A 4-year-old girl was left behind at a Tel Aviv airport recently as her mom, dad and four siblings rushed to catch a plane to Paris. The family had something like 18 suitcases, was rushing around and reportedly didn’t realize the girl was missing till they were informed by the pilot about an hour later. The girl was found safe and all is well again. Well, except the parents may now be charged with negligence. (For a Home Alone reference, see “How not to leave your child at the airport.”)
I could be horrified and judgmental and say stuff like “How could they?” But I won’t. I can’t even pretend to know what their lives are like. Although I come from a big family, it’s unfathomable to me how I could manage a household of five kids when having one is such a huge deal, and extremely chaotic. And I certainly can’t imagine what “going on holiday” would be like with all those people. Still, I hope those parents don’t get too much grief; they’re probably overjoyed their child is safe but overwhelmed by all the negative publicity their mistake has brought.
