# RO: So what were you doing while your 13 month old son was alone in the tub drowning to death? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 20, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342 "2011-01-20T16:49:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/1 "2011-01-20T16:49:46Z")
[Officer, I was on Facebook](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/01/19/2011-01-19_mom_faces_nearly_50_years_in_jail_after_baby_drowns_in_bathtub_while_she_plays_o.html). ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/2 "2011-01-20T16:57:25Z")
Meh. I have no love for Facebook. but if she’d been watching Maury or blabbing on her cell phone, we’d never have heard about it… it’s only the “OMG FACEBOOK!” aspect that makes it “newsworthy.” Seems like another story cherry-picked to fit the “evils of technology” media narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/3 "2011-01-20T17:46:10Z")
At the risk of losing my cynical accreditation, I’m the dad of an 11-month old, and this story literally makes my skin crawl. It makes me want to go pick him up from day care and hug him. I know it’s RO, but I want to go puke for a while now. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/4 "2011-01-20T17:50:17Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Meh. I have no love for Facebook. but if she’d been watching Maury or blabbing on her cell phone, we’d never have heard about it… it’s only the “OMG FACEBOOK!” aspect that makes it “newsworthy.” Seems like another story cherry-picked to fit the “evils of technology” media narrative. Bullshit. ANYONE who does anything when an eleven month old is in the tub but watch the child is a fucking idiot. I’d feel the same outrage if the mother had been answering her phone or making a sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/5 "2011-01-20T17:51:00Z")
When I heard about this story, I expected it to be a really young mom, but she’s 34?! Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/6 "2011-01-20T17:56:00Z")
I’m not a mom and have no particular interest in children, and even I know that a kid can’t be left alone in the tub. It takes something like an inch of water for a baby to drown. Well, if she’s in jail for the next 43 years, hopefully she won’t be breeding again. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/7 "2011-01-20T17:57:32Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Bullshit. ANYONE who does anything when an eleven month old is in the tub but watch the child is a fucking idiot. > > I’d feel the same outrage if the mother had been answering her phone or making a sandwich. My point was that your outrage would never have existed, because it wouldn’t have made the news. In case there’s any uncertainty, I’m firmly on the side of not-drowning-kids-in-bathtubs. ---
**Author:** ![badlyburnttoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@badlyburnttoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badlyburnttoast)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/8 "2011-01-20T18:01:37Z")
Didn’t we just have a mom shake her baby to death because he was crying when she wanted to play farmville or something not so long ago? The mom seems pretty stupid to me, I know almost nothing about kids/babies and taking care of them but leaving a 13 month old to take a bath alone (even for just a few min) seems like a really huge OMGWTF could you possibly be thinking?!?! thing, no matter what the reason she did it for. I can’t imagine what would ever make anyone think that was a good idea, ever - I’d be afraid to leave a kid that young in there for even 30 sec to go grab some shampoo or something. I don’t even really like kids and the story makes me kind of mad. What a damn tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/9 "2011-01-20T18:06:33Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > My point was that your outrage would never have existed, because it wouldn’t have made the news. > > In case there’s any uncertainty, I’m firmly on the side of not-drowning-kids-in-bathtubs. {Dons old southern lawyer persona, _a la_ Craig Ferguson} I see; and where WOULD you like to see people drowning kids? {/oslp} ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/10 "2011-01-20T18:16:06Z")
I agree that it’s not about Facebook, it’s about leaving the room. When your one-year-old is in the bathtub, you stay close. And she didn’t just leave for a moment. The affidavit says she was watching videos and playing games. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/11 "2011-01-20T18:21:54Z")
Hell, it used to take me about 15 minutes to get one of my goddaughters out of her onesie and diaper, pop her into the sink if proper temp water, suds her up in the guise of playing with her and rinse her off then pop her into clean diaper and onesie [unless she had been playing in something and gotten really dirty] She couldn’t take 15 minutes to do a bath? Talk about internet addiction - at least in jail she wont have farmville. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/12 "2011-01-20T18:22:16Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > My point was that your outrage would never have existed, because it wouldn’t have made the news. Of course. That’s the whole nature of the RO industry (Fox, HNL, etc.): Find something that otherwise would not make it to news and then fixate in on some aspect that will give talk radio hosts at least an hour of righteous indignation time. It’s a finely honed art of publicity, because, for example, in this case, you have to be able to see that the Facebook angle will tag a good percentage of the righteous indignation audience since there’s still enough of them that either don’t use it or perceive it as part of “the problem with modern society.” If she had been writing an email, it wouldn’t even have been mentioned in the news. Five years from now, the Facebook angle probably wouldn’t appear on the RO radar either–they’ll try to find some other thing, ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/13 "2011-01-20T18:44:49Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > My point was that your outrage would never have existed, because it wouldn’t have made the news. > > In case there’s any uncertainty, I’m firmly on the side of not-drowning-kids-in-bathtubs. Kids drowning in the bath water made it into the news before the internet existed, so your wrong on that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/14 "2011-01-20T18:57:52Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > {Dons old southern lawyer persona, _a la_ Craig Ferguson} I see; and where WOULD you like to see people drowning kids? {/oslp} [Archie Bunker]Would you feel better if they was thrown out of windas?[/Archie Bunker] ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/15 "2011-01-20T19:01:52Z")
I’m always amused when news stories continuously talk about “up to 43 years” in prison, knowing full well that the maximum penalty prescribed by law is rarely implemented, but that all the public will talk about is “WOW! 43 years in prison!” completely missing the “up to” portion But this one goes one further with a rounding up to “nearly 50 years”. Why stop there? 50 is halfway to 100. Can you believe this woman may get almost a century in prison for this? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/16 "2011-01-20T19:02:54Z")
I’m reminded of an episode of “Dragnet”, where Officers Friday and Gannon are called to the home of a couple whose child drowned in the bathtub while they were getting high on _marijuana_ in the living room. I hope this is a lesson to all of you. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/17 "2011-01-20T19:08:26Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’m not a mom and have no particular interest in children, and even I know that a kid can’t be left alone in the tub. It takes something like an inch of water for a baby to drown. Yet another reason why babies, from a design point of view, are crappy. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/18 "2011-01-20T19:14:44Z")
The stupid thing is that one of the articles I read about this said she was on a LAPTOP. It would be easy enough to watch videos and play games while keeping the kid in your line of sight. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/19 "2011-01-20T19:55:47Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I’m reminded of an episode of “Dragnet”, where Officers Friday and Gannon are called to the home of a couple whose child drowned in the bathtub while they were getting high on _marijuana_ in the living room. > > I hope this is a lesson to all of you. I’ve seen this happen. What’s your point? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342/20 "2011-01-20T20:04:39Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Kids drowning in the bath water made it into the news before the internet existed, so your wrong on that. Had I claimed that there had never been a story about a kid drowning in bathwater prior to the invention of the Internet, yes, that would’ve been incorrect. I was referring to the present, which is where I currently reside, and where news stories (especially those which would once have been considered minor, local-interest stories) are considerably more likely to go viral if they involve some pop-culture flashpoint or bugaboo _du jour_. ( **guizot** appears to have understood my point perfectly.) The hand-wringing and rending of garments may now continue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-so-what-were-you-doing-while-your-13-month-old-son-was-alone-in-the-tub-drowning-to-death/568342.md?page=2)