The 2 year old who lived alone for 19 days!

[pupuce]

Did you read this story ? Amazing how a 2 year old can have such resources....

Pupuce, it's awful whichever story is right isn't it?

From some other sources on the same story, apparently she wasn't toilet-trained, as she had apparently gone all over the apartment. They also found a can of corn, which she had tried to open up and ripped the paper off, but she didn't know how to open the can. Also, it is unclear now how she was able to stay hydrated, as she was too small to reach the water faucets. Does break your heart, doesn't it?

OMG what a sad sad story the poor little mite, how will this affect her when she is older and understands what happened,it breaks my heart reading stories of this sort.

I think the little girls resourcefulness had more to do with the kind of life she must have had rather than being advanced or anything.

Poor girl, with that monster as a mother she must have had to become street smart at a ridiculously young age!

Saying that my dtwins' can open cupboards when dh forgets to click the lock properly! I don't know if they would know what was food, their motivation is more clattering saucepans.

I hope that tot gets a good loving home, the type every child deserves.

Seems that the father was looking for his daughter, but couldn't find her. I don't know how you shorten the link, but here it is:

www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/100103/met_13671303.shtml

What a sad and terrible story. Thank God the little girl is ok.

The mother needs shooting.

Maybe this is actually a happy story. At least that child will now be rescued from her awful mother and given a chance of a real childhood. Agree with the Paula Yates comparison. I remember reading that Tiger was practised at getting a chair out to open the door because her mother was so often out of it. I think children can be amazingly self sufficient if they are forced to me. Obviously do not think this is a good thing. Maybe I misjudged the father, if he really was trying very hard to find her.

Aloha, if you can open the link I sent, it has a picture of the father who looks like a big teddy bear. The story says that the father can't stop crying when he thinks of his baby girl fending for herself. Also says that the little mite has been eating everything in sight, poor little thing.

Stories like this make me feel physically sick. It is absolutely heartbreaking. I hope that woman is never allowed to have another child.

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I guess I might have been a little hard on the father...but I just don't get it, couldn't he see that she was not caring for her daugter well enough before she was sent to jail? As Paula said, the reason she survived is almost what she was "used" to doing...anyway, touchy subject. I am so glad this little one is physically alright.

Fathers don't always have the rights that they should. Many here have heard the stories of my dh and his evil ex. She is clearly not caring for his children, but we are told that until she actually abuses them, the courts would not give my dh custody. He sees his children every two weeks (2 hour drive to their house) and only has access to them in between by telephone calls to their mother's mobile (no land line). If she chooses not to answer (often happens), he has no way to reach his children. She once denied him any contact for 6 months...we spent £6000 on legal fees before he could even talk to them on the phone. If she got arrested, it could be days and possibly over a week before we found out.

what a vile woman poor girl

It's a truly shocking story, and thank God the little girl is OK. I do find all the talk about shooting / forced sterilisation a bit shocking though. Maybe the mother is just heartless, but surely much more likely that she is bordering on mental illness/ diminished responsibility. I mean, it's not a 'normal' act, is it? Is the girl on any sort of child protection register, I wonder? While I am horrified at the thought of the girl's plight, and it could have had such a tragic ending, I feel really uncomfortable with such responses (I'll run & take cover now)

I couldn't believe this story either when I heard it last night. From my understanding the mother didn't tell the police she had a dependent child - and what they actually said was that they couldn't ask everyone they arrested if this was the case - ie the mother should have volunteered the info. Then she told the father that the girl was being looked after by neighbours.

I'm impressed by her resourcfulness but can also appreciate the sad aspect of it being a necessary part of her life. My DS is two and could turn on the TV (but not select a channel) and run a video (but not rewind). So if the TV is left on the video channel he can watch a video once. He has once put something in the fridge (high level) by getting a chair and opening the door. He is toilet trained but does need some supervision (flush the toiler, wipe his bottom etc) and I'm sure under any circumstances other than constant, caring supervision he would revert.

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Sb34, that's what struck me last night watching the news. That girl was clearly used to being left on her own while her mother went out doing whatever. She was arrested for theft and violence while the child was at home. The father (who was shown on the news last night) did seem perfectly decent and has custody. I hope he can give her a decent home. Also agree with SofiaAmes comments. My dh's ex isn't a neglectful mother but we know that mothers can pretty much do what they want with their kids and deny contact at whim.

Sorry Monkey for being so brutalI don't know if I really meant she should be sterilized or I was just angry that the situation had gone so far. Clearly she is operating at diminished capacity, my thoughts were that if she continued to have sex,she could bring more children into the world that would have to suffer as this one didthat's all I meant. I really am a gentle person, I get ths fighty type of response when it comes to children who cannot stand up for themselves. Try to understand, did not want to offend. (Walking off head dragging, shoulders slumping...) On the news here it said that there was a history of domestic violence between these two and that the last time it was reported, the wife dropped the case against the husband (or partners). That is all I will say about that.

There was an absolutley tragic case in eastern England about 16 years ago, where a US soldier? airman? came back from two weeks exercises in Germany to find his wife and two small children dead. Apparently she had had a heart attack and died, and the two children a boy toddler and a girl baby starved to death. Neighbours heard crying but no one investigated. They were newcomers, and nobody knew them.
That story haunted me for years.

Oh God thats horrible Copper

It struck me that our dd, similar age, in that situation (God forbid) would fill her drink from the toilet bowl first (have caught her doing it for her doll's bottles) but can also reach and put on the taps by standing on the closed toilet. Food wise she could reach the fruit/veg cupboard and store cupboard(tins and packets)but probably not the fridge. She is pretty resourceful and would probably move a stool to reach higher for biscuits etc.

The whole business makes me shudder but there have been similar cases in UK and elsewhere where women have left their kids to go on holiday for example with neighbours supposedly keeping an eye out. It does make you wonder what "normal" life was like for the girl concerned and how much she was used to fending for herself and sadly I don't suppose for a minute that she is an isolated case. Thank God it had a happy outcome in this instance.

The case you mention was the first thing I thought about, Copper, when I read this latest story. It was just the saddest thing ever, the thought of those two babies crying for their mummy to wake up. I used to be on my own for long periods of time with two children and it did worry me about what would happen if I was taken ill or fell down the stairs, or something.

These cases make sobering reading. I have always been on my own with dd during the school holidays etc in a detached house where no-one would hear her crying if anything happened to me. I taught her how to phone 999 when she was about 4 but children younger than that it wouldn't be possible.

Cam, It had never occured to me before to teach my children to ring 999. Another thing that wasn't in the "How to be a Mummy" manual!
Reading this thread has really spooked me and I will be teaching my five year old about 999 this weekend. Thank you.