I'm grumpy today, I know. But that doesn't change the fact that people are stupid. Once again today I read a story in the paper about someone who left their child alone in the car, in some parking lot, while s/he went in a store for over 30 minutes. Fortunately, this time someone saw the child screaming and sweating in the car seat and called police to release her. The nanny was arrested for child endangerment.
What is wrong with people?
Every summer it seems like there is this spate of cases where the parents or caregivers "forget" that their kids are in the backseat of the car, then leave them there for hours, only to return and find them dead. And every time I hear one of these stories, I try to imagine a scenario in which I might become so overwhelmed by the day's tasks that I would also make this mistake. But I can't. I can't. I can't wrap my mind around it. Can you? I have two kids, work fulltime at a family-owned business, run a household, all that stuff. But I still can't imagine forgetting my kids are in the car and leaving them there, windows up, doors locked. What's more, I can't imagine not giving them another thought for the next 6 to 8 hours while they suffocate. That's the part that really baffles me. Have you ever gone that long without thinking of your children, and what they are doing at the moment? Do you not have a photo of them somewhere on your desk that would stimulate you to remember them?
My son has a friend. His mother is a wonderful person and lots of fun. Worries incessantly that her children should go to the right schools, etc. I know she cares about them deeply. But sometimes when she comes over, she'll come in the front door with her older son and I'll ask, "where's The Baby?" To which she replies, "He's sleeping in the car. I think it's safe, don't you?" No. No I don't think it's safe. I don't think it's safe to leave your baby sleeping in a car that is parked on a city street. I have even gone so far as to move my car out of the garage and move her car into the garage so at least The Baby sleeps inside the locked garage with all the windows down and not on some dangerous urban thoroughfare. (Okay, I'm exaggerating. My street is not a thoroughfare. But I do live in a city.)
Am I the crazy one here? Do other Moms leave their kids alone in the car? Why do people keep doing this?
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
The Halmuni Review
As advertised, Harabuji and Yoko came to visit last week. Sweet people, both of them, and we had a very enjoyable time. To be frank, I love anyone who loves my kids. And those two really dote on them and shower them with affection and complements, so what's not to love? Yoko has her heart in the right place, tries very hard to be helpful (even if this means cramming my fridge with unidentifiable food stuffs), and takes great care of Harabuji, which is a mitzvah, as my people would say.
So what up with the Halmuni?
Well...it went down a little something like this. Right from the get go, we stuck with calling her Yoko. This was fine until the day that H & Yoko took the kids to the zoo. I learned, via Booper, that on the outing they were encouraged to call her Halmuni. To complicate matters, later that evening we were talking about ways in which our sons are similar to the Huz, a.k.a. The Handyman, at the same age. For fun, Handy decided he would bring up a digital photo of himself and his family from back in the day. So there is Harabuji, Handy, HalfMama, Komo, and Halmuni (the real Halmuni) in living color. Booper asks who is who in the picture, and Handy runs it down. Once he says, "and this is Halmuni," there was utter silence. Crickets, people.
Long. Awkward. Silence.
But that's as close as we came to bringing up the subject. Healthy, huh? We just ignored it and hoped it would go away. Which it seemed to do. For now.
On another topic, I don't know how many of you out there follow baseball, but I do, avidly. And while I will save all my baseball opinions for another time, and warn you in advance so you can avoid that post, I just have to take the opportunity to say publicly that I feel Barry Bonds is a complete and utter tool. I cannot scrape together one iota of enthusiasm for his new "record" and I'm just counting the days until A-Rod or someone else can break it and rid us of this plague. It's no mistake that the Booper's middle name is Aaron.
So what up with the Halmuni?
Well...it went down a little something like this. Right from the get go, we stuck with calling her Yoko. This was fine until the day that H & Yoko took the kids to the zoo. I learned, via Booper, that on the outing they were encouraged to call her Halmuni. To complicate matters, later that evening we were talking about ways in which our sons are similar to the Huz, a.k.a. The Handyman, at the same age. For fun, Handy decided he would bring up a digital photo of himself and his family from back in the day. So there is Harabuji, Handy, HalfMama, Komo, and Halmuni (the real Halmuni) in living color. Booper asks who is who in the picture, and Handy runs it down. Once he says, "and this is Halmuni," there was utter silence. Crickets, people.
Long. Awkward. Silence.
But that's as close as we came to bringing up the subject. Healthy, huh? We just ignored it and hoped it would go away. Which it seemed to do. For now.
On another topic, I don't know how many of you out there follow baseball, but I do, avidly. And while I will save all my baseball opinions for another time, and warn you in advance so you can avoid that post, I just have to take the opportunity to say publicly that I feel Barry Bonds is a complete and utter tool. I cannot scrape together one iota of enthusiasm for his new "record" and I'm just counting the days until A-Rod or someone else can break it and rid us of this plague. It's no mistake that the Booper's middle name is Aaron.
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