Sometimes it feels like being a mom means fighting a battle you just can't win. Take the Pennsylvania mom whose baby was sitting inside her vehicle in their own driveway when she got carjacked! Living smack dab in the middle of the region that got hit with a heat wave, leaving your 1-year-old in the comfort of the air-conditioning should have been the safe bet.
These are the darned if you do, darned if you don't moments that make parenting so hard. The good news here is the jerk who took off with Jennifer Ramirez' car must have realized baby Nariya was in the backseat and gotten scared.
The carjacker abandoned the car and the baby a few miles away, and the mom who had been unloading groceries from the vehicle when the whole thing went down was reunited with her little girl in less than an hour. But here's betting she will never leave the car running with her daughter inside again.
It's a sad commentary on the state of our society when you can't leave your car running in your own driveway. But this is a perfect example of the parenting Catch 22 I'm talking about.
You sit there reading all these awful stories about kids dying because they were left in hot cars -- accidentally or on purpose. And then when a mom does the exact opposite, specifically putting her baby in the coolest spot in the heat wave because she's thinking that's the smart thing to do, it still ends up hurting her family.
I've been lucky: none of the Murphy's Law moments of parenting so far have hit me like this poor mom. But that doesn't mean I haven't fallen victim to them too. We all have.
Think about that time you were "right there" when the toddling baby fell and bumped her head. You thought "being there" was enough, right? I could go on and on with this list. I am not a big "leave the car running with kids in it" person because of all the risks and the horror stories. But in your own driveway? I've done it. Now, probably not.
Have you left your child in the air conditioning in your own driveway? What has been your biggest darned if you do/darned if you don't moment?
Image via travelsofamonkey/Flickr
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Comments 75
and i've gotta say - OBVIOUSLY, this was a freak accident. but what if the mom had put the baby in the house and went out to get groceries and the baby got hurt? then everyone would be saying she's a horrible mother and should've left her baby in the AC strapped in her carseat and it wouldn't have happened.
there's no winning in these mommy wars. no one is ever good enough.
I get what JScott is saying... I bring my child into the house 1st also before unloading groceries. I have 2 lil ones and an older one... so if I'm lucky the oldest is around to help with the younger ones while I take care of the groceries, but there were many times when I didnt have help and had to put the baby in a play-pin or other baby safe restraint seat while I needed to. Not to say I've never left them in the car running for a moment either (even tho it freaks me out!), but I carry an extra key in my purse so I can lock them in. Still, that doesn't mean I couldn't get carjacked, because hello, they could break a window! I am always worried, regardless. So glad that Mom got her baby back quickly and safe!!!
she should have brought the baby in the house first and bought her in the crib/hair chair or if its a carrier carseat, left her in that till all the groceries were in the house.
we have done this but no more, our 3yr old got himself out of his car seat and got into the front seat hit the gear shift and the car rolled forward and hit our deck, thank God no one was hurt, did not think anything could happen but kids can and will work their way out of the car seat at sometime and ours did, do not fault this women for what she did but I can say first hand that anything can happen and in your own driveway, with the way society and crime is you can not even let your kids play out in their own yrad without an adult with them, I feel sorry for this lady and her child, the fear that they must have went thru and it turned out with them being together again, thank God for that and nothing happened to the little girl.
RantingSyko: Touche! Babies do not need to be held 24/7. If they are gonna cry for a few min while you bring your groceries in, they will live and not be scarred for life.
AmyLynn: That's why they have these things, ie: play-pins, baby gates, etc. etc., in order for you to possibly leave your small children unattended for a moment, if needed, without having to worry about them getting 'hurt'. I dont think anyone said anything about letting them run around the house unsupervised.
I didnt see anyone judging this Mother in the story, or calling her a bad Mom, I thought we were all expressing our own opinions as Mothers, and as we're all OBVIOUSLY entitled to.
I have left my sleeping baby in the car while unloading groceries, or whatever I'm doing...but not with the car running. Obviously, I never did that in the summer (in Phoenix!) Glad this had a happy ending.
I do it all the time, especially if one of mine are sleeping, and I will hurry up and take all the groceries into the house. I bet this Mom sure is happy her daughter was safe when they found her car. Guy just needed a car, not a baby!
This is why I put my daughter in the house while I unload the groceries, because I was parinoid about this very thing!!
The world is honestly so sad! Why can't we go back 30 years, you know, when kids could play outside all day long and there was no fear of your child being abducted!!