Time and time again we hear of the dangers of leaving kids in hot cars. By now it should be clear that leaving kids — especially infants — alone in cars is dangerous for so many reasons, but many people still take the risk. That includes one woman's husband, who thought it was fine to leave their 6-month-old in the car and paid for it dearly when he was later arrested on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child. The mom is livid, but her husband feels like she's letting him down by not sticking up for him.
The whole mess started last week when her husband got arrested.
As the mom explained in a post on the Am I the A–hole forum, their infant doesn't really sleep well and when he does sleep well "we tend to stop living so he gets a good sleep."
The mom was at work when her husband decided he really needed a snack. But he was on dad duty, so he had to bring their baby with him to the gas station.
"On the way Little Dude (LD) fell asleep," she wrote.
At the gas station, her husband "waited for a minute" to see if their son would wake up.
When he didn't, the dad decided to risk it and went inside the gas station with "the car locked and running with LD inside."
He thought it would only take a minute -- but it ended up taking 20.
When he came out, he realized he was in big trouble.
"The police were holding LD and our car window was broken," she recalled. "He was arrested for the aforementioned crime and Child Services took LD."
It was a call the mom never wanted to receive.
First, she had to go and collect their son from Child Protective Services. Then she had to go bail out her husband from jail.
She told him what he did was "absolutely stupid," but "he wasn't even remotely sorry about anything," she wrote.
"I DID NOT call him stupid, I called his actions stupid," she added.
Now Child Protective Services is investigating them and the local news station called.
"I answered them honestly," she recalled. "I'm glad my son and husband are okay but I'm frankly very upset with my husband for being so reckless with our child and I hope in time I can forgive him."
Their son was fine, but the mom admitted that it was a hot, 94-degree weather day and it was "sunny."
Her husband is furious that she won't publicly defend him "and says I'm a bad wife because of this."
But she sort of thinks he deserves everything he gets.
"I'm mostly just thankful that we were allowed to take LD home," she continued. "They could have easily jerked our rights over this. It's happened."
She wants to know if she's being the jerk "for telling the public that I'm p—ed at my husband?"
The comment section agreed -- her husband had messed up BIG time.
"Your husband endangered your helpless infant. I can't imagine what was so important at the gas station," one commenter wrote.
"The terrifying fact here is that your husband does not accept that what he did was dangerous," someone else agreed. "What else does he think is okay…"
A third commenter emphasized what a mistake the husband made.
"I literally would not leave my purse in a car in front of a gas station for 20 minutes without glancing outside a few times to make sure everything was okay. I don’t have kids, but I would never in a million years leave my dog alone in a car on a 94 degree day for any period of time," the person wrote. "[Y]ou need to have a serious conversation with your husband about acceptable supervision of an actual infant."
A few people thought she was wrong for speaking out against him in public.
"YTA for not having the sense to say 'no comment' to the news when they called," one person explained. "This is not a therapist you're sharing your feelings with it's a public news outlet. Not to mention admitting your husband is guilty. Very foolish. Your husband of course is also an a–hole for leaving a 6-month-old child in the car. You two need to get it together before this kid grows up enough to realize who his parents are."
"A second commenter agreed.
"Absolutely this. It's one thing to have a marital dispute and of course your husband is an AH for what he did but throwing him under the bus publicly is not okay," the person wrote. "It's the news! Do you want his reputation ruined like that in a small town you live in? You're hurting yourself as well in the long run."
"'No comment' would be a perfectly acceptable response to the media while still being p—ed privately," a third commenter agreed.
Unfortunately, this might have done some permanent damage to the couple, as the mom explained later in the thread.
"He's done so well up until this," she wrote. "He was helpful, considerate. He loved giving Bubby his baths and now I find it hard to trust him."
It might be too late for her to ever trust him again.
"I'm making myself do so but I am constantly worried when I leave the house," she continued. "Its rough, not gonna lie."
