Real Moms Confess: "I Accidentally Left My Kid"

By Charlotte Hilton Andersen, REDBOOK

Finally! Victoria Beckham and I have something in common (you know, besides the three-boys-and-a-baby-girl thing). The Posh designer and new mom admitted recently that she drove halfway to her son's school to drop him off before realizing said he wasn't in the car. She had remembered the baby, her iPod, and that there was school that day... but she'd forgotten the schoolboy himself.

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Oh, Vickie, I have so totally done that! Thanks to a miscommunication between my husband and I about who was taking the kids home from the gym, our second got left there. Fortunately we figured out our error... when the gym manager called and put our son on the phone.

I'm not proud, but I am relieved that I'm not the only mom who's accidentally left a kid somewhere. Whether you have or you haven't, these stories are pretty funny. (It's okay to laugh now, right?):

1.
"I dropped both boys off at school earlier this year only to find out my kindergartner didn't have school that day. My cell was vibrating the entire time I was at Target-but I did not recognize the caller ID and ignored. When I finally got the message, it was time for his 1/2 school day to be over. Yep." -Stacey

2.
"I locked one in the car at the gas station. I had to leave her in the car while a worker drove me home to get a spare key to open it. (Another worker stayed right outside the car by my daughter.) I was pregnant at the time so I blame it all on that!" -Nicole

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3. "We drove separately to the gym one morning. I left early to go run errands, and we agreed to meet at Target to swap kids. When he got there, we discovered he'd left our ten-year-old at the gym. He thought she left early with me, but she wanted to stay and I forgot to tell him. Oops!" -Michelle

4. "I almost left my new baby in the car overnight. Luckily a neighbor noticed me and asked where my baby was (she had seen me leave with the baby). I was so tired and she had been so quiet that I just plumb forgot." -Lizzy

5. "And this is why I peek into cars when I walk through parking lots-to look for kids locked inside!" -Michelle

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6. "I wanted to take my son to the dog park. When I got there I asked my extremely quiet son to hand me the dog leash. To my astonishment he didn't answer. I turned around to see his booster seat empty. Thank God his father was home so I called and he was fine. Good thing I didn't forget my dog...." -Taylor

7.
"At church. ALL the time!" -Justine

8.
"I once lost my youngest inside the house. After an extensive search of my home and the surrounding areas (assuming he'd gotten loose) and yelling for him the entire time, I finally returned to his bedroom and found him buried under a pile of blankets and stuffed animals, fast asleep." -Kerri

9.
"I am an amazing parent, so of course I would never do anything like that. You should, however, ask my mom if she ever left her only daughter at a McDonald's on the interstate in Indiana." -Megan

10. "I just knew Megan would not pass up a chance to rub salt in the wound yet again! And it wasn't just me who forgot her. It was her dad and her four brothers too. Just sayin'!" - Megan's Mom

Have you ever accidentally left a child somewhere?

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