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Shopping Mothers, Neglected Babies

Letter to the Editor at the Jewish Press:

Recently, I was walking past a store in a frum neighborhood and saw two unattended babies in carriages. Being that I was on my cell phone, I loudly said I would watch the unattended babies until the mothers returned. A few minutes later, a lady came out and said, rather irritably, “The mother is here!” This mother, obviously perturbed that I had suggested her baby was being neglected, glared at me.

This is not the first time I witnessed such an incident and intervened. Leaving babies unsupervised in carriages may have become something of a “conventional” practice in the frum community, but how, exactly, is it not out-and-out neglect?

Brooklyn is not a place where crimes never occur. We frequently hear of incidents in our communities. So why do people assume their unattended babies are safe? You rarely see an unattended bike, even in your own communities, without a chain or padlock. But unattended carriages with babies inside – well, that’s an entirely different story.

Dear mother, do you not realize how easy is it for someone to walk away with a child when there are several other abandoned baby carriages on a busy avenue? If a store does not allow carriages, leave it outside and take your baby in. Would you ever consider leaving your pocket book in the carriage and walking into a store?

Once, I saw an unsupervised toddler in a carriage outside a pizza store. I walked into the store and announced that someone “forgot” a baby outside. A mother eating pizza grunted to her daughter to go watch the baby. How can a mother leisurely sit and eat pizza while her baby is left alone on the street?

Besides the obvious dangers of leaving a baby unattended, how can you be sure the carriage will not roll into the gutter? All infant seats, swings, highchairs, etc. have warning labels about not leaving children unattended. If children must be supervised even when inside a home, how much more so out on the street?

Another personal experience: A stroller left outside a store with packages on the handles suddenly tipped over. I ran to the carriage, which contained a crying toddler, and tried to rebalance it but it kept tipping over. I waited with the carriage until the mother came out of the store with yet more bags. How can a mother go shopping without even bothering to check on her baby left alone outside?

Mothers, your children are invaluable! As a caregiver, it is a parent’s responsibility to ensure that babies and young children are supervised at all times. Unsupervised children are neglected children. Period.

http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/21770/Letters_To_The_Editor.html