Bad Mom Moments

We all have them, right? RIGHT? Ok. Glad I am not alone in this. I always try to cut other moms as much slack as I can because we do a very hard job. Sometimes we get caught in a bad moment that does not come close to resembling the great work we do overall. But today...

Zella and I left school to head over to the Shoe Carnival at the Belle Isle shopping center to return some shoes. As I got out of my car I look over and see a car running with the windows down and three kids under the age of 5 all alone. No adult in sight. I cannot in good conscience leave these kiddos. I walk over and ask the oldest, "Do you know where your Mommy is?" and she says "that store" and points to Old Navy. I am having a seriously difficult internal debate about whether or not I should call the police.

A group of three ladies (one pregnant) obviously out shopping on their break from work come walking back to their car and I ask if they are willing to stand by the car and watch the kids while I go into Old Navy. They agree and I run into the store. I ask the cashier to do an all store call and explain the situation. He says they cant do all store announcements but will try something. He then continues to check out a customer. At this point I am fishing for my phone to call the police, it is obvious this clerk is not in a hurry. As I am feeling around for the phone in the dark depths of my purse a younger woman rushes by me after checking out at a different register.

I get a feeling about this lady and watch her walk towards the car with the kids. I yell after her, "are those your kids?" and she says yes. "You were about 10 seconds from having the cops called on you" was my witty response. She drove away and I did nothing but stare her down. The other ladies said she told them she had left her wallet in the store- big fat lie!

So, I am now wondering if I gave a good mama a wake up call on a bad day or passed up a chance to get the authorities involved with a family in distress. Yuck! What a morning.