Britta Eberle, of Vermont lives on a rural property with her husband, one year old daughter Ada and her four year old son Wolfy. The parenting blogger recently shared an unthinkable error with her audience. Britta shared the fact that she forgot her one year old daughter in the car for a whole 20 minutes.

Britta with her husband, Ada and Wolfy

Although she knew she would be judged and accused of being a terrible parent, she felt it crucial that she reach out about the incident.

“Do you see this little girl?” she wrote, sharing a photo of Ada.

“Today I did the unthinkable and forgot about her in the car. Here’s how it happened: our family arrived at a friend’s house and in our excitement we all darted out, assuming that someone else had remembered to grab the youngest member of our clan.

“But no one remembered her. And she sat for about 20 minutes crying alone before one of us grabbed her. It was such a small mistake but it could have had devastating consequences.

“Thank god we were parked in a safe place, thank god it wasn’t hot outside. Thank god she wasn’t alone for long, thank god she has already forgotten about it and forgiven us.

“But it will be a long time before I forgive myself.

“I usually think I’m a good mom. But I made a huge mistake today and I feel terrible. There are no excuses for what I did. And part of me doesn’t want to share this. I don’t want the world to know how badly I’ve failed.

“But then I think that I have to share this. I have to own up to my mistakes. I have to tell the world how far I am from perfect. And how if I did this, anyone could do this. And that scares me but also makes me judge a little less and makes me pay attention a whole lot more.

“Tonight I snuggled my baby girl to bed. I read her a story, turned out the light, and stayed beside her listening to her breath got deeper and slower as she fell asleep. And felt so incredibly lucky. We are always so much closer to the edge than any of us realise.

“Hug your babies tight and practice forgiveness. Forgive those that make mistakes, even if the person who you need to forgive is yourself.”

Ada and Elmo. Image @thisismotherhood

Britta’s writing amalgamates all her struggles. It is these very struggles that mums all over can relate to. She blogs about her battles with depression, her work, and life after miscarriage.

She has been blogging since 2014 and has many supportive readers, although in this incident, some of her readers failed to relate.

“Seriously I have five kids all over 10 now,” Penny wrote. “I have never forgotten them. I am also the betting type, and I am betting she didn’t forget her phone. Mom shouldn’t leave the task to someone else to get the smallest kid out of the car unless she asks them to grab her, or if they have verbally stated ‘I am getting her’. You are adult. It is not your other kids’ place to get her out… Put your phone back there with her.”

“Forget it…I don’t forget my DOGS in the car…you are her MOTHER….ridiculous that you would be so “excited” to see your friends that you forgot this sweet child. Get your act together and start acting like a RESPONSIBLE adult…not some air head teeny bopper,” Mary commented.

The mother-of-two eventually responded, “This is exactly why I shared this story. Until today I was one of those people who thought they would never make a mistake like that.”

Following the many, negative comments were hundreds of stories of comfort, such as this one by Amanda:

“Oh my goodness, I teared up a bit just reading this because my heart could feel exactly how yours must have felt.

“Parenting has so many close calls and they are terrifying.”

Have you ever been in a similar situation with one of your children? How did you overcome it?