David Cameron accidentally leaves daughter in pub: your stories It's a common occurence and why all the fuss, sure didn't Joseph and Mary make the same mistake with only one child, Jesus, each thinking he was with the other. Paddy McGarvey I was 8 years old, and my Mother had recently given birth to my brother, who was now about 6 months old. We had gone down to the shopping mall and Mother had just popped in to get something from the Mall with me, leaving my brother in the car (this was Canada in the early '60's, so nothing unusual about this behavior then). Upon exiting from the Mall, where we were longer than expected, we approached the car and my Mother suddenly stopped and exclaimed "oh my goodness, somebody's left a baby in my car! Mother had actually forgotten that she had a second child. Robert Powell-Jones I was once left on a mountain in Spain, when I was about 11 I think. I had gone to sleep next to a stream in a small gully, but my parents thought I had wandered off down the path because I was out of sight, so they strode purposefully after me. Obviously they were unaware that the faster they walked, the further away I was! I awoke to find myself alone on the mountainside, terrified. After some initial tears and panic, I considered that the best option was probably to go down the mountain. I ended up meeting a nice French couple who, with my Year 7 French and their broken English, understood my predicament and they ended up looking after me. A horrible comedy of errors ensued where, due to loo stops for my parents, they managed to lose track of each other as well. Needless to say when we were all re-united at the bottom of the mountain there was a lot of relieved angry shouting at everyone, and then all was forgiven. No real harm done to me because by the time I reached the bottom of the mountain I was actually quite enjoying myself, but I expect they felt awful! Doctorfloyd Nearly 30 years ago when my wife and I had set up (and were extremely preoccupied with) our new business we used to take our baby daughter to work in a carry cot. She was always a good as gold and very quiet such that we could get on with our busy jobs and just attend to her when she was awake. On one occasion, after a very hectic day and thoroughly preoccupied, we left the office and travelled several miles in the car before the awful realisation that our daughter was locked away at work. We drove back frantically and found her fast asleep. There was no harm done, thankfully, but we still feel a bit guilty and slightly irresponsible to this day. Howard Turner As a parent who took his eye off the ball and lost his daughter in a Mall 18 years ago I know exactly how he must have felt. It was a heart-stopping moment that I wouldn't wish on any parent. Thankfully, madam wasn't too far away. While I was looking at school shoes she had wandered into the Disney shop next door to look at Princess Jasmine costumes. A simple failure to communicate that can happen to anyone. Anon My sister dropped our mother off at the GP surgery one morning, went off to do her shopping and then went home. She had completely forgotten poor old mum until they called to find out why my sister hadn't picked her up. Does that make my sister an unfit daughter? Ex-Brit I've left wallets, keys, cellphones, packages, jumpers, bags, shopping, gifts etc. behind but never a nipper. However, I can empathise with the Camerons - two cars, security personnel, a few glasses of vino...and a child in the toilet. Anyone with kids knows they have an uncanny ability to disappear in the blink of an eye. Dr Zeek My mother went one better. She left my brother in his pram outside Woolworths and didn't notice till she got home. Many was the time during our childhood when I regretted that her memory returned. Anne Allen Could happen to anyone! My parents often left one of us behind - there were five of us and even though they 'counted heads' it wasn't difficult to slip away after being counted! I've not left a child anywhere, but I have left a dog in a restaurant in France, returning 10 minutes later to find the owner, with the dog on her lead, very anxiously looking up and down the road and wondering if we had abandonned her! She looked quite relaxed - clearly thinking that if we were going to abandon her, a restaurant was probably the best place.......!! Peta Easily done, apparently I was left in a pram outside a butchers shop for a while. Mother got home and realised she was missing something. Still there when she got back and none the worst for it. The world is no where near as automatically dangerous as the media like to hype it. Cameron's little girl was looked after by other adults, 99.9% of whom are not monsters. James St George My wife once left our one month old son in his car seat on the basket rest of a Tesco checkout, drove half the three mile journey home before realising she was a newborn short. On her return, baby had been amusing staff and customers alike for 10 minutes, no harm done - although they were considering stickering him, as BOGOF. arcturusbrittanicus Its easiest to do when you have been busy and the whole family are together . The relaxation from work and the pleasure of being with the whole family means that you subconsciously transfer responsibility for the children not with you to your spouse. Two cars exacerbates this. I believe the most stressful is leaving a child in the airport departure lounge. homo_sapiens It is less likely to happen to most of us who would have the family all in the same car. However, it could happen where families have two cars and I have known it happen when two families or more go out together and make assumptions about where the children are. There is also an ancient example - in the Bible, where, on the way home from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Joseph and Mary thought Jesus was with friends, only to find that he had been left behind and they rushed back to the city in panic - so, accidentally leaving the kids behind isn't a new phenomenon! However, this time it should not have happened and the security team was at fault, after all, it is their job to keep the PM and his family safe. How trustworthy are they? I hope they are severely reprimanded for it. I'm sure the Camerons have learned a lesson in not leaving absolutely everything up to the security people! rjw23