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Jessiesgirl1108

Chameleon
Cherish Peterson, 27, from Gilbert, Arizona, was charged after she left her two-month-old son Huxton in the child seat of a shopping cart outside a Fry's store on Monday before driving away.


But now members of Peterson support groups, set up after she was vilified online, have been sharing their stories of forgetful parenting.

[...]

Among parents who had shared their experiences on social media, forgetting the youngest child seemed to be common.


Many suggested that the sleep deprivation which is common after having a baby meant they temporarily forgot the new addition to the family while leaving their house or a store.

[...]

Their stories were revealed after the controversial decision by Gilbert Police Department over the weekend to charge Cherish Paterson with child endangerment after forgetting her son Huxton.


Paterson previously told of how she was rushing around a Fry's grocery store on Monday trying to buy her nephew candy for his birthday when she became absent-minded.


The mom-of-four says she had three of her four young children with her, and completely forgot her two-month-old boy Huxton was in the shopping cart when she left it at the front of the shopping mall.


In an emotional interview Peterson said: 'I got into my car, and normally I put my cart away. But I didn't need to because I parked at the front of the store and I never park there. And I drove away.'


Back in the store a Phoenix police officer spotted the baby in the cart and took him to a nearby Supercuts salon while they searched for his parents.


He was not injured and showed no signs of distress, said police.



Peterson said that when she got home she 'quickly' realized what she'd done.


She told CBS 5: 'As I was pulling into the garage, my three-year-old goes, "Where's baby Huxton?" His car seat is right behind me. I turned around and realized it was gone.'


She claims that she headed back to the store within 40 minutes of leaving Huxton behind - and not two hours, like one witness claimed.


'It was still a long time,' Peterson admits. 'It was still 40 minutes. It was not two hours. And I never took my other kids out of the car, so it wasn't like I knew I left him. I thought the whole time he was in my car.

[...]

Peterson's husband Nathan Peterson rushed to his wife's defense.


'I married the best, in terms of the mother and wife Cherish is to me and our children,' he said.


'A mistake was made, and we learned, but we're not perfect. We're not perfect. But we love our family and we love our children and we are grateful that everything is okay.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-mom-charged-leaving-baby-shopping-cart.html
 
I personally have never forgotten one of my children, but I do understand how this scenario could have happened. I have done the same thing with my purse, TWICE.

The number of children you have and the stress of the situation are factors. The more children and the more stress involved makes it more likely.

I doubt that a woman who has three other children that are very much alive and well would do something like this deliberately, but stranger things have happened.

She's fortunate that her child didn't pay for it with his life.
 
I don't know, it might have been accidental, BUT when you're putting your bags from a shopping cart into your car, don't you at least check you've got everything out of the cart, does that not include your baby? I'm the world's most forgetful person but I have never forgotten my kids anywhere.

I can't even count how many times I've locked myself out of the house, locked my car keys inside the car, left my phone at home, left my pocketbook at a frend's house, but never left my kids anywhere.

Do people think of their kids as possessions or things instead of human beings these days? I don't know, maybe I'm being too harsh.
 
I'd like to weigh in, but I don't have children.
Still, I can't imagine forgetting a kid. Key or purse? Sure, but a kid? How?
 
I'm with @cubby and on the fence.

I won't throw this mother under the bus simply because I didn't forget my children when they were little but I'm bothered by her forgetting a 2 month old in the shopping cart. Would a 2 month old not be in a car seat/carrier? Those big ass fuckers? How do you miss that?

But like cubby, maybe I'm being too hard on her and overthinking this all too much.:shrug:
 
@cubby and @Krystal, I don't think either of you are being too harsh at all. You are both right. You check your cart. And she was there in the front which means had she looked around before backing out even she should have noticed her cart with a huge ass car seat in it as since she didn't have to take it back. I doubt she usually takes it back even with having so many children. The whole way home not hearing the baby?? And with that many kids isn't it usually protocol to get the kids in and out of the parking lot first crucial? I would imagine so. I bet she didn't forget her purse next to the kid tho now did she? Of course not. And usually wouldn't you put your pocketbook next to your kid to keep it safe? I always did. Wedged it right in there. I'm sire she remembered the diaper bag too. Why would anyone have the kids get in and not automaticlly get the baby in right after them out of habit?? It makes no sense. She's dumb bitch who obviously had one kid too many then she can mentally/physically handle. If you think I'm being too harsh IDC. But thats just MHO.
 
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I don't know I have never left a child behind ever! If you empty the damned cart then you have to look directly at the car seat in the front of the cart the damn cart is not that big. So yeah she's a dumbass she looked right passed the baby. No way impossible.
 
I don't know, I feel for the family. Yes, she screwed up, and technically, endangered the child. But she isn't one of those moms who left the kid alone for hours while she went out drinking, or like that couple who left their baby on the pavement outside the bar they were drinking in. I don't think it would serve anybody for her to receive a severe punishment. A fine and some community service or something, fine, but I don't think she deserves to lose her kids or serve jail time.

Or be vilified on social media for that matter.
 
I don't know, I feel for the family. Yes, she screwed up, and technically, endangered the child. But she isn't one of those moms who left the kid alone for hours while she went out drinking, or like that couple who left their baby on the pavement outside the bar they were drinking in. I don't think it would serve anybody for her to receive a severe punishment. A fine and some community service or something, fine, but I don't think she deserves to lose her kids or serve jail time.

Or be vilified on social media for that matter.

Really? She's lucky her baby landed in the hands of a good person who was actually looking for her. She straight walked away and left her baby there. Does she not check the backseats at all to make sure her kids are all buckled up? Does she actually rely on one of her other kids to get the baby in and make sure his seat is properly attached to the base? Does she even use a base? I'm assuming the worst of the answers possible here. Cause any other answer that points to good parenting would not have had the outcome of a baby left behind.....really.

Jail time wouldn't hurt her any. She can consider it a vacation if anything to get rid of some stress by living live to a regular schedule. She needs to remember what's important. And she I think needs time to really focus on some priorities. Fuck that. She dont deserve the baby really....next time it could be this here baby that gets forgotten in the car to bake....why take chances...the baby's life worth the chance? He needs someone who will not forget him. He deserves a future with a family who thinks about him every five minutes. Not every 40 minutes and just cause another kid mentions him. Again. Jmo
 
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Really? She's lucky her baby landed in the hands of a good person who was actually looking for her. She straight walked away and left her baby there. Does she not check the backseats at all to make sure her kids are all buckled up? Does she actually rely on one of her other kids to get the baby in and make sure his seat is properly attached to the base? Does she even use a base? I'm assuming the worst of the answers possible here. Cause any other answer that points to good parenting would not have had the outcome of a baby left behind.....really.

Jail time wouldn't hurt her any. She can consider it a vacation if anything to get rid of some stress by living live to a regular schedule. She needs to remember what's important. And she I think needs time to really focus on some priorities. Fuck that. She dont deserve the baby really....next time it could be this here baby that gets forgotten in the car to bake....why take chances...the baby's life worth the chance? He needs someone who will not forget him. He deserves a future with a family who thinks about him every five minutes. Not every 40 minutes and just cause another kid mentions him. Again. Jmo

I don't think that jail time would drive the message home to her any more than what has already happened. Just my opinion, yours may vary!

She sounds genuinely remorseful, it was an accident, and not just selfish neglect. negligent, but not neglect. Of course the home environment needs to be checked out by social services, but really, ripping the kids away from their family for one mistake where the baby wasn't hurt?

You have all the data linked on these forums again and again that the care system fails children all the time. Being put into care causes a lot of psychological issues for the kids, through no fault of their own. If they're subject to abuse and neglect then on balance it's worth putting them through that. But not for the sake of punishing a mom who made a mistake, is remorseful, and we have no evidence at all to suggest she's in any way a bad mom otherwise.
 
Ahha....I can see what you mean. I didn't quite think of in in that perspective. I admit. Child services definetly needs to check shit out at their home....and of course she's remorseful, aren't they all most the time? Its sad to think that she did make it all the way home, a 40 minute drive, before another child brought the baby's absence to her attention. So a forty minute drive back. Does estimate about 2 hrs....don't it? She needs to get in check with herself because her next accident could be much more severe or fatal even. To a child. . . . I find it crazy that she was able to forget the baby to begin with. We really don't know for sure either what she did in the time span that she wasn't there with her baby. Js
 
I've never understood "forgetting" a child either. Their lives are so important they are always at the forefront of your mind and everything you do, 24-fucking-7. It's simply instinct. My daughter was always the first & last thing I checked on before doing anything. I took nothing for granted. And I was just an average, run of the mill parent, far as I know.

Maybe the problem is the "newer" generations raised on awards and trophies just for waking up in the morning, I don't know.
 
I personally see so many mothers so consumed with their Cell Phones you would think they Cared more about FB than their own Children, and to say they have never forgotten their Cell Phone? I see how this is plausible. The fact they found the child to be in perfect healthy condition, and there aren't priors being mentioned speaks Volumes in this case. The key part in which she mentioned she parked at the front of the store and didn't take the cart back as usual also indicates a good reasoning as I know from personal experience the few times I have left behind or forgotten something important was when there was a change in my typical routine, we are creatures of habit and slight disruptions to our daily routine can result in shit like this.
 
I forgot my baby. Twice. Once on the ground in her car seat as we went into a store. We realized in 2 minutes. And it happened again. 2 kids, mom and dad --We all forgot the baby. She was a very good quiet baby. Not like the second one, who was spawned by satan.
 
We do, too. Start the car, turn on A/C, put kids in seats, then groceries or whatever.
 
Yes, I can believe she did forget, but I never understand people unloading the groceries with a kid in the cart (much less a baby). Maybe they have less maniacal drivers where she lives.
 
I have never forgot any of my children any where.

However, I did forget my coffee on the top of my car once. Made a mess and broke my favorite cup.
 
I think this story is somewhere else, but it was an article interviewing the Great Clips hairdresser that first found the baby. The other article didn't say it was a cop.
 
Meh, who am I to comment. I leave them in the car while I run in the liquor store:shrug:
 
So, no kiddo's of my own, so I can't give an opinion on experience, but about 4 years ago, a friend and I were going shopping and we got out of the car and she started to walk towards the store, she was still chatting and I'm just waiting and then she's like "oh my God!! I almost forgot the baby'!! It was like 4 seconds, but her guilt was overwhelming but forgetting your baby for 40 minutes??? Come on....
 
Hello
Im the grown child of two preachers and the baby of 3 kids and I cant tell you how many times I got left by my parents at a church id fallen asleep or just wasnt around, once i woke up and everything was dark everyone was gone it was scary but accidental it can and does happen all the time by good absent minded parents
 
I left one at the grocery store once but it wasn't entirely my fault.Oldest child who was maybe ten ran in to get our mail from the p.o. boxes there.When she got in,the 6 yr old got out to go pee without saying anything.The ten yr old in a fit of sibling assholeness didn't say anything.Got to the edge of the parking lot and turned around just to doublecheck and realized I was one child short.Turned around and he was standing on the side walk waiting for me.
 
The only way I can think she could have forgotten the baby is if his actual car seat was still in the car and she had him in a cart like this, covered by a blanket, and he was asleep.

2u5u8m9.jpg
 
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