Four-month old Gabrielle Znomist giggled, cried, smiled, ate and slept during a five-hour outing with her mom at Branched Oak Lake near Lincoln on June 13.

She also got sunburned. Very sunburned.

Little Gabrielle’s face blistered up terribly later that evening and the next day was admitted to the hospital with second-degree burns on her face.

She spent four days in the hospital.

I can only imagine how awful baby Gabrielle looked when she arrived at the hospital. I can almost hear her shrieks of pain from her burnt chubby cheeks. No matter how or why it happened, there was no doubt her mother, Crystal Znomist, made a terrible mistake allowing her daughter to get sunburned that badly.

But was it child abuse? The Lancaster County Sheriff’s office thought so and charged Crystal with child abuse by neglect. Read more about that here.

This is not the first time a parent has been investigated by authorities for their child’s sunburn.

Two years ago, a father from Kentucky was charged with first-degree criminal abuse when he didn’t put sunscreen on his 2-year old son who ended up with golf ball-sized welts from the 90 degree heat. A mom in Sussex, England may be charged soon with neglect after she got a little drunk a few months ago at the beach and did not keep her 5-month old son covered up enough to keep the sun from beating down on him.

Both of these children received second-degree burns from the sun, much like baby Gabrielle.

However, unlike these other parents, Gabrielle’s mom tried to prevent her sunburn by putting sunscreen on her. Twice.

Also, June 13 was not a particularly hot or sunny day. The National Weather Service reported the high in Lincoln was only 76 degrees and there were likely some clouds in the sky since it rained nearly 2 inches that day.

Not a typical recipe for severe sunburn.

Regardless, it’s clear that Crystal Znomist made a very bad error in judgment. Doctors typically recommend that children under 6 months not use sunscreen or be out in the sun for any extended period without protective clothing (hat, pants, long-sleeve shirt, etc.). Maybe this mom didn’t know that. Maybe she thought the moderate temperature would not burn her daughter. Maybe there are other facts about that day I don’t know which contributed to this poor little girl’s suffering.

Still, this could happen to any parent. We aren’t always going to realize the dangers and know what to do to keep our kids safe.

We are going to make mistakes.

Crystal Znomist thought she was protecting her precious baby from the sun and ended up being horribly wrong. She made a mistake and for that deserves harsh criticism.

What she doesn’t deserve is to be charged with child abuse.

Al Watts is the vice-president of Daddyshome, Inc. – The National At-Home Dad Network and an at-home dad of four children living in west Omaha.

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