What is scary is that these are the sorts of parents you might be inclined to trust instinctively as being okay for a drop off playdate. After all, on paper they only have positive attributes:
professional jobs,
graduate school degrees,
high SES
nice home
nice appearance
married
middle aged

These are the sorts of people you'd think would be responsible and would take excellent care of their children. And it's unnerving to see that's not the case at all.

here's another wrinkle-
my stbx grew up in a house where the parents partied (hey - it was the good old days, right?) and regularly left the kids do their own devices, and I'm talking toddlers and babies. MIL was a functioning alcoholic and FIL totally enabled her. STBX grew up in a highly unstable (but upper SES, educated) household and he never had any real stability. The stories he used to tell me were bat-shit crazy. But he thought it was all fine. Pretty funny in fact. He did have a nanny during the week, but not in the evenings or on the weekends. Anyhoo, as an adult he's a hot mess, has BPD, can't hold a job, maintain relationships, never takes personal responsibility for his choices, etc etc.

Not saying that one incident is going to scar your kid for life, but if this is their parenting style, then there are real ramifications for the kids. No joke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not ideal, but I think you are overreacting. Why is this so different from leaving a kid in a crib while you are in the first floor watching tv or taking a shower. The doors were locked.

Cars have been carjacked with children inside.

Cars get hit while parked.

My own baby dd used to have coughing fits and routinely choke while drinking from a sippy.

I could play this game all day long.

houses have been invaded with kids inside too. If I'm in the shower for 20 minutes, I may not know that either. Car was locked. Again, its a bad idea but it is not 10 years in jail and lose your kids bad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know that this is shitty parenting (realistically, nothing bad was going to happen to the kids who were presumably in coats, strapped in a locked car with parents 400 feet away and monitoring via iphone). However, it is definitely selfish parenting. As in, let's not let having children interfere with our own fun. Unfortunately, selfishness can't be corrected by a parenting class.

Really? Nothing bad is going to happen? Are you so sure about that? Even if it's unlikely that the kids will get kidnapped or frostbite or whatever, do you not think something like this could be traumatic enough to leave a lasting impression? A child who does not feel safe with his caregivers is likely to end up with a whole host of psychological issues. If this were a one-time deal in an otherwise caring and appropriate parent-child relationship, the kids would probably get over it, but if these people are going to do this to go taste wine on a Sunday afternoon, you know they're doing it for a million other things too.

No child who has "caregivers" instead of parents will escape unscathed.

I just checked the Ris website, no info on past or future events. I'm kindof pissed at myself right now for even bothering to look!

I've been to Ris a few times (once with a 5 month old) and really like the food/restaurant. It's a good place and I hope this story doesn't impact the place negatively.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know more about the wine tasting itself:

Was it private?
Was it important to one of their jobs?
Was it a networking event?
Was it even a "wine tasting" or was it them and their friends trying various glasses of wine?

Even so, what would prevent ONE parent from attending vs both.

My hypothesis: it was more for DW than DH, so DW got DH to agree to stay in the car while the kids slept. DH got bored, saw the kids were asleep, then decided it would be a great idea to set up the iPhones. Who knows if DW had actually picked up--it probably went to VM, which continued to record. It was too loud at Ris to hear the iPhone in her purse. DW saw DH at Ris, thought WTF?, but then was too drunk/having too much fun to run straight back to the car, and thought, "Eh, nothing's really going to happen to them in West End." DW is pissed at DH--did you notice in the video footage that she didn't want DH to get into the cab with her?

Except I think I read that the police saw that the call had been open for 58 minutes. So she did answer her phone and leave the call open, meaning she was in on the plan.

Anonymous wrote:Not ideal, but I think you are overreacting. Why is this so different from leaving a kid in a crib while you are in the first floor watching tv or taking a shower. The doors were locked.

Cars have been carjacked with children inside.

Cars get hit while parked.

My own baby dd used to have coughing fits and routinely choke while drinking from a sippy.

I could play this game all day long.

^^^
You're trolling, right?
Because the crib is not freezing, and it is not on the street where god knows what can happen.
They had no hats or gloves and one child was barefoot. And they were restrained. This was not their crib.

Not ideal, but I think you are overreacting. Why is this so different from leaving a kid in a crib while you are in the first floor watching tv or taking a shower. The doors were locked.

Sorry, here is the fleeing video.

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

Posting the fleeing video again since its buried in the previous pages. http://instagram.com/p/ypFPRgxTn3/

Anonymous wrote:No kidding 05:50. I am the PP asking the wine tasting questions. I am so flabbergasted by the parents' decision that I want to know more about the stupid wine tasting itself. Nothing excuses their behavior but I am nosy and want to know what the heck made this particular wine event so special to them.

I want to know what kind of Malbec they were pouring and was there Manchego to accompany the reds?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She broke into a run and didn't look back b/c that's where the cameras were.

Apparently their defense attorney never taught them the time-honored way to walk out of the courthouse and avoid getting your face on TV. Just extend your middle finger upward and prominently in front of your face and walk out defiantly. No news producer will use the tape.

Really?

No kidding 05:50. I am the PP asking the wine tasting questions. I am so flabbergasted by the parents' decision that I want to know more about the stupid wine tasting itself. Nothing excuses their behavior but I am nosy and want to know what the heck made this particular wine event so special to them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know more about the wine tasting itself:

Was it private?
Was it important to one of their jobs?
Was it a networking event?
Was it even a "wine tasting" or was it them and their friends trying various glasses of wine?

Even so, what would prevent ONE parent from attending vs both.

My hypothesis: it was more for DW than DH, so DW got DH to agree to stay in the car while the kids slept. DH got bored, saw the kids were asleep, then decided it would be a great idea to set up the iPhones. Who knows if DW had actually picked up--it probably went to VM, which continued to record. It was too loud at Ris to hear the iPhone in her purse. DW saw DH at Ris, thought WTF?, but then was too drunk/having too much fun to run straight back to the car, and thought, "Eh, nothing's really going to happen to them in West End." DW is pissed at DH--did you notice in the video footage that she didn't want DH to get into the cab with her?

Nah, I didn't it like that. I think she was just so embarrassed and focused on getting in that cab. She was not even thinking straight--just in panic mode. When she got in the cab, she wanted to shut it so tv cameras couldn't see her.

PP, I agree and watched her fleeing video repeatedly (and for fun, I study body language/nuances) and thought that as her husband approached the car, she startled and put up a fleetingly defensive position, almost to prevent anyone from getting in the cab WITH her. Notice at the beginning of video clip, they are walking together, but are quite far apart. Not touching, not holding hands. She tears off/races past her husband. She is singlemindedly focused on escaping. Doesn't turn around or even glance back at her husband. He's irrelevant at this point, hence her startle when he approaches the cab.

This couple is NOT in agreement with each other, there's already a rift. Mark my words!

I wouldn't go to the extreme that she is angry at him and tried to ditch him. Most likely she is just selfish and doesn't think about anyone other than herself. If only we knew anything about her, you would probably find she had a history of doing other selfish/thoughtless things. Oh wait...