Tuesday

Wilton, CT - parking lot behind CVS drugstore

Tuesday October 24th, 2006
Time: Around 11:45am

Little blonde girl, maybe 3 years old or there abouts with her hair up in one or two ponytails, with an older nanny (maybe in her 50s or 60s) - nanny was short and stocky; she looked Filipina or Hispanic and had short curly black hair.
I was starting to back my car out of my parking space, and the little girl and her nanny must have just gotten out of their car. The nanny was distracted with something and the little girl was just standing in the parking lot.

The second Isaw the girl, I stopped my car, because I know kids can dash out behind a car that's backing up (I have a 2-year-old myself) .... and basically I was waiting for the nanny to take the girl's hand so I could safely back up. The nanny definitely took her time but finally took the little girl's hand and walked awaywith her.

So this wasn't a cut-and-dried case of "OMG abusive nanny," but if I were this girl's mother I would want to know that the nanny is not really paying attention in parking lots, and God knows the way some people drive in parking lots(speeding, backing up without looking, driving giant SUVs with poor visibility right around them) - I thought this girl was at an age where she should be better supervised in a parking lot. She was behaving well and staying close to the car, but the nanny really needed to be more attentive.

4 comments:

Annie said...

I know a family who lost their daughter this way. Her mother was picking her up from preschool and was occupied with getting her baby sister buckled in her car seat. She didn't notice the three year old wander into the path of an SUV that was backing up. She wound up dying from her injuries.

Please, please, please hold hands with little ones in parking lots.

Anonymous said...

How awful! Totally preventable...Use a brain cell people!

Anonymous said...

Do you think the child's mother would have been more vigilant if she actually had time to waste on the child?

Anonymous said...

I know someone who was backing up an SUV and a mom either put a shopping cart with a little one (probably about 8 months old) or perhaps the cart rolled, BEHIND the car backing up. It was in just such a place where the driver could not see the shopping cart. This woman backed up, hit the cart. Freaking out, she pulled her car back forward and ran out to see what had happened. The little one was on the ground--still in the cart. The mom apologized to the woman for being distracted -- this little one was ok, thank goodness! But, it easily could have been otherwise. (I would have said something to the nanny, myself--very scary.)