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."
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Yes it does!
Sometimes with greater consequences, sometimes with lesser.
Let he who has never had a brain fart issue the criticisms.
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She left two young children in the car while she was shopping?
Judge should offer her deferred adjudication if she gets her tubes tied.
The cart was near the door.
yes it does but given her story it seems it wasn’t DELIBERATE not like leaving a kid & going into gamble for 8 hrs or other such deviant and irresponsible behavior of scumbag mothers
when I was 3 or 4 I was the child left behind by my parents. it is my first distinct fully formed memery that I have. My parents had 5 children I was second to youngest. My parents had a wedding to go to that was a two hour drive away my grand parents and an aunt was at the house. there were three cars loaded up with kids and relatives. I was left behind because each car thought I was in a different car. the mistake was only discovered a half an hour after getting to the wedding... my parents called a neighbor who discovered me out in front of our house crying because it was locked up and I could not get into the house.........
My Parents are good people some times mistakes happen. I am more concerned about abusive parent then parents that make a mistake like leaving a kid behind. the only fault I can find with the parent is not calling 911 immediately when this happened but this is still not being a bad parent.
And I never took my other kids out of the car,*
She said after she left the store. In other words, her and her other kids were still in the car when she realized the one had been left.
Parents need to be aware of this.....predators stalk dept stores looking for kids....that’s how John Walsh’s son was taken.
His granddad was holding his hand....somehow he got free and within seconds he was gone.....it was a horrible ending for Adam Walsh.
Exactly! People are such a$$holes sometimes. They think everyone is perfect and when they make a mistake, all sh!t hits the fan! Just glad the cop picked up the child. Which is what they are there for.
And not just adult predators. Look at the James Bulger case out of the UK. What a tragedy.
When I was about six years old I was riding the subway with my dad and he inadvertently got off the train one stop early, and the doors closed before I could catch up. No big deal- transit staff were getting ready to get me home when he turned up on the next train.
5. No harm done.
I once left a baby of a couple weeks old in his stroller in the men's shirts area of Target ... just walked off with the other five or six kids, and didn't realize something was missing until we were halfway across the store.
When we got back, a young employee was standing there looking at ... whatever kid ... and wondering what to do. He was relieved to see us!
I got to ride home in a police car, so that was awesome.
After leaving the park, we were both tired and hungry. He went to the back seat of our VW bus, and I drove toward our motel. I had to make a pit stop at a park, and when I got back into the bus, I drove away.
When we got to the motel, I went in to the office to get a newspaper to check movie schedules. We headed to get some food. I had to make a pit stop at a park, and when I got back into the bus, I drove away. BUT, I stopped when I didn't see him on the back seat and panic set in!
I drove back to the rest stop, and no son. I drove back to the motel, and the manager met me in front to tell me my son was in our room already.
Son had gotten out while I was in the office, and walked toward our room. When the boy saw daddy drive away. He started crying and running, but they saw him, and told him to relax.
I got our and huge him soon tight. All the time, I was thinking how I would explain this to Mommy! Fortunately, I was able to take him home with me!!!
Poorly worded sentence. Did it take her 40 minutes before realizing her mistake? Or did she take 40 minutes to get there after realizing her mistake.
I once read that homosexuals organize trips to a popular NYC toy store-—to check out little kids.
We’ve got three and we always did a count-off like we used to in Gym. The kids thought it was great fun.
I once left a baby of a couple weeks old in his stroller in the men’s shirts area of Target ... just walked off with the other five or six kids, and didn’t realize something was missing until we were halfway across the store.
When we got back, a young employee was standing there looking at ... whatever kid ... and wondering what to do. He was relieved to see us!
______________________
Dropped a kid off for play kindergarten and had the 2 year old with me. Got talking to a mom and walked out to the parking lot and drove home. About 20 minutes later I said, where’s Susie and realized I left her at the school. They said they were about to call, I apologized and ran back and picked her up. Embarrassed as all get out. Susie, on the other hand, had a terrific time.
Meanwhile the baby wracked up a fortune buying men’s shirts?
Apparently she lives about 20 minutes away and wasn't frittering her time away on the internet.
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