Mother of the Year? Mom leaves six year old in mall to "teach him a lesson".

[ohiosmith]

Police: Mom left boy in mall to 'teach him lesson'
Tribune staff report
December 19, 2007

CHICAGO RIDGE - A Willow Springs woman has been charged with endangering the life of a child after she left her 6-year-old son alone at the Chicago Ridge Mall to "teach him a lesson," police said.

Ernestine Willer, 52, of the 100 block of Santa Fe Lane was arrested at 7:50 p.m. Thursday after security guards spent almost an hour searching the mall for her, officials said. After the boy was found wandering around the food court alone, he gave police information to track down his mother, authorities said.

According to the police report, when Willer came back to the mall to pick up the child, she was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor of endangering the life and health of a child.

link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-childmall_19dec19,0,6941150.story

[BlueIris]

1. Holy shit. For once, thank you Chicago PD, for doing something USEFUL.

[Critters2]

45. Chicago Ridge isn't Chicago.

It's a 'burb. The Chicago PD would have beaten the kid up, ripped the film out of the security cameras, lied about it, and gotten away with it.

[underpants]

2. Jesus!!

IN THE FOOD COURT???? Yikes that IS dangerous

[DarkTirade]

3. Yeah, I mean... he might have eaten something there!

Seriously though... this is a bit of a WTF. I'm all for teaching kids to be independant and all... but a six year old wandering around a mall this time of year? No. Just... no.

[redqueen]

5. Any time of year...

[ThomCat]

4. Wow.

Was it impossible to get a babysitter for a few hours?
Was it totally impossible to put up with an energetic 6 year old?

:wtf:

[Book Lover]

6. While I in absolutely no way condone what this woman did

sometimes the answers to your questions are Yes and Yes.

[redqueen]

10. I can see answering the first question "yes".

The second one, not so much.

[China_cat]

16. At 52 years old? With a 6 year old?

Oh hell yes I can understand how it could happen. Not even close to condoning it but I do understand how that last nerve could snap more easily than in someone a bit younger.

[redqueen]

19. ...

*sigh*

[China_cat]

21. Tell me about it when you're menopausal.

[redqueen]

23. So... all menopausal women are prone to

finding their charges "impossible" and dumping them?

I'm not sure how far you're going with this...

[China_cat]

36. I said I can understand the impulse

and how someone could just 'break' from it. I don't condone what she did, but I CAN understand circumstances that could precipitate it. When you get to that stage, you too will understand how it can happen.

Why is it that when someone can understand a horrendous action, it's automatically jumped on as condoning it?

[redqueen]

38. I'm not clear on this understanding thing...

is there any way to similarly understand the circumstances that could precipitate spousal abuse?

[China_cat]

39. If you aren't so self-absorbed that you can't see beyond

your own nose, of course there is.

And that's coming from a survivor of spousal abuse. Ever had a gun put to your head and the trigger pulled? I have. (Luckily he had run out of bullets but it did precipitate a severe pistol whipping) I absolutely understand the reasons for his rage. Doesn't make what he did right and didn't stop me from doing a happy dance when he died, but yes, I understand.

btw, that's rhetorical, inclusive of everybody 'you', not meant individually to you personally.

[redqueen]

40. Nah, my dad never pulled the trigger.

He did whip me with it though.

Pardon me for not being as fucking awesomely wonderfully great as you are, but I will NEVER fucking understand.

Sorry that you think I'm self-absorbed. I guess you know better than I though eh?

[China_cat]

41. Yep, lived long enough to realize that black and white

aren't the only colors in the world.

And I also noted that the comment about being self-absorbed was meant as an inclusive, everybody reading 'you', not you personally.

Again, you can understand without approving, condoning or aiding. It's called empathy.

[redqueen]

47. Sorry... I'm fresh out of empathy for people who treat children like that.

Like I've already said... if someone's mentally ill, that's one thing.

No one else gets any 'understanding' from me. I guess I'm just a bad person that way.

[China_cat]

55. Empathy and sympathy are not the same thing.

I know what you feel. Right now, you are me 30 years ago.

[Arkansas Granny]

26. Believe me, I've heard the snapping sound that last nerve makes,

but to leave a six year old alone in a mall is unconscionable. If she couldn't control him she should have just taken him home and planned her shopping for another day. There is no purchase so important that it warrants abandoning your child.

[China_cat]

37. I agree. It was totally wrong.

Understanding how it could happen doesn't mean giving a pass to it.

[Book Lover]

24. Are you a mom?

If yes, then I have to say that I don't believe how you could not see her snapping.

If no, then I would say that you don't have the life experience to understand fully just how kids can get under your skin.

Again, I am not saying what this woman did was right. I am saying that I can understand how temptation was in front of her, and even how she could entertain the thought. But to actually abandon her child, that does go beyond the pale.

[redqueen]

27. Yes, 2 girls.

They're both older than 6. So yeah... been there.

Sorry, I don't understand how she could even entertain the thought, unless she was mentally ill.

[Book Lover]

28. Maybe, then, there *is* no sisterhood of mothers

Because I have a 5 year old, and can very easily see someone allowing themselves to entertain the idea. In any case, I am sure we agree that this woman did something not only wrong, but criminal.

[redqueen]

32. Not sure what this has to do with sisterhood...

if you mean an unserious entertaining of the idea... as in thinking "I could slap that kid right now!" then that's one thing...

However actually seriously considering it is quite another and there's just no way I'll ever think it's anything but profoundly fucked up.

[skygazer]

33. I guess not

I have 3 kids and had my first when I was 19, single, very poor and without any family to help. I know a lot about stress, and "last nerves" but I can honestly say, now that I'm 47 and all my kids are grown, that I never once even fleetingly entertained the idea of leaving them in a mall alone at the age of 6.

I wouldn't leave my pet alone at the mall, let alone my child.

[Arugula Latte]

51. Yes -- it's easy to snap as a parent. But abandoning a child that age in a mall?! NEVER!

I don't care WHAT circumstances are, that is simply INEXCUSABLE to endanger your child like that! If you are that desperate you should call someone up and say that you are at your breaking point and really need a couple hours of relief.

[CreekDog]

57. I wouldn't leave any 6 year old in the mall, regardless of whether it was my kid or not

and regardless of whether he was a total obnoxious brat.

not only would i not leave him if he were in my care, i wouldn't leave him even if he wasn't in my care or responsibility until i knew he was secure. and i'll bet everyone here would do the same, that is if you came across a lost 6 year old, you would not leave or ignore him until his situation was settled. that his mother didn't do this boggles the mind.

heck i've chased lost dogs across busy boulevards waving my hands to stop traffic. if it was a 6 year old, let alone my own 6 year old, what he did would not be relevant to making sure he wasn't left alone.

if you can't handle him, at worst you leave him with a friend or relative or worse the authorities, but not alone in a mall. that's fu$^& up!

[Bucky]

53. thank you

You're right. She was wrong and should get punished or corrected somehow. That said, a person doesn't do this without being a bit over the edge. Stress can adversely affect your decision making ability.

I wonder where the dad was. I wonder where her "village" was that might have alleviated some of that stress.

[CreekDog]

56. Was it impossible to not leave the child?

Absolutely not.

I don't really care about the other questions because this last one is the one that trumps all of them for the moment.

[truedelphi]

13. Way back in the old days of the 1950's, moms would sometimes

Persuade themselves to offer the little one a tiny "nip" of brandy to calm them down if they were overly energetic.

My mom confessed to this about five years ago. Eventually she bought a halter and leash for me!

Another friend of mine who raised her kids in the fifties confessed that she did this nip of brandy thing also.

But her daughter was deeply affected and seemed to barely breathe for several hours. SO she never did it again.

And now a days, people start their one year olds off on tranquilizers (with a presecription from the pediatrics specialist to accomplish this.)

[HughBeaumont]

7. What was she teaching him?

That she's a complete callous fucking asshole?

[redqueen]

11. Pretty much.

[FloridaJudy]

8. WTF?

I remember accidentally losing my kid at the Mall for about ten minutes when he was that age (six year olds are fast!). I about died a thousand deaths, thinking he'd be run over or abducted.

Fortunately, my son had the sense to go to the information booth and have me paged. I can't imagine doing this deliberately. Obviously, not all reproductive organs come with a brain.

[Aristus]

9. Do people like that have no feelings at all?????

Just thinking about my seven-year old grandson wandering around the mall alone, frightened, confused and crying, completely breaks my heart. I'd die before I ever let that happen to him.

[edbermac]

12. Wasn't John Walsh's son Adam abducted from a mall?

This woman is nuts.

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Yes he was. And yes she is.

[redqueen]

20. I wouldn't be so generous as to excuse her idiocy by using mental illness as an explanation.

IMO she's a thoughtless, reckless asshole until any evidence to the contrary surfaces.

[AlCzervik]

22. agreed.

[HERVEPA]

29. Lost my son for about 15 minutes once

as he got stuck in the woods away from my ex and me on a vacation at Acadia in Maine.

For a little while could hear his voice but could not get to him. Died a thousand deaths in that period until I got him.

There is no damn excuse in the world for what she did. Not sure if the poster has kids, but can't imagine any reasonable person, parent or not, not understanding how horrific this can be a kid, not to mention dangerous!

[Sequoia]

30. Remember that little boy in England who was abducted some years back?

And those boys just took him by the hand and led him out and later wasn't the boy's body found on railroad tracks? Thing is, his mom was with him as I recall.

[Arugula Latte]

52. Adam Walsh was the same age as this boy when he was murdered.

This women is out of her mind to do that.

[PVnRT]

15. Whoa, this didn't happen in Florida?

:wtf:

[Guava Jelly]

17. Spare the rod spoil the child

:hide: I am kidding..

[AlCzervik]

18. what the hell was trying to teach him, that some people shouldn't have children?

[Javaman]

25. I suspect there is a whooooooole lot more to this story

than it just being a matter of "teaching a 6 year old a lesson".

This woman is full of shit.

The real question is: what was she doing while the kid was left at the mall?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. Leave a child alone in a mall in the evening?

When was she planning on coming back to get him? The next morning? :eyes:

I've seen kids older than that absolutely freak when they get separated from their parents in a crowd. The poor little guy must have been terrified.

[redqueen]

34. Perhaps he was...

On the other hand... who knows what sorts of things he might have already endured... in which case he might be pretty much numb to shit like this.

[Arkansas Granny]

35. That's a chilling thought. I suppose it's quite possible that this is

not the first time she has done something like this. Being a single parent of four myself, I can certainly understand how trying and stressful children can be, but there is absolutely no excuse for this woman's behavior.

[matcom]

42. c'mon people. it isn't like she left him in the Minneapolis Airport Mens Room

with a member of Congress!

[ohiosmith]

44. DUDE!

:rofl:

[matcom]

46. *taps foot*

:evilgrin:

[ohiosmith]

48. widens stance

:evilgrin:

[matcom]

49. got a 'square to spare' big boy?

[ohiosmith]

54. :

[sasquatch]

59. BTW Midlo is having a taco fest

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=7262188&mesg_id=7262188-
:D

[sasquatch]

43. Why didn't she taser him and just get it over with?

:sarcasm:

[KamaAina]

50. I didn't know Britney had a six-year-old!

:evilgrin:

[CreekDog]

58. ha ha! this was bound to be said!

:rofl: