Food for thought

I was watching a little promo for the upcoming season of Dr. Phil and there was a segment that totally caught my attention. They are going to do a show about a typical "soccer mom" who left her kids in the car for a couple minutes while she ran into a store. She says she could see the vehicle the whole time and she was constantly checking to make sure the kids were fine. But, when she came out of the store, there was a cop car behind her vehicle and the police officer proceeded to arrest her for child endangerment. I was stunned by the fact that they arrested her...but let me give you a little background as to why I am stunned.

A couple years ago, I was parking my car at Walmart and I looked at the vehicle beside me, and there was a toddler sound asleep in his car seat - no parents anywhere in sight. So, of course I was shocked and scared for the little boy so I proceeded to yell at some lady walking in the parking lot and I asked her if she would go get a manager or call the police or something (I did not own a cell phone at this point) while I waited with the little boy. Well, the manager came out and said they were paging the mom over the intercom system - meanwhile, a fire truck had pulled up and they were using some device to check the temp inside the car (it was locked and thankfully she left the air running). Anyway, she eventually came outside and they did absolutely nothing to her - not even a slap on the wrist. She got in her car and left - end of story. I was shocked and angry that nothing was done to her....I mean, she was shopping in Walmart while her kid was left alone in a vehicle in that huge Walmart parking lot. What in the world could she have possibly been thinking??

So, I am now very curious as to what the actual law is about leaving your child in the car...I doubt there is one of us that can say we have never ever left our kids in the car - even for a few seconds while we drop something off at the Post Office or the Dry Cleaners and yes, most of us would only do it if the vehicle is in our sight and we can keep an eye on the kids....But, this lady was arrested and they considered taking her kids away from her - can you imagine?? It is definitely food for thought....believe me, I will think twice before I ever even consider leaving my kids in the car, even if it is just for a minute or two!!