Mom Arrested for Dropping Nonswimming 5 & 9 Year Olds off at Pool.

Are there actually people who think she shouldn't be arrested, and her kids shouldn't be removed?

My compassion is extended to the abused children, only.

I havent walked a mile in her shoes, but no amount of miles in anyones shoes would make M. drop off two kids by themselves at a pool and with no lifeguard...oh and also pin them down and hit them and leave them at home by themselves. If she's that overwhelmed then she needs to give the kids to someone who can care for them.
She's selfish. she keeps choosing to have more and then doesn;t care for them. she has the option for birth control OR adoption if she doesnt want them

I think everyone is missing a huge point here, she left them unattended, period!

I wouldn't leave a five and nine year old alone in my nice secure home unattended, ya know?

The story is amazing, I can't handle the kids I got so I keep having more, brilliant!

That's sad.

In my teen years, I was a lifeguard every summer at a community pool, and it was actually our purpose to serve as a place where kids could go who weren't supervised. Many parents in the area worked 2 or 3 jobs, and so their kids were left unsupervised most of the summer. As such, we were a safe place for the kids to go and cool off and have fun. BUT, there were multiple lifeguards on duty. None of the kids there had any idea how to swim to begin with (none of these families could have afforded lessons, even though we did offer them every morning), but kids learn to swim like they learn everything else - by practicing. By the end of every summer, these kids were swimming like fish! So, in a situation where there's a lifeguard, I have no problem at all with parents dropping their kids off at the pool.

But in a case like this, where it's just an apartment pool and there was no guarantee of any responsible adult watching over the kids? The police did the right thing in arresting her. Both children could have died, and it's a miracle they didn't.

The woman is obviously overwhelmed and needs help. Don't vilify her. The whole thing is very sad.

ETA 1 -- I'm just saying, don't judge someone until you've walked a mile in her shoes. To call her an "idiot," and say she "doesn't give a sh-t" about her kids is really going too far, IMO. (I know you didn't say that, J. F.)

ETA 2 --- Geez, ladies ... I smell a lynch mob forming ...

Ben, you just a made few large leaps with a couple of negative sterotypes. What does a neglectful parent have to do with welfare, our President, and President Johsnon? Why does using our Presidents middle name make you feel so powerful and morally justified in your rant? The Great Society, New Deal, War on Poverty, have resulted in paying your Medicare and Social Security. How is that not welfare? Are you going to forgo government assisstance that was meant to alleviate poverty? By taking it, do you feel "entitled"? Are you suddenly on a moral slippery slope that no longer requires you to follow protocal, such as child safety measures? I find your logic to be faulty and insulting. I hate that, because you're genrally a likable guy, until you start pontificating on race and class.

Quote from prior answer (note that this poster had some very good points. I am not picking on her personally at all, I just think she has brought up a very good topic of debate on this):
"It's funny how as a society we don't want to provide any resources, safety nets or help to people who are struggling, then we ridicule them for failing when they admit they can't make it on their own. Where would I be without the ability to pay for daycare, extracurricular activities and Grandparents who are actively involved in the lives of my little ones?"
Debate:
Why do people expect "society" or the government to take care of them in the first place? I'd be willing to bet that this woman is already on housing assitance and food stamps.. for arguments sake, lets assume she is. Am I not already doing enough for her then? I work my 40 hours and my tax money goes to pay for her home and her food. Your ability to pay for daycare is not an accident! I am guessing you worked hard for an education and work hard at your job everyday. THAT is why you can afford daycare. Its not dumb luck. If you can me can both work hard for what we have, why is the same not expected from her? Further, I can not think of any social program that prevents parents from making bad decisions like this. Its not like she was dropping them off so she could go to work or something (and thus, in theory, just needs daycare assistance), she dropped them off to hang out at her brothers house for air conditioning. This is poor parenting, not lack of help from society. I am 35. I have a 4 year degree. I have not been unemployed since the age of 15. I have been married 9 years. I have 2 kids and I am not sure if I will have a 3rd because I dont know if we can financially support and live the kind of life we want to live... so I make good decisions each day to support that. This woman does not make good decisions so now I should both feel sorry for her AND financially back her up? I dont think so.

some people shouldn't be parents.

how sad for the kids that they have a mother that doesn't care. I wonder what was more important than staying at the pool....

I am with Jo W on this one.
There is sooo much more here than just leaving the kids at a pool. Which is horribly wrong.
Birth control is free at the local public health department.
The Boys & Girls Clubs has free/low cost programs
The YMCA has free/low cost programs
etc. etc.
But this is a woman who just doesn't give a $hit about her childrens' welfare.
She will be ordered to parenting classes and the children returned to her, and something like this will happen again. Rinse and Repeat.

I like Jo's answer, SHE LEFT THEM ALONE! 5 and 9 is not old enough to be left alone like that. They still depend on us at this age. Overwhelmed or not, there are other options than dropping them off at (of all places) a public pool! Thankful the kids are ok and even more thankful CPS is now involved, maybe these kids will actually get a chance now and hopefully their overwhelmed mother will get some help!

I wonder if she'll learn her lesson...

What an idiot this woman is!

Wow - at the end of the article, it says she admitted to the police that she pins one of the kids down on the floor and hits him. After initially being irritated with the cops at "how long it was taking because she had things to do", she admitted that as a single mom, she had a hard time dealing with the kids.

Sounds to me like she is now realizing that she can't cope with kids and hopes for someone else to take them. How sad that she continued to have children like this.

Shaking my head...

At least social services is involved now.

It is funny that people are mentioning race and welfare status of this woman. Crappy mothers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. It sounds like she just doesn't want to deal with her own children. She SHOULD be charged with child neglect.

That is just awful! How can anyone do something like that?

What? Dropping your non-swimming children off at a pool so you can go somewhere else (why not bring them with you and the babies?) is basically wanting them to be hurt or die. I have no sympathy for her - if her brother could accommodate the infants, why not the bigger kids? It wasn't like she was going to work - and even if she was going to work, they are not old enough to spend the day alone.

I also do not agree with the community pool being a place to drop your kids. Many nights I had to wait at the local library for my mom to get off work if I had a school event, but I was 11 or 12 and the library was 2 blocks from school and I could happily read for an hour or work on the computer. I wasn't going to drown. My mom was a single mom and she managed not to leave us where we would be in danger. It sounds like the mother in this story has a lot going wrong and I hope they took all 4 kids from her care.

if she is over whelmed, you would think she knows what causes her to get pregnant by now and to take precautions for it not to happen again... its hard to have sympathy for someone who was more worried about keeping cool then her children's lives..

Thank you for this! I am about to host a pool party for my son's birthday. Very good to know.

I think she is mentally unstable.

No, Ben, you need to thank the elected officials who have employed you MOST of your adult working life. Why is it that people who work for and are supported by the government are the ones that complain the loudest?
New Deal or Comfy Govt job? Same thing.

Oh as for the mom? Can't fix stoooopit! Thank God for CPs!

Thank goodness that the 9y had help there when he needed it. Hopefully CPS can place them together in a new environment that will be more beneficial.

Babies having babies who's parents did not parent them. I feel for all invovled. Let us Pray!

This is definitely about more than "simply" a mother dropping off two of her children at a pool unsupervised and one of the children nearly drowning within an hour of being dropped off. This is a story about an overwhelmed mother who abuses and neglects her children per her and her childrens' questioning.

This could happen to children in a home with married parents. The article doesn't say how or why this mother is single, only that she is. She could have been widowed for all we know. Her life could have started out roses and rainbows and then took a turn for the worse with her husband ditching her for a younger woman, her best friend, or she left him because he was abusive scum. The fact that she's a single mom doesn't mean she's all alone in her parenting, either. There could be a father out there who doesn't know what she's doing. So many assumptions being made about how these children came into existence, and they're all stereotypical welfare assumptions.

So sad for these little children and also for the mother who is overwhelmed and shouldn't be raising kids. It's a huge job being a parent even with everything you need to keep you cool, having help from a husband, etc., etc. I hope the kids recover and are put in good homes but it won't be the end of it for any of them. So sad.