There's No Way This Punishment Fit the Crime

By Alicia Dorr in News on Dec 19, 2007 7:25PM

At first glance, we thought the story of the mom who left her kid in the mall to "teach him a lesson" was a classic case of parents misunderstanding what punishment is — like when a kid is sent to his room full of video games, TV and other toys for a time out. That was before we realized that she actually left the mall, and that the child was just 6 years old.

Ernestine Willer of Willow Springs left her small son to fend for himself just a couple of hours before closing at the crowded Chicago Ridge Mall. The boy was found in the food court, and was able to tell police how to get a hold of his jerk mother. They searched the mall for her with the child for an hour before calling her. When she came back to pick him up, police charged her with endangering the life of a child. Thankfully nothing happened to him, or a misdemeanor would have been the least of her problems.

Image from our favorite way to kill an afternoon, someecards.