When boarding a plane DO NOT FORGET.....

[crusinmama06]

your toddler. :eek: ;)

 

This poor couple forgot their 3 year old child in the airport.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080804/ap_on_re_mi_ea/odd_israel_home_alone

[alprice]

OMG MICHELLE - I read that this morning - all I kept thinking about was the Home Alone movie!! THANK GOD - nothing bad happened to her. I cant imagine to felling those parents must have felt.

[crusinmama06]

OMG MICHELLE - I read that this morning - all I kept thinking about was the Home Alone movie!! THANK GOD - nothing bad happened to her. I cant imagine to felling those parents must have felt.

 

Oh that's right! "WHERE's KEVIN?" :eek:

 

Yeah I would pass out and die right there. My heart couldn't take it. ;)

[wrp96]

Happened to a family in Vancouver earlier this year. They arrived in Vancouver from on international flight, had a short time to make a connection, so the husband sent the rest of the family on while he rearranged bags. Everyone assumed that the other person had their toddler with them, the toddler was found wandering around the airport after the family had already left on their connecting flight.

[brazilgirl]

Oh dear...well , they got 4 out of 5....

 

I actually feel kind of bad for them...I remember the first time my family went to the beach when I was a child. We all were so excited . My parents parked the car , got the blankets , food etc. My little was asleep and some how she got left in the car!!

 

My parents soon realized the mistake , and went back. She was crying...

Nowadays , they´d probably have the police on them.They´d never done anything like that and never again did. A mistake.

 

It isn´t easy being a parent.....Sigh.

 

We try our hardest and then , whamba....Well , I´ll always count my 3 kids before boarding. Ha.

 

Kim

[crusinmama06]

Oh dear...well , they got 4 out of 5....

 

I actually feel kind of bad for them...Kim

 

 

Oh no doubt I feel bad for them too. :( The must have been horrified.

[cb at sea]

We were moving from one side of town to the other--grandparents helping, several cars.....We all get to the new house and are busy unpacking when someone asks, "Where's Jim" (my little brother)? You know what comes next--everyone thought someone else had him in their car! We all piled into the largest car and headed back to the old house to find him sitting forlornly on the steps of our old, empty house. Poor kid!

 

This was 40 years ago, before cell phones, when kids could run free all day without worry, but still....

[Mach1]

They didn’t notice for 40 minutes in the air until someone told them! Wow! How could you not notice for that long of a time? I cans see thinking the other parent had the child….but ….

I am glad she went to a police officer!

[ceilidh1]

It's interesting to read the comments about this on the family board. The same link was posted on the "cruise air" board and everyone is saying how the child should be taken away and social services should take her, etc. I guess it goes to show the difference having a child of your own makes. I am convinced that my hubby will leave our baby somewhere - he is so absent minded. I have nightmares about him coming home from the grocery store, laden down with food, while our poor daugther is still in the cart in the supermarket parking lot. Thankfully, we have survived 16 months and it hasn't hapened yet!

[mcfam5]

YIKES! I can't even imagine what that time must have been like for the family.

 

Obviously, there could be two different ways to look at this situation. I will go with it being an accident and just say a praise to God that she is okay! :)

[jwhite1018]

It's interesting to read the comments about this on the family board. The same link was posted on the "cruise air" board and everyone is saying how the child should be taken away and social services should take her, etc. I guess it goes to show the difference having a child of your own makes. I am convinced that my hubby will leave our baby somewhere - he is so absent minded. I have nightmares about him coming home from the grocery store, laden down with food, while our poor daugther is still in the cart in the supermarket parking lot. Thankfully, we have survived 16 months and it hasn't hapened yet!

 

Me too... I have that same thought all the time. DD is now 2 1/2 yrs old and he's never left her, but I just know he is going to forget she is with him sometime.

[MNfamilycruiser]

I was wondering how that could happen here - somebody would be holding her boarding pass - and hand it in to the gate agent. They would notice you were missing one person right?:eek:

 

Then I read it was a chartered flight out of Israel - :D - must have different procedures.

[cruiseinfoseeker]

I was wondering how that could happen here - somebody would be holding her boarding pass - and hand it in to the gate agent. They would notice you were missing one person right?:eek:

 

Then I read it was a chartered flight out of Israel - :D - must have different procedures.

Good point.

 

 

My thoughts are similar about the 40 minutes and they hadn't noticed. Okay so I only have one child and my stomach gurgles at the thought of 5, but this was a 3 year old child. Not a 8+ who can better fend for themselves that you wouldn't have checked seatbelt, etc. Didn't they see one of their seats empty? Even the other kids overlooked their sibling? Well, obviously they did, but this makes me question this family's lifestyle. Not for a religion-based reason as I live in an area with many Hasidim and Orthodox Jews and are very aware of their culture.

 

JMHO

[crusinmama06]

It's interesting to read the comments about this on the family board. The same link was posted on the "cruise air" board and everyone is saying how the child should be taken away and social services should take her, etc. I guess it goes to show the difference having a child of your own makes.

 

Yep, and you know why? We are all afraid of karma or being jinx...lol. The minute we jump on a message board and say "HOW CAN THEY BE THIS STUPID?" is the minute we forget our own kid in the grocery cart...lol. :p

 

Nope, not me, you won't see me criticizing them...lol.

 

On a sad note - think of the number of kids killed in roll over accidents. :( The father thinks the child is still with mom in the house yet the child followed dad out to the garage and when dad backs the car out he runs over the child. :(

 

You just never know.

[brazilgirl]

Isn´t that the truth , Crusinmama...

 

I bite my tongue before I judge other parents. Before I had kids I´d say "I will never...." . Those were the days!

 

Kim

[wrp96]

Maybe the child was acting up and they "forgot" the child!;) I am certain there are times that my mother wished she could've "forgotten" my brother or me!!

[cruiseinfoseeker]

Yep, and you know why? We are all afraid of karma or being jinx...lol. The minute we jump on a message board and say "HOW CAN THEY BE THIS STUPID?" is the minute we forget our own kid in the grocery cart...lol. :p

 

Nope, not me, you won't see me criticizing them...lol.

 

On a sad note - think of the number of kids killed in roll over accidents. :( The father thinks the child is still with mom in the house yet the child followed dad out to the garage and when dad backs the car out he runs over the child. :(

 

You just never know.

 

 

I agree, but only to a certain degree. This is a bit different that then the shopping cart. I know the parents were probably flustered rushing through the airport. But the 40 minutes on the plane and the child was 3 is what gets me. I am sure they were upset/frantic when they found out the child was left behind. My concern isn't their love for the child, but I cannot deny that I find it odd.

 

I don't claim to be a "supermom" either, but I do think I am entitled to feel that this is a strange situation and say as much. I've done some stupid things too. I can be called on them. Being a parent whose done something less than perfect doesn't prevent me from stating my opinion on this matter. If I ever did something like this I'd expect hearing these things, although I am sure nothing could compare to the personal guilt.

[nothriver]

Some friends of mine "lost" their toddler one day, mom though he was with dad, dad though he was with mom, and the neighbors found him wandering down the sidewalk. He was about 18 months at the time - yikes!

 

I'm divorced, so fortunately I don't have this problem of thinking someone else is watching the kids. When I was married, my husband never watched the kids anyway, so I didn't really need to worry about it then, either. I watch my kids or no one does. I haven't managed to loose either one of them, not yet anyway!

 

My littlest is 3 and I work on teaching her what to do in an emergency all the time, how to find a policy officer or an employee (like at Disney). I've also worked really hard to teach my kids to be aware of their surroundings - how to look for landmarks, how to find our house, a store in the mall, the car in a parking lot, seats at at concert. Hopefully they'll never be lost but if they are, hopefully they'll have the skills to know what to do. My youngest was one of those kids that ran away from me all the time, she doesn't do it anymore, but we started early with these type of lessons with her! I also learned to keep her within arms reach at all times, usually strapped into a stroller or carseat, or holding my hand. I never let go of her until she turned 3 and still, I don't entirely trust her to stay with me. I'm actually a bit envious of parents who are able to let their kids wander and don't expect that they'll get lost.

 

In any case, I'm just glad to hear this situation had a good outcome.

[islandchicklet]

I originally thought about the 40 minutes of not noticing the child was missing and thought "YIKES, really??" But then I thought back to the times when we were running for a plane and trying to schlep way too much luggage (I think it said they had 18 pieces:eek:) and when I finally got on the plane, hot and sometimes nauseated, just putting my head back and closing my eyes. I'm just glad it never happened to me (or my kiddies).

[MNfamilycruiser]

I originally thought about the 40 minutes of not noticing the child was missing and thought "YIKES, really??" But then I thought back to the times when we were running for a plane and trying to schlep way too much luggage (I think it said they had 18 pieces:eek:) and when I finally got on the plane, hot and sometimes nauseated, just putting my head back and closing my eyes. I'm just glad it never happened to me (or my kiddies).

I agree - if they were not all seated together (almost certainly not or this wouldn't have happened) and one parent thought the other parent had the child - they might not have even been able to see each other on the plane. Think about it - you can't see a child's head above the seat - you don't even know they are there unless you come right up to that row.

Also - what happens when you get on the plane? You get strapped in and you don't get up and move around to check on things until the "fasten seat belt" sign is turned off.

[CanadianTwosome]

I'm certainly not going to say anything negative about parents that 'misplace' their child... it's definitely happened to me more than once - and I've only got one. Thankfully, I've always found my 'little angel', usually sitting quietly on a floor in some store looking at stuffed animals... and also thankfully, she's not a toddler anymore!!!

 

I have a little bit of difficulty wrapping my head around the whole boarding with one missing, though... again, not judging, just something I know would never happen to me because I'm too anal about travel - I round up EVERYONE before boarding, and that includes the adults as well, so nobody ever has to wonder if 'someone else' is keeping track of anyone - it's me!! ha ha ha My husband is great, too... he's an ex-cop, but I simply cannot trust anyone else to do it, so instead I just make everyone crazy with my constant vigilance. Just a trip to the bathroom involves developing a plan!! ha ha ha Oh well, there are worse things to be obsessive about... and I'm sure all of my future travelling companions will be very happy to hear about this story... however many times I feel a need to repeat it!!! :p

 

Since we're also sharing other 'left behind' stories... my inlaws used to live in a very small resort community, and of course they knew everyone. Well, there was some big 'do' on in town, and they had a bunch of relatives staying with them, and everyone headed in to the dance. When it was time to come home, they piled into three or four cars and came home. Shortly after getting settled in, they saw headlights coming into the drive and thought, 'Oh no, who's this now?' It was their neighbors, bringing my husband home. ha ha ha They'd found him wandering around the dance - I don't even think he was looking for anyone yet, but of course everyone knew that his entire family had already left. :)

[Batch007]

No bad words from me, me and my kids not perfect either, thank the lord she is ok and has been reunited with her family. We cannot watch them 24-7, although mine are so loud I think I would notice if they weren't on the plane with me;) .

[Warm Breezes]

It could happen so easily to any of us. I witnessed it with friends of ours. We went to watch their 2 boys play basketball. After the game we were all going bowling together. The boys were starving and I had some snacks in my car that I offered them. The plan was for them to get the snacks and then go with their dad to the bowling alley. We got them the snacks and they started walking to where their dad was parked and he was gone. Mom was gone too. We gave them lift. Right before we got a to the bowling alley the Mom called me on my cell phone. She had been talking to her husband on his cell phone when they realized that neither one of them had the kids. They each thought the other one had them. Luckily for them we noticed the boys were without a ride before we took off and had them with us. It was a game on the ride to the bowling alley to see how long it took them to figure out neither one of them had the kids.