DC parents leave kids in car for wine tasting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
There are so many more ways that these children could have been endangered. On a scale of 1-10, with the most amount of neglect being a 10, I'd give this incident a 5.5. The kids were locked inside of a safe car with coats on. The weather was 28 degrees, not -28.

Would I choose to leave my 3yo and 1yo like this? No, I wouldn't. The thing is no body is perfect and we all have had those moments of a major parenting fail. If an investigation is done and it is found that the parents generally can be trusted to provide a safe environment for their children, then I don't see why they shouldn't be given another chance to parent. People make mistakes. It'stabout how one learns, grows, and moves on from previous mistakes that build character.

I know that if I had somehow managed to fuck up so bad that cps took my children away I'd be on my hands and knees begging for a second chance. After carrying and birthing and loving my children ...As a mom I can understand and empathize with parents who for whatever reason have lost access to a child that is normally loved and well taken care of, under normal circumstances.

You are incredibly ignorant. 5.5? Not even close. First, the temperature that day is reported as 28F. While the temperature in the car will not change immediately, it will drop pretty quickly. The car temperature was probably like 68/70F. In an hour, it probably dropped to the 40's or even 30's. They were in the restaurant for this wine tasting and it was not over when they were found and arrested. From experience, those events are like 2.5-3 hours. In 3 hours, these children could easily have had hypothermia depending on the insulation in the carseats and what they were wearing. While they may have had coats on, the fastest heat loss in the body is from the head and feet. If they had regular shoes, socks, and pants on and no hats, the heat loss from the head, legs and feet could easily induce hypothermia in an hour at 28 degrees or somewhat longer in 30-40 degree temps. 3 hours in a slowly chilling car? Likely.

However, this is about as unconscionable an act as I can see. These people are millionaires including the mother who is a senior manager at a federal agency. They have the financial means to hire a sitter. Even if all of their sitters canceled, they have the means to easily hire someone from White House Nannies and pay the high prices for a last minute emergency sitter. There is no excuse for negligence of this kind. Unless there is some bizarre extenuating circumstances, I don't see why they should have anything less than the book thrown at them.

[Anonymous]

Excellent defense: blame the nanny!

Nah. I'm sure someone saw them leave the kids and called the cops.

[Anonymous]

What's the thought process that goes into deciding to leave your kids in the car while you go to a wine tasting?

[Anonymous]

Must have been embarrassing as heck to be publicly arrested in front of a lot of their peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wonder what they said when they were arrested. And what their defense will be.

They'll say they had no intent to neglect them and that they lost track of the time. Depending on the judge they'll get probation and community service since it's probably their first offense.

What about the part about leaving them in the car in the first place?

I didn't say they'd get off entirely. But there are lesser included offenses that the'll probably have to plead to like reckless endangerment of a child-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're probably from France. Coneheads maybe.

'Tia accepted practice in Europe. Maybe they are?

I'm from France, and no it's not accepted practice. Thanks for the xenophobic comment.

I'm sure such barbaric things are not practiced in France but some of your European brethren commonly practice this. Maybe you can knock some sense into them.
http://www.cracked.com/article_20621_6-foreign-parenting-practices-americans-would-call-neglect.html

[Anonymous]

I'm sure I should be outraged, but I agree with the poster who says that on a scale of 1-10 this is a 5.5. Frankly I'd give it more of a 4 bc while things had the potential of going wrong, they didn't. No one was injured, the car wasn't stolen -- all's well that ends well IMO.

Their kids -- their choice, why are people SO outraged about their kids' well being if the parents themselves aren't? Isn't the defense the same as the Home Depot guy from this summer -- I thought we dropped the kids off on the way but I guess we didn't; I guess we didn't hear them bc they fell asleep and were quiet? Only this is less egregious because it isn't 100 degrees out. Yes I realize cold is uncomfortable, but a kid can be in a car that starts at 70 and drops to 30 for 2-3 hours and be fine -- I mean you can't tell me these kids don't play outside in the winter? I think CPS and the justice system has bigger fish to fry than this honestly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure I should be outraged, but I agree with the poster who says that on a scale of 1-10 this is a 5.5. Frankly I'd give it more of a 4 bc while things had the potential of going wrong, they didn't. No one was injured, the car wasn't stolen -- all's well that ends well IMO.

Their kids -- their choice, why are people SO outraged about their kids' well being if the parents themselves aren't? Isn't the defense the same as the Home Depot guy from this summer -- I thought we dropped the kids off on the way but I guess we didn't; I guess we didn't hear them bc they fell asleep and were quiet? Only this is less egregious because it isn't 100 degrees out. Yes I realize cold is uncomfortable, but a kid can be in a car that starts at 70 and drops to 30 for 2-3 hours and be fine -- I mean you can't tell me these kids don't play outside in the winter? I think CPS and the justice system has bigger fish to fry than this honestly.

Except that in this case, they didn't forget to drop the kids off at the daycare -- they went to a wine tasting with the kids in the backseat! The Home Depot case was arguably an accident -- this was purposefully negligent.

Other than outright physical abuse, I can't think of a case of negligence that would be worse than this.

[Anonymous]

All internet ridicule aside, let he without sin and so forth. I've made my 9 year old sit outside in bitter cold weather for a time out when he was about to bring everyone in the house to their knees with fear and anguish. Some might consider that abuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All internet ridicule aside, let he without sin and so forth. I've made my 9 year old sit outside in bitter cold weather for a time out when he was about to bring everyone in the house to their knees with fear and anguish. Some might consider that abuse.

For a couple of hours? When you were inside a restaurant and he was strapped in a car (so couldn't get to you in case of an emergency? When he was less than 2 years old?

Not the same thing at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All internet ridicule aside, let he without sin and so forth. I've made my 9 year old sit outside in bitter cold weather for a time out when he was about to bring everyone in the house to their knees with fear and anguish. Some might consider that abuse.

He's 9, not 2.
He was outside your house, not strapped into a parked car out of your site.
He was not strapped to anything: he had hTe ability, and the common sense , to move if danger came.
You probably limited the outside time to less than an hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were her, I'd lock down my Twitter ASAP.

Cant lock down old tweets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All internet ridicule aside, let he without sin and so forth. I've made my 9 year old sit outside in bitter cold weather for a time out when he was about to bring everyone in the house to their knees with fear and anguish. Some might consider that abuse.

He's 9, not 2.
He was outside your house, not strapped into a parked car out of your site.
He was not strapped to anything: he had hTe ability, and the common sense , to move if danger came.
You probably limited the outside time to less than an hour.

It was @ 10 minutes. He as wearing a sweat shirt and jeans, it was @ 30F. But I wonder if someone passing by our house that night had seen him out there crying and called the police, I'm not sure they would seen this as reasonable punishment.

[Anonymous]

wow I guess I ended the thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure I should be outraged, but I agree with the poster who says that on a scale of 1-10 this is a 5.5. Frankly I'd give it more of a 4 bc while things had the potential of going wrong, they didn't. No one was injured, the car wasn't stolen -- all's well that ends well IMO.

Their kids -- their choice, why are people SO outraged about their kids' well being if the parents themselves aren't? Isn't the defense the same as the Home Depot guy from this summer -- I thought we dropped the kids off on the way but I guess we didn't; I guess we didn't hear them bc they fell asleep and were quiet? Only this is less egregious because it isn't 100 degrees out. Yes I realize cold is uncomfortable, but a kid can be in a car that starts at 70 and drops to 30 for 2-3 hours and be fine -- I mean you can't tell me these kids don't play outside in the winter? I think CPS and the justice system has bigger fish to fry than this honestly.

Except that in this case, they didn't forget to drop the kids off at the daycare -- they went to a wine tasting with the kids in the backseat! The Home Depot case was arguably an accident -- this was purposefully negligent.

Other than outright physical abuse, I can't think of a case of negligence that would be worse than this.

No the HD case was not an accident -- mom and dad had planned it and wanted to off the kid -- it has come out in things they said to each other before/after the incident. So in comparison to that, this is pretty tame. They were strapped in a car so they wouldn't go off wandering; they had coats on; dealing with cold is not as dangerous as a parked car in 100 degree weather; and at the end of the day nothing happened -- no injuries, the car wasn't stolen etc. Eh -- their choice.