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Sitting in jail and having to think about it there.spclk said:What worse punishment could there possibly be than living with the knowledge that your careless decision led to your only childs death?
so we just sideline anyone who has a careless decision that results in the death of an innocent person , or child, because they didnt mean for it to happen?spclk said:What worse punishment could there possibly be than living with the knowledge that your careless decision led to your only childs death?
If that was the case I could not imagine what things would be like.j2mirish said:so we just sideline anyone who has a careless decision that results in the death of an innocent person , or child, because they didnt mean for it to happen?
spclk said:What worse punishment could there possibly be than living with the knowledge that your careless decision led to your only childs death?
Mellen said:Yes, this is what bothered me the most. It wasn't even his own shift. He definitely should have told the friend no. I can't see any way to simply exonerate this man.
Where I can sympathize is with the horrendous difficulties with finding and affording daycare. I'm in a two-income family, and we still couldn't afford to put our daughter in regular daycare. Luckily, we have a family friend that only charges $5 an hour, and even so, I am lucky enough to be able to work from home 2 days a week or it would still probably be too much. I agree that this man should put his son over his job, but I also think it is insane that people are saying that it would be in the better interest of the child for him to be on welfare and staying home rather than working. It seems to me that there is something really out of whack in our society if parents are better off living off of the tax dollars of others than trying to pull their own weight through working simply because child care is so insanely expensive and hard to find.
You are right about the information we have on this case. It isn't clear that funding was an issue and we don't truly know how intensively this man looked for daycare or sitters. That's why I think the child endangerment charges are appropriate. Let the court decide whether or not he had exhausted all efforts and let the appropriate mercy or punishment prevail.Jeana (DP) said:Aid to Families With Dependent Children provides assistance for people to help with child care costs. We haven't heard (at least I don't think so) that this guy couldn't afford a babysitter. I think what we've heard is that he couldn't "find one." So, I think we may be getting off track. There are plenty of daycares all over the place, so I'm not sure how hard the guy honestly looked for one to watch his boy.
bugs said:Did we ever hear if it was a last minute phone call for the Dad to come in to work? That could have restricted his time to find a sitter. I know it was said he was covering a friend. So, wonder if the friend called or the employer?
bugs said:Did we ever hear if it was a last minute phone call for the Dad to come in to work? That could have restricted his time to find a sitter. I know it was said he was covering a friend. So, wonder if the friend called or the employer?
j2mirish said:either way- he had the perfect reason not to be able to accept the shift- NO ONE to watch his 5 year old
Yea really thats good enough, and if they dont like it, tough! There are other jobs out there.j2mirish said:either way- he had the perfect reason not to be able to accept the shift- NO ONE to watch his 5 year old
That is true, My DH thinks our son is tough as nails and I have to remind him he is only 5.spclk said:You must also remember that he is a dad and they sometimes don't think things through as logically as moms do (no offense dads!). They seem to think that their "boys" should be tough and independent.
spclk said:I certainly agree that he made a very poor decision. However, my point was that if he truly loved his son (and it seems he did), there is no punishment that he can be givien that will be worse than living with what he did. I am not saying he should not be held accountable, but nothing can be done to him that would be worse than living with the guilt IMO.
I have been a poor, single parent and luckily I have a wonderful family that always helped. I have never left my daughter (who is 13 now) home alone, but I am not sure what I would have done in this situtation. I truly feel sorry for this dad! You must also remember that he is a dad and they sometimes don't think things through as logically as moms do (no offense dads!). They seem to think that their "boys" should be tough and independent.
Please don't blast me, this is just another way to look at the very sad situation.
bugs said:Great point! I looked back on this thread and I didn't see where any males posted (sorry if I overlooked) but I would love to hear their point of view. We Moms by nature seem to be overprotected of our kids. I know my son can be doing things and I cringe but his Dad is laughing and encouraging him on. Zero fear. I bet the Dad went over and over again what to do, what not to do while he was gone. This is so tough.
Jeana (DP) said:I think one thing we ALL agree on is that we're glad the decision about what to do isn't our's. Do we know what stage they are regarding decision about prosecution, etc?