3 February 2011

Babes in the wood

| johnboy
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ACT Policing has reunited a mother with her two children after an incident this morning in which the children were found walking unsupervised around parklands in Latham.

Police were called to a Latham address around 8.07am today, after the resident at that address said she had found the two young boys, one aged about 18 months and the other around 3 years old, walking alone in the Ginninderra Creek parklands. The 3-year-old was not wearing any clothes.

The two children were conveyed to Belconnen Police Station as officers began systematically doorknocking houses in the streets around the area where the children had been found.

Around 9.15am, during the doorknocks, Belconnen General Duties officers found a home in Latham which had an insecure front door and children’s toys in the front room.

The mother was in bed, unaware her children had left the home, and was distraught at what had occurred. She was conveyed to the police station and reunited with her children.

[Courtesy ACT Policing]

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Pork Hunt said :

This has to be a riotact first.

Two kids roaming streets and parklands, mother in bed at 9:15 am and not ONE suggestion that she might be a skanky ho or a crack whore…

Hey Porker, this is the new, kinder, gentler RiotAct! Get with the program…politeness rules! 🙂

Actually, I think that unlike drink driving, blagging servos, knifing people in parks etc, most Rioters who are parents have probably screwed up like this at some stage due to sleep deprivation, and other reasons that all parents will be familiar with. And the memory of the resulting overwhelming fear and abject humiliation may have overriden the normal Riotous compulsion to dump shit on the players.

When I was a teenager I found a little boy playing *under* a bus at Woden Interchange. I’d heard a message about a lost kid on the PA, so I took him to the information desk (while worrying about being mistaken for a kidnapper) and returned him to his mother. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman in worse shape in my entire life, and her joy at being reunited with her son was something to behold. I didn’t really understand her feelings until something similar happened to me 15 years later.

Like I said, my thoughts were initially scathing, but I quickly ran into the “Let who who is without sin cast the first stone…” bit.

screaming banshee9:06 pm 04 Feb 11

What, can’t I just think she’s a crack whore to myself for once?

JustThinking5:28 pm 04 Feb 11

Pork Hunt said :

This has to be a riotact first.

Two kids roaming streets and parklands, mother in bed at 9:15 am and not ONE suggestion that she might be a skanky ho or a crack whore…

Benefit of the doubt.
I did say we needed more info BUT if the police returned her kids to her and there isn’t a big news scandal about her being a ho/crack whore then there isn’t much more to it.

JustThinking5:15 pm 04 Feb 11

heheh I have lost/forgotten 2 children on the same day…
How many of us have done similar??

This has to be a riotact first.

Two kids roaming streets and parklands, mother in bed at 9:15 am and not ONE suggestion that she might be a skanky ho or a crack whore…

colourful sydney racing identity3:32 pm 04 Feb 11

Inappropriate said :

Genie said :

What mother doesn’t realise her 2 small children are missing first thing in the morning ?

And how does a 3 year open a front door… ?

1. A mother comatose from exaustion.

2. The same way an adult does it, but stands on a stool because they’re shorter.

Spot on. It is much easier to blame the mother than think though…

Inappropriate2:36 pm 04 Feb 11

Genie said :

What mother doesn’t realise her 2 small children are missing first thing in the morning ?

And how does a 3 year open a front door… ?

1. A mother comatose from exaustion.

2. The same way an adult does it, but stands on a stool because they’re shorter.

JustThinking11:34 am 04 Feb 11

Hard to comment on without more info..
Would depend on why the mother was still in bed at 9.15am.

When my grandsons were small my daughter got up early to shower while they were asleep. One woke up, realised his mother was busy, so helped himself to the money jar, dragged the vacuum to the front door, unlocked it and went to the corner shop. Same child had also been caught days later with a nappy full of loose change climbing out a kitchen window after dragging a chair over.

Ah, mothers… always the easiest target for every stranger and his dog to judge. And because they are so prone to guilt trips, such a very rewarding pass-time too.

georgesgenitals10:45 am 04 Feb 11

There are definitely some questions in my mind, especially around the general security of the home, and the hours being kept by the mother. Kids that age should be in bed and asleep before 8pm, and even if they had a difficult night (it was hot after all), I’d have thought mum would be up and around well before 9.15am.

Fortunately nothing bad happened, though, and the scare will probably cause a rethink of looking after the kids.

Nearly every kid, at some point, makes their mum and/or dad feel like they are the most useless parents in the world.

Police called at 8am…. Found mother in bed at 9.15am.

What mother doesn’t realise her 2 small children are missing first thing in the morning ?

And how does a 3 year open a front door… ?

Wow, very sympathetic comments.
As a parent of 3 I find it hard to believe that any parent could still be in bed, unaware of their children’s whereabouts, at 9:15 in the morning!
Especially 2 so young ..
To most kids under 5, waking up at 8 is a sleep-in.

My little cousin was not long walking when he escaped from our house. He managed to open the front door and then high-tailed it down the very busy main road we lived on. Luckily a lady found him and door-knocked until she found our place. His mother was very distraught to say the least.

I initially felt a bit of a “tsk tsk” coming on…but…

When I was little my family lived in QLD near Brisbane. One day, one of the nice armoured personnel carrier drivers from the local army unit (mech inf?) stopped the long convoy of what was probably M113 APC’s driving down the Bruce Highway, picked my 18 month old sister up off the middle of the road and returned her to my mum. It could’ve been bad.

And I’ve since raised 4 kids of my own. Little grommets can do the damndest things, and it’s hard to be 100% alert 100% of the time when utterly exhausted through lack of sleep.

I hope the mother doesn’t beat up on herself too much.

Kids are crafty little buggers. Especially at the age of 3. I can imagine the mum being so damn tired she just didn’t hear them up. She most likely shat herself when the cops came knocking. 🙂

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