http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6493045%5E13762,00.html
Gotta wonder what the fuck was this bitch was thinking.
Maybe she thought washing machines double as bathing machines?
She needs her tubes tied so something like this doesn’t happen again.
Just a thought… has anyone ever actually known someone who has pulled some sort of ridiculous stunt like this to ask them WHY in the hell they’d override common sense/decency/everything else humans are supposed to stand for to DO it? I’m just curious as to what their rationale would be. I mean, in this instance, the woman was in public for God’s sake. Surely she didn’t think the bystanders were just going to go “ho hum, wouldja look at that… pass me the soap” and then turn away. What logical outcome could there possibly be other than serious negative consequences? Gah, I just don’t get it.
And the bizarre thing was, IMHO, she put the child in one washer, and then took her out and put her in another one! You’d think that in the process she might step back and say, “What the hell am I doing?” but no, apparently not.
Grrr.
I’d wait for more info, folks. The article was not what you’d call full of good data. It did say the washer she put her kid in locked and started automatically, and that mom was unable to get her out.
Could be she was just playing, you know? Whee, into the washer, all dirty! Out of the washer all clean! People do that with their kids just for fun, with sometimes unintended consequences.
I’m with Qadgop – it wasn’t clear from the article that Mom intended for the washer to turn on. If that’s the case, I’d still book her for criminal stupidity.
At least she didn’t make a clean getaway.
::d&r::
I’d never do something like this for fun, and i hope I don’t know anybody that does. I understand what you’re saying, but a person who sticks a child in any sort of mechanical machinery, which doesn’t have the capacity to say “whoa, I’m killing this child, I’d better shut myself off”, is a moron.
Jeez, doesn’t anybody play baseball anymore?
You don’t know anyone who’s done something for fun that turned out to be real stupid?
Hey, mom had probably been pulling this successfully before, and maybe had it done to her as a kid. She might never have encountered a washer that turns on automatically and won’t open up until it is done.
Stupid? Yes. Criminal? Not by the evidence presented so far. Purely human sort of thing to do? I think so.
Talk about chlorinating your own gene pool.
Dammit Qadgop - why do you have to be so reasonable? People come to the Pit to bitch and insult other people for their stupidity, not to consider the facts of what may or may not have happened! If people did that, then they might actually…gasp…fight ignorance!!!
Note: this was not intended as a slam against anyone here or in other threads. I read the article, and I was all riled up and upset about it, and ready to condemn the woman as being a stupid, child-abusing idiot…I am not so eloquent with the insults as some people here. But then I read Qadgop’s post, and dammit but it made sense!
off to find something else to be angry about…
So, no one could pull the plug on the machine and open the door?
I can see putting the child in the washer and then taking her out as playing a game. When the mother shut the door it crossed the line from playful to stupid and dangerous. The woman is 35 according to the article, she should have known better.
My WAG was the mom had some sort of mental defect. But QtM’s is just as possible.
I think Quadrop’s Hypothesis is correct. After all, if she was purposefully trying to wash her baby, why would she try to get it out?
I’m thinking it went something like this: the mother plays the ooh-washing-machine game with the kid. Thinking she’d be able to open the door, she decided to be cute and close it behind the baby, just for laughs. But oops! The machine is on! And it’s filling with water! Somebody help me! My bay-beeeeeeee!
If this is how it went down, then there’s one question: why would she put the baby in a washing machine that had money it and was rearin to go? What kind of washing machine in a coin laundry doesn’t need money to start? That seems kinda dangerous in an environment where children toddle around.
I’ve run into machines at the laundry that were paid and nobody was around. It doesn’t happen as often as one would like of course, but I’ve seen it happen once or twice, same with dryers. (Though the later is more understandable)
I’ll also have to agree with QtM.
I remember, when I was about 3, when my mother announced that she was going to go to laundry, I’d run to the laundry room and hide in the dryer. Mom would arrive, pretend not to see me, and start loading (dry) clothes into the dryer until I eventually burst out in a fit of giggles.
I could see something like that going wrong. Actually putting your child into a washing machine sounds a little bit weird, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the details weren’t presented correctly and the child climbed into the machine herself, or even if the child just asked if she could sit in the machine. The article makes it out to look like an against-the-child’s-will evil thing.
“And the bizarre thing was, IMHO, she put the child in one washer, and then took her out and put her in another one!”
–Yeah. I mean, you put the kid in the dryer afterward; otherwise, you’re just wasting your quarters.
My sister & I used to play “astronaut training” in the dryers at the laundromat, but we were around 10 at the time. I can’t understand a parent doing this. especially a washing machine.
It takes washing your kids’ mouth out with soap to a whole new level!