Neighbors, police reunite Mom with child who wandered off

Posted on August 29, 2007 in Around the metro, Parenthood by DM

My heart goes out to this mother. This is indeed a very scary situation, even when it doesn’t materialize and you’re simply left pondering what “could have been.”

One night several years ago, when my daughter was about three, I was up late working on the computer in the living room. My daughter had been in bed for several hours, but she came out of her room and - ignoring me when I spoke to her - crossed the living room and walked over to the door that leads out to the driveway. At this time it was summer - the storm door was closed of course, but the interior door was open. She pushed open the storm door and stepped out onto the porch. I followed her and stood on the porch with her and tried to ask her what she was doing, but it was obvious from the way she responded that she was asleep. She had sleep-walked right out the door and onto the porch, and I was really shaken for several nights after that - thinking about how she easily could have wandered off had I not still been up and aware.

Fortunately, she only had a few sleep-walking incidents and seems to have outgrown the tendency. The story reported yesterday makes me wonder if that little girl was really “mentally challenged,” or if she was just sleep-walking. Either way, it’s terrifying.

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