the backseat, but an actual handbag on the front seat as well? Why not just unlock the doors and put a big sign on the car that says, please steal my wallet AND my child!
I decided to wait by the car and watch the child, but not before I took photos of both the sleeping child and the license plate number. I was going to give this parent 10 minutes and then I was going to call the police. At that moment, my neighbor walked down the block and I asked him if he knew who the car belonged to. He was shocked to see the sleeping child and also tried the handle. He then told me how he is so surprised when he sees parents driving around with children not strapped into car seats, or when he sees parents smoking while driving – children in their car – with all the windows rolled up.
Ten minutes passed quickly and then, finally, a woman emerged carrying an infant in one hand and a steaming bowl of soup in the other. A six year old girl walked silently next to her and we asked if she was the owner of the car. My neighbor then took the soup out of her hand to help as she struggled with her keys.
It wasn’t that she was Anglo, which really surprised me, but that she wasn’t that apologetic. She said that the child refused to leave the car, and that she tried to ask other people passing on the street to just stay with the child and the car while she ran inside to get her daughter. I was silent, and my neighbor basically said that she should thank me for watching her sleeping daughter, and I just turned around and headed towards our apartment.
At first, I felt sympathy. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to juggle all your children when it comes time for daycare pickup, since right now I have just one toddler to think about. It’s unfortunate that everyone she asked for help turned her down. I know people are in a rush at the end of the day, but maybe someone could have just waited 5 minutes for her to get her child. I waited 10 minutes, but then again I was already almost home, and my child was with me. The only thing waiting for us was an after school snack and an hour of cartoons.
But then, I thought about what she said, and I felt anger. The child wasn’t asleep when she parked, she just didn’t want to get out of her carseat and come inside to fetch her older sister. Obviously, she was very tired since she was fast asleep by the time I got to the car. But, as parents, isn’t is our responsibility to sometimes force our children to do something they might not want to do? It was much more convenient for this Mother to just let her kid stay happily in her car seat, than to fight her obviously exhausted child and force her inside. That, and the fact that she could only hold one child at a time and clearly the infant couldn’t walk herself inside, thus freeing Mommy up to carry the tired toddler.
So, I get what this Mother was thinking. It’s tiring to fight with our children, but why take the risk? You read horror stories of children who are forgotten in car seats who died, and those stories stay with you.
My Mother’s motto, which was something our neighbor Gilda (may she rest in peace) used to tell her as a young Mother: “better your child should cry now, than you should cry later.” It’s clearly not an uplifting motto, but it gets the point across well. I think about that myself when I’m wrestling small items out of Baby J’s hands because I don’t want her to swallow them, or when she cries bitterly because I won’t let her climb on the couch and try to scale over the back of it onto the floor because she could really hurt herself if she fell.
Does it break my heart to have to say no to her? Absolutely. Do I have to do it for her safety and because it’s my responsibility as her parent? Absolutely.
At the end of the day, I wonder if I should be judging this woman. What would I have done in her shoes? I hope that I would figure out a solution that didn’t include leaving a child in the car, unsupervised. But knowing myself, I would have forced the child inside and just figured out a way to deal with the meltdown. Since I’m a pretty planned person, I would have made sure to have a baby carrier in the car, so I could strap the infant in and then have two hands available to deal with the toddler. The older child, I would hope, would be more cooperative.
I can also say with 100% certainty that I would never have left my purse on the front seat (you can take the girl out of New York but you cannot take the New York out of the girl). Nor would I have carried a plastic bowl of steaming hot soup in one hand, while carrying an infant in the other hand. But hey, that’s just me.
Would you leave a sleeping child in the car seat to run inside and pick another child up from daycare? Do you have sympathy for this woman or do you think what she did was negligent?
Let me know!
midlifesinglemum says
After watching the Madeleine McCann saga unfold minute by minute in Sky News almost four years ago – and Madeleine has never been found – I would never leave my child for a second. And when I’m with her I don’t take my eyes off her. I was once watching my 14-month old nephew toddling about at a museum in London while my brother-in-law and older nephew ran back to see something quickly. I turned round for a second and when I looked back – he was gone! My whole life flashed before me. About two seconds later and two steps forward I found him – he had toddled behind a display stand. I only looked away for a second and I will never forget that feeling of absolute terror.
Rivki @ Life in the Married Lane says
I agree that 10 minutes is a long time, and I can understand your concern, but *whoa* with the judgment. It could be that she usually does bring her child with her, but you caught her the one time she didn’t, and she was so mortified that she didn’t thank you or explain or apologize. Or not. Just a thought.
When I go to rehearsal twice a week I’m shlepping my saxophone, flute, clarinet, music books and diaper bag IN ADDITION to my toddler and four-month-old. I feel like it’s safer for my toddler to be in my locked car in the garage at the rear of my house while I run up and bring down my instruments and then my infant.
Also, when I drop him off and pick him up at playgroup I park in the driveway, run him in and run back out. I suppose I could take the carseat in one arm, the toddler in the other and walk up the icy sidewalk and stairs to playgroup, or I could take the baby out of the carseat, put him in the wrap (even though it’s 9 degrees out), and then run in and back out. But I don’t.
I also don’t live in NY. I’m also not the only mother who employs this method. But now I’m totally paranoid that I’m being irresponsible, so I’m going to take a little poll among my friends on FB re: the safety of our neighborhood (I think it’s pretty decent, but, hey, a little introspection never hurt anyone, right?)
IY”H, when you have your second (b’sha’ah tovah), you’ll find the best way to ferry your little ones back and forth to playgroup, the grocery store, the butcher, etc., safely and securely.
holylandhipstermom says
I apologize if my post seemed judgemental, I did preface it with the fact that I have never been in that predicament and so I don’t know what I would actually do.
Rivki @ Life in the Married Lane says
Okay, it seems that I am totally negligent. I will, from now on, be shlepping the baby with me as I drop my toddler off at playgroup.
Thank you for this post. I appreciate that you have elevated the level of my family’s safety (and my paranoia level, as well. I thought it was fairly safe!).
holylandhipstermom says
What have you been doing with the baby until now? I am a very Type A personality and it really doesn’t mess with the Israeli lifestyle, that being said there is a balance between negligent (which I can’t imagine you are!) and recklessness.
Rivki @ Life in the Married Lane says
Yeah, I was a little dramatic there with the “negligent” comment. This whole topic is still a new experience for me (the baby’s only 4 months old), and I want to find that balance, you know?
I’ve been parking in the driveway, running in with my toddler and then coming back out. When I’m picking him up, though, it can take a few minutes to put his coat on, and that’s where the problem lies.
However, I’ve spoken to both my playgroup and my sitter, and they are both willing to dress my toddler in his coat and have him ready to go when I get there. All I have to do is call them when I’m on my way. I think that’s a good compromise, since shlepping the baby out in cold weather is also not so great.
At the grocery store, I always park by a corral, and I wear the baby in a wrap when I’m shopping. Or I leave the baby with the sitter and use shopping as an opportunity to have some “alone” time with my toddler.
I’m not sure how mommies in Israel do it. I’m assuming you don’t have a car. I would ask other type-A mommies for tips. I always forget to ask my friends who have more experience than I. They’re such great resources, you know?
holylandhipstermom says
That’s such a good idea BTW! I spoke to both my sisters in the States and their day-care centers always have the kids ready to go and either near the door or outside (weather permitting) so they can easily whisk them into the car and not have to worry about parking, leaving their other kids in the car, etc.