It takes a lot of courage to admit when you make a mistake, yet mom blogger Jennifer Meer has not only admitted to her mistake, she publicly proclaims, “I almost killed my daughter.”
The mom blogger recently wrote a post on The Huffington Post in which she tells a scary story about a single email that could have killed her daughter. Meer’s husband was traveling for business non-stop for nearly an entire month and Meer says around 6 p.m. that the entire family “seemed to peak at maximum crabbiness.”
On Wednesday night Meer brought her kids upstairs to get them ready for bed. She writes:
“My daughter had an upset stomach for most of the day, but I hadn’t thought much of it. She was otherwise happy and playing and generally herself. I did know that she was very tired. Still, we were a good hour and a half from her usual bedtime of around 8 p.m. I put her in the bath and let it start to fill and left the room to go start the shower for my son. This is something I’ve taken to doing quite often with her. She is coming up on 4 and I am less concerned about leaving her alone in the tub. Plus, the need to get both baths and showers started at the same time feels like a multi-tasking necessity when it’s the end of the day and I’m slogging through it on my own. I love them, but I’m just so tired. I don’t want to rush through their bath and bedtime but I do. Because I just want to collapse on the couch at 8 p.m. and just be with my own thoughts and my own space. Bath time has increasingly become yet another thing to check off the list. And so, I’m more rushed and careless than I should be.”
After putting her 5-year-old in the shower Meer heard the ping of her iPad and checked on an email from her friend. She admits that while she didn’t need to respond at that moment, she did so anyways.
After returning from a two-minute absence Jennifer Meer found her daughter slumped over in the bathub.
Perhaps because of a stomach bug or other sickness the little girl had fallen asleep in the bath. Thankfully for the panicked mom, the little girl fell asleep while sitting up. Meer admits, “But it wouldn’t have been much longer (how much longer, seconds?) before she would’ve slipped under the water. She would’ve drowned. It would have been entirely my fault.”In a fit of panic she screamed and slapped her daughters face, but she wouldn’t wake up. She was breathing so her mom took her out of the tub and carried her to bed. Meer said her daughter then proceeded to take the “world’s weirdest, wettest, shortest power nap ever.”
At 6:30 PM she “woke up refreshed, soaking wet, and ready to play and with zero understanding of the gravity of what almost could’ve happened.”
Jennifer Meer’s post ( which can be read in its entirety here ) has struck a chord with overworked parents who can become easily distracted by today’s technology. From smartphones and tablets to TV and radio, there is no lack of material to distract us, even for a short, potentially deadly moment. Of course, her situation is unique to her living conditions. Raising two children, close in age, while her husband is forced to work out of town can’t be easy.
We have all walked away from our children at one time or another. One of those times, however, should never be when a child is taking a bath or shower. Remember that less than a quarter inch of water can lead to a drowning death.
Jennifer Meer’s “I almost killed my daughter” post is a viral message to parents , a reminder that sometimes we need to simply disconnect and just spend time focused on our children.
Can you relate to Jennifer Meer’s and her experience as an exhausted mom who took her attention away for a brief dangerous moment?
