DC parents leave kids in car for wine tasting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I wonder if they were on drugs. I seriously can't fathom any other reason why they would have thought this was a good idea.

Actually, my husband had an interesting theory. He thinks PhDs can be a bit unusual--as in, super smart, but socially challenged--so he thinks their defense could be that they didn't fully comprehend the severity of their actions. Not sure if an high-functioning autism/Asperger's defense would work, but it's as liky to work as anything else, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised the judge ordered them to stay away from the kids completely. While I think they did an extremely foolish thing, I feel for the kids - first having been left alone in the cold, then taken by strangers (police/CPS), and now they won't be able to see their parents for weeks. I think some sort of supervised visits would be better for the kids.

+1000 Totally agree. What the parents did was bad and stupid, but without any other indications of continuing neglectfulness, I have to think separating kids that young from their parents would be far more traumatizing to the kids than being left alone in the car for an hour. In this case, I think the "cure" is much worse than the "disease".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
+1. I feel so bad for the kids, separated from their parents. What the parents did was reckless neglect, but all the gleeful cackling here seems in poor taste because of those tiny babies who want and need their parents.

I think they need responsible caregivers more than they need their parents. Yes, they will miss their parents, but kids are resilient. Better that they live until their parents trial hearing than die from some other senseless act of negligence. It was bad enough that they did this, but when confronted by the police, they were not embarrassed or apologetic. The father tried to justify their actions and did not even acknowledge the lack of judgment. That's not someone who is responsible enough to leave young children with. While I agree that the children are scared and will miss their parents, I think the judge's actions are more than warranted and much safer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I wonder if they were on drugs. I seriously can't fathom any other reason why they would have thought this was a good idea.

Actually, my husband had an interesting theory. He thinks PhDs can be a bit unusual--as in, super smart, but socially challenged--so he thinks their defense could be that they didn't fully comprehend the severity of their actions. Not sure if an high-functioning autism/Asperger's defense would work, but it's as liky to work as anything else, I guess.

Only the mom has a PhD. What's the dad's excuse?

[Anonymous]

For anyone not wanting to scroll back to find the fleeing video posted previously, here it is again.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/02/d-c-couple-charged-with-leaving-2-toddlers-in-car-at-28-degrees-while-at-a-wine-tasting-111093.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I wonder if they were on drugs. I seriously can't fathom any other reason why they would have thought this was a good idea.

Actually, my husband had an interesting theory. He thinks PhDs can be a bit unusual--as in, super smart, but socially challenged--so he thinks their defense could be that they didn't fully comprehend the severity of their actions. Not sure if an high-functioning autism/Asperger's defense would work, but it's as liky to work as anything else, I guess.

No, it's not as likely as anything else. You're an ass for posting this as it your husband.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You wonder why if they were "monitoring" the kids through the iPhone, they didn't hear the police getting into the car?

Freezing temperatures aside which would be an obvious deterrent to leaving them unattended, were they not even slightly worried that someone might abduct their kids?

They obviously were oblivious to the police? What if it had been someone else?

I'm still wondering about this.

[Anonymous]

Which court was this in? Like the equivalent of state criminal court? Or something that was more like family court? Assuming it was criminal court, I feel like judges are thinking about punishing the offenders not what's better for the family, right? I'm a lawyer but 99.99% civil work so I don't know this area -- I just don't know if the judge would have been thinking about how hysterical a 2 and 3 yr old would be for a whole 3 days without their parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I wonder if they were on drugs. I seriously can't fathom any other reason why they would have thought this was a good idea.

Actually, my husband had an interesting theory. He thinks PhDs can be a bit unusual--as in, super smart, but socially challenged--so he thinks their defense could be that they didn't fully comprehend the severity of their actions. Not sure if an high-functioning autism/Asperger's defense would work, but it's as liky to work as anything else, I guess.

No, it's not as likely as anything else. You're an ass for posting this as it your husband.

Sorry, didn't mean to be offensive. What I meant to convey is that I don't think they really have much of a defense (didn't mean to bash those w/autism, or PhDs for that matter--it would be a bizarre and desperate defense).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is way overboard. Not a great moment in parenting, but to take the kids away from the parents is crazy.

This is the type of behavior that they are comfortable with in public. Imagine what they may do in private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I wonder if they were on drugs. I seriously can't fathom any other reason why they would have thought this was a good idea.

Actually, my husband had an interesting theory. He thinks PhDs can be a bit unusual--as in, super smart, but socially challenged--so he thinks their defense could be that they didn't fully comprehend the severity of their actions. Not sure if an high-functioning autism/Asperger's defense would work, but it's as liky to work as anything else, I guess.

No, it's not as likely as anything else. You're an ass for posting this as it your husband.

Sorry, didn't mean to be offensive. What I meant to convey is that I don't think they really have much of a defense (didn't mean to bash those w/autism, or PhDs for that matter--it would be a bizarre and desperate defense).

Thank you, PP. I apologize too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I wonder if they were on drugs. I seriously can't fathom any other reason why they would have thought this was a good idea.

Actually, my husband had an interesting theory. He thinks PhDs can be a bit unusual--as in, super smart, but socially challenged--so he thinks their defense could be that they didn't fully comprehend the severity of their actions. Not sure if an high-functioning autism/Asperger's defense would work, but it's as liky to work as anything else, I guess.

I'm sick of people claiming the excuse of Aspergers to evade normal social responsibility. I guess it's a more polite term than rude, self-absorbed and clueless.

[Anonymous]

I hope that they don't put the kids in DC foster care. We know how that turns out.

[Anonymous]

Oh please, my 9 yo with ASD knows better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP who said I wasn't sure if I'd intervene.

They're in their mid 40s with a 2 and 3 yr old; they had kids pretty close together likely cause that window was closing. Now they're stuck with 2 needy toddlers after having been DiNKS for 2 decades. I'm sure they were sick of the story time, bath time, act like everything your kid does is utterly fascinating routine and just needed a few hrs away. I bet they booked a sitter who cancelled last second, didn't have anyone who could step in and said f--- it, we're going anyway. How do we make it happen? And this is the plan they devised.

Stupid as it was, I still don't see it as any of my business or the business of the state dept atty who watched the car for 20 min. I honestly don't see caring enough about someone else's toddlers who are secured in a car -- cold is not going to harm them for 2-3 hrs -- but obviously that's just me.

How do we make it happen?? When 'it' is a wine tasting?? FFS.

And I'm grateful that the state dept. attorney clearly did think it was his business as opposed to someone like you. You don't care enough about a two and three year old? Wow.

I guess I am heartless, but for a victimless crime like this, I'd move on with my day; I wouldn't sit there and watch the car, I'd assume the parents were someplace nearby and coming back. And frankly who wants to be involved here -- now you have to talk to cops, testify at trial if there is one or talk to investigators even if there is no trial. Not my problem I say. Yes -- it is victimless - kids are TWO and THREE; they'll forget it in a few days if they haven't already. It's not like they are older kids who'll remember and re-live this kind of thing.

unless they developed hypothermia and had to have toes amputated...
or got kidnapped and trafficed...
or the car got broken into for the iphone and a shard of glass hit one in the leg or face or eye...

Then it would be the parents' problem to live with that for the rest of their lives. I doubt the people on this site would grieve for the rest of their lives -- you'd move on to the next tragedy.

No, it would be the childs problem to live with for the rest of their lives. You keep calling this a victimless crime and saying "if the parents don't care enough, why should I?" Here's why - because these poor children are the victims here, not the parents. Are you honestly saying that children with parents that don't care about them shouldn't be cared about by other human beings? How can you be so obtuse? Why are you so callous when it comes to the welfare of other human beings, in this case children that are too young to care for themselves? I just cannot fathom being as heartless and indifferent as you seem to be from your posts.