In my view: Just grabbing a cup of coffee

In my view

by Anne Klein

Issue of June 25, 2010/ 13 Tammuz, 5770

I’m still shaking as I think about what I had the misfortune to experience last week. Getting into my car on Cedarhurst Avenue I noticed a commotion around a black SUV parked two cars ahead of me. They were all talking to the meter maid and looked upset. I assumed that someone received a ticket or something to that effect. A moment later, a police car zoomed up across the street and an officer jumped out and ran across the street to the group of agitated people. A minute later, as I watched in confusion, a woman came running out of Central Perk across the street, cup of coffee in hand, and ran over to the car. Immediately the officer started yelling at her and she began to plead with him. At this point, I realized this was no parking ticket, and decided to investigate. One of the men standing there yelled, “I’ve been standing here at least 15 minutes!”

I got out of my car and began to walk down the block. Suddenly it hit me: “Oh, my gosh, is there a child in that car,” I asked a woman standing in the group. “No!” she replied, “there are two!” I looked into the car and saw a baby sleeping in a car seat and a little girl, maybe two or three years old. Immediately, I burst into tears, right in the middle of Cedarhurst Avenue. I do not know the owner of the SUV, but the thought of anyone leaving two children in the back of a car on a hot day is beyond comprehension. One of the individuals standing there, apparently a non-Jewish man, was yelling at her, “I’ve been here 15 minutes. Anyone could’ve taken these children, you don’t deserve to have children!” With tears streaming down my face, I got into my car and drove away, not wanting to witness a cop taking away her children (which I’m not so sure she didn’t deserve).

I try to judge people favorably, but cannot fathom what could possess a woman to knowingly leave two children in a car for a cup of coffee. I am aware of the difficulty in doing errands with children, and the annoyances of taking them in and out of the car seat. I am also well aware of the dilemma faced when a child falls asleep in the car seat. However, there is never, ever a good enough reason to leave children alone in a car on a hot day — nothing, not even for a moment. We have all heard stories of overworked, exhausted men and women mistakenly leaving children in cars as they rush off to work, forgetting to bring the baby to the babysitter. These stories are heart-rending as well. But the difference is that in those cases, a terrible, horrible mistake was made.

I am going to make a suggestion to all mothers out there. When you go anywhere with your child, as you buckle your child into the car seat, put your pocketbook, or wallet, or phone on their lap, this way as you leave the car there will be no way of you forgetting that you brought your child with you.

Another suggestion is to turn on your headlights so the car will make an indicator noise reminding you your lights are on when you leave the car, thereby reminding you of your child. I am sure this woman will never forget this day as long as she lives and I hope that she has learned a valuable lesson. But as I sit here writing, still shaking, thinking of the tremendous chilul Hashem that was made today, I whisper a prayer for children of mothers who forget what it means to be a mother.

Anne Klein is a mother of four who lives in Far Rockaway.