I rode the courthouse elevator from the first floor up to the sixth floor along with an anxious young mother who rattled on and on about having left her son behind. She was headed out of the building when she realized her child was not with her.
Some might immediately think, “What a horrible mother! How could she forget her child?”
As I listened to her, I had a flashback to years ago when my friend and I had taken our six-year- old daughters to swimming lessons at a popular public park. I stood outside the locker room waiting for my child. We waited and waited. My friend went inside to get her daughter because she had a hair appointment afterwards. I saw my friend drive away with a little head in the backseat. After waiting for quite awhile longer, I decided that my child had gone out of the rear exit along with her friend. So I followed my friend’s car to the hair salon about a mile away. The whole time I was wondering, why did my friend take my child without telling me?
When only my friend and her child got out of the car, I asked, “Where’s my child? I thought she left with you.”
“I wouldn’t take her without telling you,” she said. “We left her in the crowded dressing room.”
I rushed back to the park and saw my daughter standing outside where I was supposed to meet her. She was crying as she talked to a police officer.
My traumatized child rushed into my arms. How embarrassed I was. Why did I think that my child would not obey me or that my friend would not communicate with me?
On that elevator with the anxious mom, I thought about the number of forgotten children who have been victims of hot car death. How I wish their parents had thought to ask as quickly as that young mom, “Where’s my child?”
“Be glad you remembered him,” I said. “I know the feeling. I left my child in the park one day.”
We both exited on the sixth floor. Moments later I saw a four-year-old boy chattering loudly as he followed his mom to the elevator.
I couldn’t help but think how important it is for parents to watch their children rather than let them roam around in public places alone. Much danger lurks while parents are taking care of business. Distractions can easily make a parent forget about those precious little people who run loose, crawl into unhealthy places, lag behind, play too close to water, chase a ball into the street, fall asleep in the backseat…
I’ve learned not to be so quick to judge those who forget their child.
Field trip to Shoreline Village
It could happen to anyone given the stressful society in which we live. I’m thankful that God’s grace allowed this young mom, and me, to be happily reunited with the child we left behind.
Slums in Nairobi, Kenya
No wonder Jesus said, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged,” (Matthew 7:1).
