Um…four times? It seems like she might have been purposefully leaving the kid in danger. Doesn’t FOUR times seem somewhat strange? Maybe after the second time, they’d say, “Oh, we seem to have a propensity to leave our kid inside hot cars, maybe we should check for that every time.” What about the kid? My kids don’t shut up in the van. If I tried to leave them in there (which I’ve considered for a moment or two) they’d scream and yell, unbuckle their seatbelts (even at age 2) and open the power sliding door.

Something’s fishy.

Rob was telling me about this earlier – I think. He said it was a principal and the child was 3 months old, though. I wonde rif it’s the same story and he got the facts wrong or if there’s another case. In the case he was talking about, the community wants this woman prosecuted, and he said he felt bad for her. I need to read more about it all, I think. Off to find news stories about her previous negligence.

This happens so so often, usually it’s the first time that parent has forgotten though.

I remember a story being on the news once about a child left in a car and for months afterward Noah was afraid he would be forgotten in the backseat, he was about 3 years old at the time. He would rush to get out the door!

I’ve never forgetten any of my kids anywhere before, I just always forget their “stuff” that goes with them… I remember a few times I left without refilling the diaper bag with diapers or forgot the bottle in the fridge.

As a parent, I have to say that this probably was an accident. I hope it was. And really, living with this is going to be more than enough punishment. I would be a wreck for years if I lost a child due to me screwing up. That’s nothing but painful.

But that’s just my take. We just had an upperclass couple here in Saint Louis do the same thing. I don’t believe they were prosecuted, but they’ll be caring that pain forever.

How can you forget your kid? How? Seriously, you know I have a 3 year old and a 3 month old. I have never forgotten them anywhere. Neither has my absent minded hubby. There is just no excuse.

I’ve read several different versions of this tonight, and I’m hoping it was an accident, but from this version, it appears the parents have done this several times now, and that makes it negligent homicide in my book.

Ouch.
I agree with Lisa. How? I can see forgetting your keys in the car, I can see forgetting you wallet, but a CHILD!?

I admit, I feel sorry for the woman, but only becuase she has to live with this for the rest of her life. However, it’s also a punishment.

The poor poor little one though, What a horrible thing to happen to a child.

Because I don’t have children yet, I can’t say I know from experience how hard it is to forget your child, but I seriously have a hard time feeling sorry for this woman. I could understand if maybe she accidentally left her child in the car for a few minutes, but how do you forget about your child for 8 HOURS! How do you not realize your 2 year child is missing for such a long period of time?

I’ll definitely have to read up on this more. The only way I can understand her leaving the child for that long is if she was in a hurry to get to work and forgot to drop the child off at daycare?

I agree with Lisa and Kat. I sincerely hope it was an accident, but how do you forget your child own child, especially repeatedly? There’s just no excuse.

In Australia it’s illegal as the temperature can soar to dangerous levels within minutes. Leaving your child alone in a parked car is extremely dangerous and can cause death. Even parents who leave sleeping children for 10 minutes while they duck into a shop have been charged and convicted. Our children need our protection and vigilence.

I’d be interested to hear what moms who work a stressful/high-powered job have to say about this. It’s easy to say, “I’d never forget my child!” when you’re a SAHM or if the stress/responsibility level at your job is minimal. But when you’ve got the demands of work plus a small child, I think the probability of forgetting the child goes way up.

Then again, like someone mentioned already – this was 8 hours and someone else found the child, so who knows how much longer it would have taken for the mom to go out to her car. Did her daughter not cross her mind all day? Not even during a slow time like lunch or whatever? And what is the story with the parents forgetting the child in the car 4 prior times?

I read a blog post recently that said this has become much more common since placing car seats in the back seats of cars has been mandated, and even moreso with backwards-facing carseats. Parents don’t see the child, so they forget the child is there. The same post also suggested that everyone should try to make it a habit to glance at cars all around them in parking lots, on the chance that they might spot a child left in a car.

As to this particular case: four prior incidents? That’s not an accident, it’s a pattern of neglect.

Patrick, I think it was an accident, but it really bothers me that it happened 4 times before, and they didn’t learn from their mistakes. After the first time, I would have put a sticky note on my dashboard that said “CHECK FOR BABY!”

I agree Colleen. The four is far too often. I’m much more sympathetic to the recent Saint Louis accident where the child hand-off between two parents was screwed up. Both parents thought the child was with the other. This was really an accident (to the best of our knowledge) and the grief is certainly going to be hard to get through.

At the risk of being lynched, here, I will admit that I once left my 18 month old in the van for a few moments. I have three children and RARELY (I mean, maybe once a year) do I go anywhere with only one of them. My husband was home, but wanted a few moments without the baby. I was already in a rush, but popped him in the van with me. His seat is in the far back seat. He was completely quiet the entire ride there.

By a block away from the house I forgot that he was even with me. I got to the store, ran in, and was back out in less than 10 minutes. I about died inside when I opened the side door and noticed him playing with a book in his carseat. I cried the whole way home (after holding him for a good 5 minutes).

I fully expected that someone would have written down my plates and called the police. I just knew that DFS was going to be on my door step within the hour. But, I came to conclusion that that would have been ok. I did something horribly wrong, however unintentional, that put my child at great risk. It was evening in the Spring, so heat wasn’t much of a factor, but he could have been kidnapped. I was prepared to accept whatever consequences came from my actions.

I will say one thing, though, I can’t fathom how anyone could possibly do that a second time. I’ve beat myself up for months over it. You bet your sweet bippy that I scan that backseat each and every time I get out now.

In a reply to Amy – I am a single parent who works 50-60 hours per week. I have two children a 14yr old and a 2 yr old. Between work, sports, daycare, etc….. I feel like a chicken with my head cut off sometimes, but NEVER have I forgotten my child in the car even when my mind was totally preoccupied with something else. I really don’t know how you could forget your child if your the one who put them in the car. It is a horrible tragedy, but doing it 4 times previously is unforgiveable and I could understand why she would want to kill herself.

I cannot believe this can happen! I think they are criminally careless parents (to put it mildly). I hope their other kids are luckier. This is scary.

And I know you didn’t mean it that way, but being white, middle class and/or having a good job has absolutely no bearing on good parenting.

I am extremely appalled by this news. I think I have watched one of CSI Las Vega’s episode that is very similar to this, as in really really similar to this. I can’t believe that accident like this can happen in real life. No matter how one will look at it, it just just shows how irresponsible parents Brenda and her husband are.

Stories like these fill me with so much rage…

That poor little girl.

I’m not sure what is right. I think we can certainly all learn from this. I’ve heard of perfectly wonderful parents forgetting to take their children home sometimes..especialy if they have several children. I have a very hard tme judging people, as I’ve made so many mistakes myself.. Haven’t all of us?

Dorothy from grammolgy

The sheer amount of stories JUST like this one breaks my heart… the fact that the child had been left in the car FOUR previous times makes me angry. I’ve forgotten a lot of things in the car, but I can’t imagine ever forgetting a child.

Is it called negligence ? Isn’t be termed as criminal? Poor girl.

I hadn’t heard this tidbit (about it not being the first time, but the FIFTH)
I don’t think I feel as sorry for her as I did yesterday

this is freakin HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what kind of parent just “forgets” their child in the car??? i have two children, and never once has it been like, “oops! forgot the kid! oh well!” people like this just make me sick. a child is the most precious thing in the world, and i hope this woman sits and rots and suffers over this for the rest of her life! what a worthless, pathetic excuse for a human being!

Read the police reports. She even admitted to not changing the poor baby when she woke up!! OMG. What lame parents. This was not an “accident” – someone died FGS.

Wow that’s horrible. I see that kinda stuff on the news all the time and the parents just keep on living. Have more children. Everything. It’s like the other child never exsisted. I don’t think she should have gotten off. Or her husband. They both shoulda been thrown in jail.

I don’t believe it was an accident. Let’s ask all the mothers out there. How often do you think about your childen, where they are and their safety. Once every 5 minutes? Once every 15 minutes? Once an hour? Do you honestly believe that she went 8 hours without giving her 2 year old the slightest thought? This would be impossible for anyone with the cognitive capacity to maintain an assistant principal’s position and remember the #@#*ing donuts for that day’s meeting. The prosecuting attorney’s satement that she “Didn’t know that her daughter was there.” Suggests that she had reason to believe that her daughter was somewhere else. She didn’t. The fact that she puts on a good performance doesn’t impress me. She should have resigned her position if she were really remorseful. “I deserve to die, but I want to keep my job” is ridiculous! She got away with COLD BLOODED MURDER.

I personally know this family and used to watch Cecilia in the church nursery. From my experience she is NOT a negligent mother. She is a very overprotective mother with too much on her plate. This family should be thought of with sympathy – her 2 sisters will also have to live with this for the rest of their lives.

Brenda Slaby IS a negligent mother…. anyone who conveniently “forgets” she left her baby in the car all day to roast to death should be prosecuted. How convenient to say you “forgot” to avoid prosecution. If this family had lived in Hamilton County, the HC prosecutor’s office would have hung her out to dry…. she would have been charged with involuntary manslaughter or at the very least prosecuted with child endangerment. She belongs in jail for what she did. But it seems money talks in Clermont County. Slaby apparently is way past mourning for her baby and thinking only of herself, again…. she is changing careers via seeking another degree at Univ of Cinti for a field in which she most likely will not be able to find a job with a school district anyway and I couldn’t care less if she ever found a job. She should be focusing on becoming a more responsible parent instead. Too bad the classes she’s taking isn’t in PARENTING or short-term memory rentention.

Well, it seems that Brenda Slbay is now telling her story to the whole nation via “Oprah” on Wednsday October 1, 2008. As a mother of 3 childred I never forgot about them, left them in a car or “Had too much on my plate” to be able to be a parent. Your college education really paid off in childhood development. I guess she skipped that class. I think that she will get her punishment the day she meets her maker with her Baby Girl there standing at the pearly gates and asks her mommy “How could you have left me in that hot car on the hottest day of the year?” She does not deserve to be put in the same catigory as the rest of us “Moms”. She needs to be labled a murdered. SHAME ON YOU BRENDA SLABY for having too much on your plate and forgetting your little girl. SHAME ON YOU BRENDA SLABY for being the #1 role model for “How to kill a child and get away with murder.”

I am sure many of you feel that you could never do this. The fact is: You could. On June 28th, 2007 my husband accidentally left our 3 month old in the car. She died as a result. In this world/society, where jobs require a person to work 12-15 hours at times. Its non-stop this, non-stop that. We all like to think that we are perfect parents and nothing can ever happen to us. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Nobody is immune to tragedy. Take your judgement out for just one moment. Realize that the news is interspersed with false information. Unless you know this woman, you do not know what happened. I would really appreciate some understanding. If you cannot comprehend how you might do this. Visit my blog and read how we have had to rebuild our life. But start at the end of the blog…that is the beginning of the trauma and broken heart that any parent like this…will have to deal with…for the rest of our lives.

I hope that those of you unwilling to display it, can learn compassion…and if not…I hope that you never have to walk a mile in our shoes.