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Ok , my mistake..Now , " She thought she had dropped the child off " I still don't get it , unless your a total no mind how can you THINK you dropped your baby off somewhere ? I'm sorry I still can't wrap my mind around the though of being THAT distracted that you dont know what you did with your baby..

I still don't get it , unless your a total no mind how can you THINK you dropped your baby off somewhere ? I'm sorry I still can't wrap my mind around the though of being THAT distracted that you dont know what you did with your baby..

I think it is mainly force of habit. I've never left my babies in a car, but I have gotten on the highway towards school when I meant to go to the grocery store. I've never actually driven completely to the wrong place before realizing my mistake, but I imagine some people have.

My children were with me nearly 24/7 for the first 5 years of each of their lives. Very occasionally, I would be at the store without them. Several times, I whirled around in a panic searching for my boys only to remember that they were home with dad. I didn't really forget what I had done with them, but for a few moments I assumed they were with me because that was the normal state of things.

Fair enough. It is hard to comprehend. I'd like to think I would never do that. But there have been times when my baby falls asleep in the car and is so quiet I forget he is there. In my situation, I'm a stay-at-home mom. Sometimes, I take my baby with me during the day to go shopping. Other times, I wait until the weekend so I can leave him with my husband while I shop. Now that my older kids are home for the summer, I often let my 14-year-old keep an eye on him while I run errands. My point is, my routine varies. So let's say I have a couple of errands to run and along the way the baby falls asleep. If your baby is asleep, you're not interacting with him. And, let's face it, if he isn't babbling you probably aren't talking to him. I can see how a mom's mind would wander to thinking about other tasks -- maybe turn on the radio, etc.

As for this woman, I don't know her situation. I'm just saying it is plausible. Maybe, it was ususally her husband who took the baby to child care and she forgot because it wasn't normally part of her morning. Maybe the baby was up all night and she was so sleep-deprived she just spaced out. Maybe she's suffering from post-partum depression and just isn't functioning in her right mind. I don't know! Have you ever missed a turn on a route you take routinely? I've done that a few times. I go to the same grocery store every week. But there have been a couple of times when I've taken the wrong freeway exit, even though I've done that trip countless times. We just don't know what was going on in her head.

There is one thing I'll grant you, though. Had this been the driver of a day care center bus, rather than the parent, I would have no other explanation for the driver's actions but carelessness.