Internet divided on mom who left baby in shopping cart

[Doctor Amadeus]

Support is building this morning for a woman who left her baby strapped to a shopping cart in a parking lot.

Cherish Peterson, a mother of four young kids, said she was horrified to realize she drove off from a grocery store in Arizona last week without her two-month-old son and since then, there's been a roller coaster reaction on social media, reports CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano.

The incident happened in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, on a day when the high temperature was 104 degrees.

Peterson returned to the grocery store to look for her baby after about 40 minutes, but she didn't notice he was missing until she had finished her errands and driven all the way home.


"As I was pulling into the garage, my 3-year-old-goes, 'Where is baby Huxton?' I turned around and looked and realized he was gone," Peterson said.

She told CBS Phoenix Affiliate KPHO she was distracted by two of her kids and forgot her son, who was still in the cart.

"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," Peterson said.

An off-duty police officer found the infant and took him inside a nearby Supercuts.

Huxton was checked out at a hospital before being returned to his parents.

"I'm a good mom who made a horrible mistake," she said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/phoenix-...tag=YHF4eb9d17

Yeah, I especially love how some the reporter is all super understanding to this woman who's defense is " Well I only left her for 40 mins, NOT like 2 hours"

[Tomservo]

Off with her head!

[Lodreh]

Meh, people make mistakes... it's called being human. As long as there was no ill intent or outcome... seems like a rather slow news day.

[Ghostpanther]

At least everything turned out ok. Could have had a horrific end if she had got so distracted she left her baby in the car in hot weather. I do not understand how anyone can get so distracted you would forget your child or leave a pet in a parked car, hot weather, with the windows rolled up. Some people should not have kids or pets for that matter.

[Doctor Amadeus]

5 days after I had my first daughter, my husband and I went to the commissary. One of us was pushing the cart with food and the other was pushing another cart that had the car seat with my daughter in it. 3 isles down, we both realized we had forgotten our daughter in the fruit isle.

Being new parents, we weren't used to going out with a baby and just stuck to our old routines. It was just an accident. Luckily, it was on Base and a woman was standing by her watching. She was only there for about 2-3 mins before we realized we had forgotten her in the produce isle.

Yeah, that still pretty awful, but at least you didn't pack it up and drive off for 40 mins, and unless there is actually something mentally wrong this woman, there should be an investigation.

[Deleted]

Let's be honest - mistakes like these happen. Parents are tired and exhausted from having a new baby combined with the change of routine to remember the baby all the time and you get instances where it can be forgotten.

A one off incident isn't a massive child abuse issue. It's tragic and clearly the mother is at fault but at the same time it's very easy to be empathetic to the situation.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Meh, people make mistakes... it's called being human. As long as there was no ill intent or outcome... seems like a rather slow news day.

Yeah I once made the mistake of locking my keys in the car once upon a time before, and as a result, I had to wait a couple hours for a lock smith, I don't know exactly how one misplaces their KID for 40mins.

[Deleted]

If you can't keep track of all the kids you're having and where they are, maybe you should have less kids.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Let's be honest - mistakes like these happen. Parents are tired and exhausted from having a new baby combined with the change of routine to remember the baby all the time and you get instances where it can be forgotten.

A one off incident isn't a massive child abuse issue.

I would say that all depends on who we are talking about, because honestly, I think a lot of shitty parents are trying to stick up for this woman, because we become a society of selfish twits, who pop out fucking kids like it's a hobby and lose one of them. Seriously it's YOUR child not a Cell Phone.

[Doctor Amadeus]

If you can't keep track of all the kids you're having and where they are, maybe you should have less kids.

Yeah, I also love the Zombie she is married to, sticking up for his wife who left his kid in a store because she forgot.

[Acidbaron]

Is every action excusable? no.
Should the entire internet lift themselves up to status of judges of everything? no.

If something would've happened the parent itself would have been the person suffering the most. I find this practice on the internet to be rather sadistic and cowardly, than again i never felt the need to go on social media and judge others or be a keyboard activist.

[Themius]

5 days after I had my first daughter, my husband and I went to the commissary. One of us was pushing the cart with food and the other was pushing another cart that had the car seat with my daughter in it. 3 isles down, we both realized we had forgotten our daughter in the fruit isle.

Being new parents, we weren't used to going out with a baby and just stuck to our old routines. It was just an accident. Luckily, it was on Base and a woman was standing by her watching. She was only there for about 2-3 mins before we realized we had forgotten her in the produce isle.

She has two children though, she's done this before.

[Doctor Amadeus]

It's something I felt terrible about for awhile - thinking that I had failed as a new mum. I look back and I chuckle about it now and we told our daughter the story.

The sudden change in routine was what really caused it. That, and lack of sleep, stress, etc. When you go som many years not having to take care of a life, then suddenly have to care for a human being 24/7, sometimes accidents happen and you forget, because you're just so used to your passed life.

Yeah well 1 you felt bad about it, and 2 it was for 2 to 3 mins. This woman left her kid and took 40 minutes to get back to it.

[bloodmoth13]

I once left my cell phone in a rental car, its not something i intended to leave, but i did it. People need a reality check before they start judging others, you might say you would never do it, but you havent been in her exact situation. I would never leave my phone anywhere on purpose, but i did, its an accident, its when something you dont want to happen, happens.

It doesnt even seem like an abnormal thing to do, I really cant understand people persecuting her, she made a mistake, thats bad enough, cases like these are actually quite common, give her a break

[endersblade]

In this thread, people who don't understand what 'creatures of habit' means. You are all terrible people, the mother is not.

Honest mistake is honest. Not to mention she had FOUR kids to juggle? Good lord. This kid was just a few months old, she hadn't gotten used to having that extra one yet. You people seriously need to stop white knighting everything. Shit like this has been happening for probably hundreds of years, why is it now just becoming such a big deal? SJWs to the rescue!

[unbound]

...a mother of four young kids...

That is probably the biggest problem right there. It is a lot of work to really raise children, and we need to stop thinking that everyone needs to have lots of children. I don't blame the mother for probably being too exhausted to think straight and forget about one of the kids. But I do blame the mother for having more kids than she can realistically handle.

[Doctor Amadeus]

I once left my cell phone in a rental car, its not something i intended to leave, but i did it. People need a reality check before they start judging others, you might say you would never do it, but you havent been in her exact situation. I would never leave my phone anywhere on purpose, but i did, its an accident, its when something you dont want to happen, happens.

It doesnt even seem like an abnormal thing to do, I really cant understand people persecuting her, she made a mistake, thats bad enough, cases like these are actually quite common, give her a break

Leave your phone, in the back of your mind whether you think about it or not you KNOW it can be replaced, your kid can't, and this bullshit projection that EVERYBODY does it, is simply that, NO most people don't forget or leave a kid by itself for 40 mins, unless they are trying to collect an insurance policy, or self absorbed idiot.

[Cerus]

Let's be honest - mistakes like these happen. Parents are tired and exhausted from having a new baby combined with the change of routine to remember the baby all the time and you get instances where it can be forgotten.

A one off incident isn't a massive child abuse issue. It's tragic and clearly the mother is at fault but at the same time it's very easy to be empathetic to the situation.

No they don't just happen. We have NEVER forgotten our son was with us but then again - he is a part of our lives and not just some inconvenience or fashion accessory. He doesn't tag along with us - we all go together. How the fuck do you not notice the child sitting in the shopping cart??!!

Sure it's no big deal since the child wasn't harmed but had it died or been kidnapped yall would be calling for her execution. Kids always go into the car first. Bad parenting and she should be charged with child endangerment. Mistake or not it is still a crime.

If you accidentally hit and kill someone with your car you still get charge with a crime - mistake or not.

[tibben]

So, she remembered to put all her groceries in the car and run another errand, but couldn't remember to count her children? Sorry, that's just straight up negligence. I have two children and at no point have I ever just forgotten to put a child in the car nor has my wife. I can't even fathom getting in the car without making sure my kids were in the car and buckled. Also, what the hell did she do with the cart after the groceries were out of it? Even if she didn't put it away she must have moved it somewhere so she didn't run over it with the car. She still didn't notice there was a baby in the cart? How is getting groceries in the car more important than putting a child in the car? This woman must be among the most incompetent people on the planet.

[Doctor Amadeus]

We are creatures of habit - some more than others.

Read my story. I'm not a bad parent. My child wasn't an inconvenience. You just get so used to doing stuff a certain way and a new baby disrupts all that. Sometimes we forget things and continue those old routines. It was just an accident in my case, and nothing that warrants it being considered a crime.

This mother was managing 3 kids?... and a new baby. Combine that with stress, lack of sleep, working, etc and accidents happen. She was so used to just taking care of the other kids, that she forgot the new routine with baby. It HAPPENS more often than you'd think.

It doesn't happen that often, which is why this is a news story. People make mistakes, but Cerus is right, they also pay for those mistakes, and leaving her kid for 40 mins, she should be happy nothing happened to them, rather than boo hooing about being called out and possibly charged.