Admit it: This could have happened to you.

"Woman who left preschool sons in car not charged:"

A Duluth woman who left her two young children in a parked car while temperatures were well below zero won’t be charged with child endangerment, authorities said.

Police said the woman left a 14-month-old boy and a 3-year-old boy in the car for about a half-hour Saturday after the vehicle wouldn’t start. The outside temperature was about 20 degrees below zero, and the youngest boy had early signs of frostbite on his finger tips when he was treated later at a hospital.

The children were taken from their mother, then returned Sunday, Deputy Police Chief John Beyer said.

"Was it potentially some poor parenting? Probably,” he said. "But she was distracted and once she noticed something was wrong she brought them in and sought medical attention. If this had happened two weeks ago when it was 32 above it would have been a non-issue.”

Based on the information available in the news stories, it’s not impossible to imagine something like this happening to my family.

Are my kids always well-dressed for the cold?  Usually, but it’s happened before that one kid or another has shed gloves or coat on his way out the door, and I haven’t noticed.  And since I expect my car to be warm and I expect it to be warm where I’m going, at times I have dressed my kids for those expectations.  Not for the possibility of the car failing.

Might my car fail to start?  It has before.  Kids leave the lights on sometimes.  Or the door doesn’t shut.

Might I forget my cell phone?  You bet.  Just yesterday it died on me when I forgot to charge it.

Might I, then, find myself in a cold, non-starting car with my children under-dressed for the cold weather outside and no way to call for help?  It’s possible.  Since the article doesn’t say where the car was, she might not have been visible to other drivers.

Might I, then, have to leave the car to get help?  Yes.

And might I decide that the children were safer in the car, sheltered at least from the wind, than walking with me outside?  Yes.

So yes, it could happen.

Moral to the story:  one obvious (hint:  Boy Scout Motto), one not so obvious (hint:  Matthew, chapter 7).