Funny Valentine's Day Poems to Give Your Kids
Modamily Site Helps You Find Someone to Have a Baby With
Perfect Chocolate-Covered Strawberries
‘No Child Left Behind’ Screeches to a Halt
Brave Girl Won't Let Rare Disease Steal Her Childhood (VIDEO)
Pink Ribbons Hide the Real Truth About Breast Cancer
Would You Wear These Fang Shoes?!
Mom Delivers 15.5 Pound Baby Boy (VIDEO)
Heart Cookie Pops Perfect for Valentine's Day
Obama's Marshmallow Fight at the White House (VIDEO)
7 Things You Can Do Right Now to Prevent Cancer
Beyonce Trademarks 'Blue Ivy' & Starts a Celebrity Trend
5 Great Gifts for Your Techie Valentine
Angelina & Brad Are Letting Maddox Do What?!
Should the Department of Education Be Abolished?
Photo by blue_heron
Earlier this week, two-year-old Bryson Ross drowned in a swimming pool at his family's new home in Florida. About a half hour after calling paramedics, his mom, Shellie Ross—who blogs about being mom at blog4mom, and has a twitter account (military_mom) with more than 5,000 followers—tweeted about the accident. Five hours later, she wrote "remembering my million dollar baby," and posted photos of Bryson on her Twitter account.
Debates erupted on Twitter and in newspapers about the appropriateness of her actions. Some people called Shellie callous and say she was probably twittering while her son was in danger; others says she was simply reaching out to her Twitter followers for comfort during a tragedy.
Although the tweets have been deleted and her account changed to private, here is the chronology of tweets and events as reported by Florida Today:
On the day of the accident, she tweeted throughout the day about what was going on in her life, including decorating the family’s Christmas tree.
At 5:22 p.m. she tweeted about the fog as she worked in her chicken coop.
According to 9-1-1 records, a phone call from Ross came in at 5:38 p.m. that she had found her son at the bottom of their screened-in swimming pool.
She posted a tweet at 6:12 p.m.: “Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool.”
Five hours later she posted “remembering my million dollar baby” along with photos of a smiling Bryson.
In a tweet posted the next day, Ross wrote, “I was outside with him and it took two seconds for him to slip away."
I can't imagine this mom's pain and my heart goes out to her and her family.
What do you think about Shellie Ross's tweets? Would you reach out to your online community minutes after a tragedy?
Related posts:
Did You Tweet or Update Your Facebook While in Labor?
Woman Blogs About Her Miscarriage
Comments (11)
No one knows a persons greiving process until it is their own moment. There is not a manual or How-To guide for dealing with death. I think its awful to judge her...maybe she was inappropiate in how she went through with her actions but its not for anyone to judge. I feel sorry for her...no one should bury their own child.
IDK if I'd be able to be tweeting, but everyone is different
I dont know if I would have done the same thing. I'm sorry for her lost.
Gosh, I cannot begin to say what I would do during a tragedy like this. We all react differently to situations like this and maybe she was in shock. Maybe she was just doing something that she does so often not even thinking about what she was doing or saying because of being in shock. I just don' t think that anyone should judge her. However, my heart does go out to her and to her family. I can't even begin to imagine the pain that they are feeling.
maybe if she put that damn phone down she could have watched her son a little closer all these new websites cafemom,facebook, twitter, etc can all be consuming we have to learn when to put it away and focus on family.....my heart goes out to her
wow I don't know. I mean, people grieve in different ways, but damn. HALF AN HOUR after it happened... Really? I can see someone updating people via a social networking site a few days later, a few weeks, but HALF AN HOUR. That does sound a bit callous. But like I said, maybe that's the best way she could handle her shock and grief.
wow that is crazy!!!
I don't know if I would or not...well, probably not that soon anyways.. But people do crazy things when dealing with loss. That's so sad.
well if that is what helps her through than fin but as a mom of a very bouncy 2 year old boy and knows about working outside with him, I want to know how the kid got even close to the pool. If it was covered how did he get in it? But if it was be I would not even think about "tweeting" or anything. I would be insane and freaking out and destroying everything not on my computer. Maybe a few days after but not that day. And why is she as a mom on the computer off and on so much anyway?
My issue isn't that she tweeted from the hospital, but rather that she tweeted 74 freaking times that day! 74! She was cleaning her chicken coop, sending out photos of her chickens on Twitter, and doing everything BUT paying ANY attention to her son. She had her damn cell phone glued to her face ALL DAY!
And the initial report said her son called 911 at 5:23 to report that his little brother was in the pool. Shellie's last tweet before the one asking for prayers was at 5:22! She was on Twitter WHILE her son was drowning. She even went back and deleted that tweet and several others leading up to it to cover her tracks because people were catching on right away!
She didn't merely turn her back to attend to one of her other 2 children...she didn't merely turn her back for a second to wash some dishes....she wasn't even merely tending to her chicken coop...she was sending out tweets from her cell phone NON-STOP ALLLLLL DAY!