Mom: right or wrong?

Motherhood is all about choices--beginning with the choice to become a mom.

And the choices keep on coming.

We've all heard horror stories about parents--moms and dads--who left their toddlers in the car. Often times, the parent somehow forgot the toddler--until too late.

A mom is going on trial for deliberately leaving her 2-year-old daughter in the car.

According to news reports, last December 8, Treffly Coyne, 36, took her two older daughters and a friend to put money they had collected in a Salvation Army Kettle. Her 2-year-old was asleep in her carseat. Rather than taking her daughter out of the car and into sleeting weather, Coyne pulled up in front of the store, turned on her emergency lights, locked the car, activated the alarm--and then walked the other girls over to donate the money. Coyne said she could see her car--and her daughter at all times.

After taking a couple of pictures of the girls, Coyne returned to her car, where she was confronted by a community service officer. Although Coyne explained that she never went into the store, she said the officer refused to listen. Ultimately, Coyne was handcuffed and arrested. She faces misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and obstructing a peace officer. If convicted, she could be sentenced to a year in jail and fined $2,500, even though child welfare workers found no credible evidence of abuse or neglect.

Did Coyne make the right or wrong choice? Some would say police over-reacted. Others would say the mom never should have left her toddler in the car--for any length of time.

I think it's all been blown out of proportion and should have never gotten to the courts ... I certainly don't think Coyne is a criminal. Maybe she would do things differently if she had it to do over again. But I think her choice was to protect her youngest child from the bad weather while letting her older daughters have fun donating money to the Salvation Army. Maybe she should have waited until another night, when the weather was better.

But hindsite is always 20-20.

I'll be taking Friday off while I'm speaking at the Hearts at Home Conference. See you Monday!