Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mom Who Forgot Her Baby in Shopping Cart Tells Her Story
Tucson News Now ^ | Aug 27, 2015

Posted on 08/30/2015 3:57:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway

The Gilbert mother who forgot her baby in a shopping cart in front of a grocery store this week is breaking her silence.

"I'm a good mom who made a horrible mistake," she says.

In a tearful interview, 27-year-old Cherish Peterson acknowledges she made a terrible mistake while rushing in and out of a Fry's grocery store on Monday to buy some candy for a nephew's birthday.

On that day, Cherish was with three of her four small children when she inadvertently forgot her 2-month-old baby boy in the shopping cart in front of the store.

"I got into my car, and normally I put my cart away," says Peterson. "But I didn't need to because I parked at the front of the store and I never park there. And I drove away."

The baby was spotted almost immediately by an off-duty Phoenix police officer, who took the infant into a nearby Supercuts salon.

Fortunately, the boy was not injured and he is doing fine.

But in the days that followed, Peterson faced a blast of criticism on social media, as people called her a drug addict and a terrible mom.

But Gilbert police say Peterson returned to look for her baby within 40 minutes when she realized her mistake.

"As I was pulling into the garage, my 3-year-old goes, where's baby Huxton?'" Peterson says. "His car seat is right behind me. I turned around and realized it was gone."

"It was still a long time," Peterson admits. "It was still 40 minutes. It was not two hours. And I never took my other kids out of the car, so it wasn't like I knew I left him. I thought the whole time he was in my car."

"I married the best, in terms of the mother and wife Cherish is to me and our children," says her husband Nathan Peterson, coming to his wife's defense. "A mistake was made, and we learned, but we're not perfect. We're not perfect. But we love our family and we love our children and we are grateful that everything is OK."

After initially indicating no charges would be filed against Peterson, Gilbert police have now forwarded a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment to the town prosecutor.

The Petersons contend it was a mistake that they will agonize over the rest of their lives.

"It's hard when you can't shield your beloved wife and family from hateful and judgmental things," says Nathan Peterson.

"There is nothing I love more in this world than being a mom," says Cherish Peterson. "And there is no one in this world who could love my kids more than me."


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: arizona
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

1 posted on 08/30/2015 3:57:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Stuff happens.


2 posted on 08/30/2015 3:59:48 PM PDT by Raycpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Raycpa

"... DAMMIT! YOU NEVER LEAVE A MAN BEHIND!"


3 posted on 08/30/2015 4:00:17 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Slow down and count kids before you drive off. I have 5.


4 posted on 08/30/2015 4:01:06 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3 (Obama is everything Oklahoma is not.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
If you've never had kids then naturally you think this is awful. But, if you've had kids then you know how this can happen.

I left my newborn second child out in the driveway in his carrier on the day we brought him home. I was busy getting my wife, my first child and my 6 year old step-daughter out of vehicles and into the house and settled in.

Wasn't used to having a third child. A bit later I thought: "Something's missing". Then I remembered! There he was snoozing in his carrier sitting on the concrete next to the car. LOL!

He's 20 now and this is a family story we love to tell.

5 posted on 08/30/2015 4:04:27 PM PDT by FReepaholic (Stupidity is not a crime, so you're free to go.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I have six and we always do a head count....wheres..? ok, got em all. Let’s go.


6 posted on 08/30/2015 4:04:27 PM PDT by panzerkamphwageneinz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3

This has happened several times in our area, sometimes with horrible consequences.

I think some people are just very irresponsible and thoughtless (a while back, a Maryland woman left her child in the car while she gambled at a casino for eight hours.) With others, I think the pace of modern life is just so hectic and distracting that otherwise good people become overloaded and make mistakes.

-JT


7 posted on 08/30/2015 4:04:48 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, If you can keep it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

8 posted on 08/30/2015 4:05:02 PM PDT by Dr.Deth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
"I'm a good mom who made a horrible mistake,"

Uh, wrong.
9 posted on 08/30/2015 4:07:06 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
"Peterson returned to look for her baby within 40 minutes..."

40 minutes!? Must have had some important Facebook stuff to do first....

10 posted on 08/30/2015 4:07:43 PM PDT by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3
Slow down and count kids before you drive off. I have 5.

One time, but thankfully only once, we took off in the van and then took the head count. Found we had left 2 of our 9 back at the house.

Conclusion: do the headcount before you pull out.

11 posted on 08/30/2015 4:10:18 PM PDT by Robwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
1. She has three other children.

2. This baby is two months old. She must be exhausted.

3. Along with everything else, she was grocery shopping with all four children. That's not easy.

4. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes.

12 posted on 08/30/2015 4:12:08 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I hate to say it, but this woman was right. I left one of my daughters in a bank once because I was running a Christian day-camp and had gone down to town to buy supplies. My daughter was supposed to be with her age group and go wherever they were going. But at the very last moment, she got in my car, and then when we got to the bank - it turned out to be a long and complicated transaction - she wandered off.

And by the time I left, I had literally forgotten that she had been with me.

The bank called me, of course, and it was extremely embarrassing to come back and get my daughter, particularly since she was having a great time and being fed cookies by the bank staff!


13 posted on 08/30/2015 4:12:29 PM PDT by livius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

If this woman was a known substance abuser or had been known to be abusive or neglectful toward her children, I can see charging her, but one time? No.

The ones to go after are those who leave the kids in a hot car while they go gambling or getting their nails done. Or the ones who go meet their “connection” with the little ones in the car. These are the ones who shouldn’t be allowed near a child.


14 posted on 08/30/2015 4:24:49 PM PDT by fatnotlazy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway; trisham
My sense of it is that this was an honest mistake. One she feels terrible about--- one that could have had potentially tragic repercussions --- but still an honest mistake.

If all parents (even, or especially, good parents) would take a moment and remember back to the worst missteps they made with their kids, oh my goodness, how it all comes rolling back. Literal 2-second slips that wind up with the kid in the hospital --- Ai, ai, ai, don't ask me. It was awful.

Leaving your baby in a grocery cart and getting him back again in just over half an hour, safe and happy, is very much in the "Thank You, Dear Jesus" category.

15 posted on 08/30/2015 4:25:56 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("Justice and judment are the foundation of His throne." - Psalm 89:15)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: livius

I was in Kohl’s department store with my little one. On the way to the men’s pants, he saw some toys.

At the men’s department, I told him to stay close. I looked at the pants for 2 seconds, literally 2 seconds.

He disappeared like a magic trick. I raced around the store looking for him in a panic. I informed the store personnel about it. They posted people near the doors in case it was a kidnapping. They quickly assembled a search party and began to fan out into the store. Suddenly, there he was at my knee height looking at me, just as magically.

Seconds can make all the difference.


16 posted on 08/30/2015 4:26:38 PM PDT by WKTimpco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek

Unless you only have two or less kids, I guarantee you that forgetting a child is going to happen at least once before the child reaches 18.


17 posted on 08/30/2015 4:27:46 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Raycpa

Forget a / YOUR baby in a SHOPPING CART?

and you say... ‘stuff happens’?

Are you serious?

... left in the rear seat is semi- plausible, while inexcusable.

LEFT in a shopping cart?

... MUST mean that person wouldn’t even have the decency to return/place cart in the designated area.


18 posted on 08/30/2015 4:28:02 PM PDT by This_far (AN)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

Whatever.


19 posted on 08/30/2015 4:28:29 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Love that movie.......laugh every time at this scene and when the lone biker of the apocalypse first shows up


20 posted on 08/30/2015 4:31:55 PM PDT by reed13k (w)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson