I wanted to bring to you and your reader's attention a bad nanny/parent sighting my family witnessed today.At approx. 11:15 a.m. in in Hoboken, NJ at the Rite Aid parking lot (on Willow) we noticed a brand new Silver Town & Country (NJ plate # WTN 87 F (or S)) with an approx. 6 mo baby left locked in the front passenger seat. As we walked into the store to find the guardian, she walked out. Could have been a mom or nanny. The more we thought about it it seemed to be something we couldn't let go... a) she had 2 full shopping bags full of stuff and b) the child was in the front seat! The check out woman admitted that she had been chatting with someone inside for a while and was not in a rush. We called the HPD, but she had driven away and they, regretfully, said they couldn't do much at that point.
If it were my nanny or significant other I would want to know.
20 comments:
Unbelievable. I don't care what the situation, how long you will be there or where it is, under NO circumstances do you leave a child in the car. I have called the police on people who have left their dogs in the car while they had a 2 hour long dinner at Chili's. I mean come on. I am a pretty aggressive person and I don't think I could have walked by and just called the police. I would have confronted this lady and not let her leave! If she does it once she will do it again.
~Lindsey, SAHM in California~
OP, calling the police, giving them her license plate number, was the RIGHT thing to do. Good for you!
Baby locked in the car AND in the front seat? Double bad.
Obviously she hasn't read anything about the many many things that happen to children who are left alone in cars.
I dont know about anywhere else but in California you have to be like 6 or something to ride in front seat. Unless all seats in back are full or younger children or there are no shoulder/lap belts in back seat.
What an idiot! Stories like this irritate me that these people are entrusted w/ caring for innocent babies. Would it seriously have been such an inconvenience to bring the baby with her?!
This story is terrible and she really shouldn't be a nanny and I hope her employers read this and get rid of her!
In regards to age of what you can sit in the front..I know that here in New Jersey, you have to be 12 and also, you have to be in a booster seat until your 8 years old or 80 pounds.
Where I live you have to be 12 years old or 100lbs to ride in a car without a booster seat, and ceratinly *not* in front seat. I do think our booster seat law is ridiculous, though.
100 lbs? I would've been using a booster seat until my junior year in highschool.
In ohio it used to be 4 years old AND 40 pounds before you got to not use a booster, NOW its 8 years old AND 80 pounds..
Me too. I didn't hit 100lbs until I was 14 or 15. (I love food, I'm just short)
Great description of the car and plate! I am surprised the police said they could not do anything? It should only take about 2- 3 minutes to run the plate, both of them, to determine which one belongs to the car that you described....maybe call back and ask for a supervisor?
The woman who left this child is an idiot, who should not be trusted with a doll, let alone a real child. I would definitely want to know if that was my child. Good post! Hope everyone forwards to all they know in Hoboken!
Kinda OT but related, I just recently read that it is not only legal but SAFER for a child of booster seat size to sit in the MIDDLE back seat IF you have a middle seatbelt that is a lap belt ONLY. I thought that was interesting and good to know- though perhaps the law about it varies and I'm sure is difficult to find as they are worded in a way that doesn't always mention exceptions I guess.
I might find it useful as every now and then I have to drive an extra 1st grader home from school for a playdate and parents don't always remember the booster but insist I drive them in a regular seat- though I refuse and have to have my sis (around the corner) bring her spare.
This is terrible! I see it way too often though outside the local Dunkin Donuts, Quick Chek and CVS.
A side note of a kind of amusing. related story.
When I was a baby (in the late 60's) It was still quite common for mother's to park the baby carriages outside of stores on a nice day, with baby still inside the carriage sleeping peacefully while they went in and did their shopping. I am told it was no big deal to see five or six slumbering infants outside of a supermarket on a warm Saturday. Of course, this was a different time. My father, however, being a police officer hated the idea and told my mother he didn't want her doing this. Being a rebellious sort, she did it anyway. After all, the other mothers were doing it and the local supermarket wasn't the mega store it is today. The mothers could glance outside every so often and check on the babies.
One day, my father happened along while on patrol and found me happily asleep in my carriage out side of the local Food Fair. He took the carriage and went back to the police station. Can you imagine my mother's reaction when she came outside and found me and the carriage gone?! Also her shame and fear when she had to call the police, and they put her husband; my father on. Of course, he told her what he did right away and she was angry with him but she never left me alone again! They used to laugh about it, and it is a favorite holiday story now years later, but my mother said she will never forget the feeling in the pit of her stomach when she came outside and I wasn't there
What a different time that must have been. I have heard stories like this before, from my family. Grandparents and all. Even a friend in church. She had five kids and forgot one at the local store. She went back to the store and the storekeepers where keeping their eye on him. And giving him icecream.
Imagine, it makes me kinda of sad, that its not like that now. I hate seeing my son growup in this world.
People use to know each other by name.
I'm sure that in small towns, people still do know each other by name and still do things like look after a lost child and give him ice cream. Sad to say though, even in a small town or in the "good old days" where everyone knew each other by name, there were still child molesters, but I bet everyone just kept more quiet about it back then.
But this reminds me of a related story: when my best friend's brother was about 3, in the late 60's, he was a really difficult child (thanks to his still-loony mom), and he had a tantrum one day at the grocery store so she just left him, kicking and screaming on the floor and drove home. Her husband asked where the boy was and she said she had just left him there because she "couldn't deal with it". The dad went straight to the store and got him but nowadays she'd have been arrested for sure.
cali mom,
same story, but the child was a little girl. misbehaving because her mom was a loon and a drunk. she left her where she was tantrummming and went home and had a few drinks. meanwhile, because the woman was affluent (cough cough) she spent a lot of time and money at this shop and the surroundings so she was well known. Her daughter was taken care of and the shopkeep called the child's father at work in the city. He sent a housekeeper to retrieve the child. I kid you not.
What does the cough cough mean?
What does the cough cough mean?
I love Hoboken!!
cough cough = Rich Rich, snobby, snobby
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