NationStates Jolt Archive

So what's your take? Was it negligence or could it have happened to anyone?

http://www.parentdish.com/2008/08/04/girl-accidentally-left-at-airport/?icid=200100397x1206881324x1200371398

My personal view (having raised two kids) is that losing track of the kid, temporarily, in a crowded airport is one thing, getting on the plane and not noticing until 40 minutes after takeoff, when the pilot announces it, demonstrates, shall we say, a certain (unacceptable) casualness about parenting.

18 bags???? How long were they going for?

Perhaps the kid should watch Home Alone to see what you can do when your parents leave you for a holiday.

Yes it isn't good, I think you could lose your kid in a busy airport that could happen to everyone, but not noticing it at all especially after you have been on the flight for awhile you think you would have noticed it before then. Losing your kid is one thing not noticing after a certain period of time is another thing entirely

I guess this falls under the "Oops" category

So, first, it's unlikely they took 18 bags onto the plane, it's just not allowed, so they probably checked most in, doesn't mean they didn't have a fair few remaining I suppose.

Second, sounds like a fairly large move, I suspect it was filled with stress and I just wonder whether there was a heated argument throughout, I'd expect even more stress when 5 kids are involved.

It's not excusing anyone for forgetting their child but the mind can go into odd states under high stress, especially in heated argumentative states.

All this is highly speculative on my part but I'm sure there's extenuating circumstances other than mere forgetfulness.

EDIT: They were late for their flight as well - is it just me, the link in the parentdish article doesn't work, you have to Google for the news.

They are really going to be in trouble when they remember they have 6 children. :tongue:

I know that there are a lot of checking gates that passengers have to go through, so they don't have time to check everything that is belong to them. However, in this case, the belonging was a kid. In my opinion, this is the responsibility of the parents.

However harried they were, there's no excuse for not realizing you didn't bring your kid onto the airplane. If they can't keep track of all of them they obviously shouldn't have had so many. I mean, seriously. I know it's not the same, but I've led 20 hyperactive wandering 5-year-olds on extensive field trips before and even running after them in all directions, I managed to keep track of all of them.

Accidental my arse...

they wanted to leave the kid behind.

That pilot just had a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

Well, with 5 kids, you can stand to misplace one. That's what redundancy is for.