Uproar As Mum Admits To Forgetting Baby At Grocery Store

There has been a lot of uproar on social media after a mother admitted she made a horrible mistake when she forgot her baby in a shopping cart at a grocery store but insists she is a good mother.

Daily Mail reports:

Cherish Peterson, 27 from Gilbert, Arizona said she was rushing around a Fry’s grocery store on Monday trying to buy her nephew candy for his birthday when she became absent-minded. The mom-of-four says she had three of her four young children with her and she completely forgot that her two-month-old boy Huxton was in the shopping cart when she left it at the front of the shopping mall. ‘I’m a good mom who made a horrible mistake,’ she told CBS 5 in a tearful interview.

Gilbert police initially said no charges would be filed but have since lodged a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment to the town prosecutor.  

In an emotional interview Peterson said: ‘I got into my car, and normally i put my cart away but I didn’t need to because i parked at the front of the store and  never park there and I drove away.’

Back in the store a Phoenix police officer spotted the baby in the cart and took him to a nearby Supercuts salon while they searched for his parents. He was not injured and showed no signs of distress, said police.

 Peterson’s actions ignited a firestorm on social media, with some people claiming she was probably a ‘bad mom who must have been drunk.’

The hashtag #IStandWithCherish also began trending on Twitter with tweets from moms who pledged their support for her. A Facebook page defending her has also sprang up.

Peterson said that when she got home she ‘quickly’ realized what she’d done. She told CBS 5: ‘As I was pulling into the garage, my three-year-old goes, “Where’s baby Huxton?” His car seat is right behind me. I turned around and realized it was gone.’

She claims that she headed back to the store within 40 minutes of leaving Huxton behind and not two hours, like one witness claimed. ‘It was still a long time,’ Peterson admits. ‘It was still 40 minutes. It was not two hours and I never took my other kids out of the car, so it wasn’t like I knew I left him. I thought the whole time he was in my car. There is nothing I love more in this world than being a mom and there is no one in this world who could love my kids more than me.’

However, the witness told CBS 5: ‘I mean, it was like two hours. Who leaves their baby for that long?’

Peterson’s husband Nathan Peterson rushed to his wife’s defense. ‘I married the best, in terms of the mother and wife Cherish is to me and our children,’ he said. A mistake was made, and we learned but we’re not perfect. We’re not perfect ut we love our family and we love our children and we are grateful that everything is okay. It’s hard when you can’t shield your beloved wife and family from hateful and judgmental things,’ he added.