Is this child neglect?

[tammyemily]

I was driving down a steep downhill road coming at around 35mph, all of a sudden I see an umbrella stroller roll from the pavement and down onto a busy main road quite quickly. I thought omg I hope there's not a baby in there as I couldn't see!
A car swerved past and beeped as he was coming up hill and I emergency braked as soon as I saw the pram luckily no one was behind me. I hate to sound awful but the the pram tipped onto its side and I was so glad as I can't imagine what would've happened if it kept going down the road as it is quite busy and I would've tried to catch up to it. When I saw it tip over onto the road and saw a child in there I swear I could've been sick, I felt ill all day after happened.

It was only when the child started screaming after the pram tipped over the mother came running out from the pavement where the shop was. I felt physically sick like I was going to throw up, I don't know if the mum was in the shop and left the child outside in the pram or was speaking to someone and had her eyes elsewhere but Id hate to think what could've happened.

I got out and made sure the baby was ok and said to her 'WTF do you think you're doing he could've been killed!' He was okay luckily but this has knocked me for sick and I can't stop thinking about it. I don't have any children myself but if this was my child I would feel like a bad parent.

That sounds terrifying and I'm not surprised you felt sick and shaken up.

You say yourself though you don't actually know what the mum was doing. She could have thought she had the brake on while she chatted to a friend with the pram right by her. So no, I don't think it's necessarily child neglect, just horrible accident. I imagine the mum feels horrific.

Im sure mum feels bad enough without you needing to shout at her.

Unless she was drunk, off her face or similar it was an accident and one she will live with and go over and over for ever.

You have no idea what that mum is coping with, and while no, it shouldn't have happened it was probably a horrendous accident. Thank god no more harm came of it.

It sounds like a mistake to me. I’ve had times when I have forgotten to put the pram break on the pram. Once my pram rolled down the drive into the road. I obviously was distraught and felt awful but it was a mistake. What did the mum say?? I wouldn’t automatically assume it’s child neglect.

that is a terrible thing to happen
but to jump with with the neglect comment is unnecessary.

She probably didn’t put the break on properly, it doesn’t sound like neglect just an awful accident.

Luckily the majority of parents don't purposefully push their babies prams down steep hills. It's very easy to forget the brake when you have a million things on your mind. The mother is probably beside herself thinking about how this could have turned out.

Once the child was ok you should have asked the mother if she was ok rather than swearing at her.

Absolutely terrifying but your reaction is really weird. If I saw that (and baby was all okay) I’d be making mum a cuppa and reassuring her. My first thought would be what a awful near miss accident that could have happened to many of us whilst a bit sleep deprived and thinking we had the brake on. I wouldn’t shout at her or assume neglect.

What a scary thing to happen! But your reaction to swear at the mum was awful. I'm surprised you would jump to the conclusion of neglect, it's very easy to forget the brake or not put it on properly.

I think you are overreacting massively. Unfortunately, sometimes the brakes on prams go and they move. She could have had an accident. I once twisted my ankle and fell while walking down a steep hill with my youngest in the pushchair. I managed to hold on to the handle as I went down, broke two fingers and sheered a good chunk of skin off my hand as I got dragged down the hill in the gravel. I managed to keep ahold of him, but I have lasting damage to my hand even years later.

Unless the mum was falling over drunk or pushed the baby into traffic on purpose, this isn’t neglect. If someone had shouted at my after my baby accidentally fell onto the road, I might have punched them in the face.