Authorities in Germany announced Sunday they have arrested a couple and taken their seven-month old baby into custody after they tried to sell the child on eBay for 1Euro or about $1.60, says the AP.
The mother told authorities that it was all a joke, but the German police have decided to investigate into the possibility of child trafficking, which has been on the increase around the world, according to German media reports.
Yeah, sure it was a joke – unless the bids got a lot higher. The couple, from the south German town of Memmingen, offered the boy for sale on their posting because “he has become too loud”.
The good news is that nobody actually bid on the baby. In fact, EBay users tipped off monitors of the popular Internet sale site to the baby-for-sale posting, which was taken down by eBay two-and a-half hours after it was posted. Now the fact that they got no bids could be good news or it could be the fact that nobody in Germany wants babies evidenced by their woeful 1.4 children per couple birthrate.
A German newspaper quoted the woman as saying, “It was only a joke. I just wanted to see if someone would make an offer. They’ve taken my son to hospital and I’ve got to take psychiatric tests next week.”
She has to take psychiatric tests? No!
Speaking of psychiatry, something tells me that kid is going to have some serious issues as he grows up. Not just because his parents tried to sell him. But they tried to sell him for so little money.
May 27, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Do I think they were kidding? You know what, it doesn’t really matter. You’d have to be sick to do something like that.
May 27, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I would pay for someone to take my kids!
May 27, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I am going to use this at home lieu of time-outs.
“Listen mister, if you talk back to me one more time, you are going right on e-bay!”
May 27, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Placing the child with a relative for a while until the obviously immature mother takes some stock of her life might be a good idea.
But…
Psychiatric tests? Scary…
May 28, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Did you see the canadian parents who put their baby on Craigslist?
May 28, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I just saw that a few minutes ago. It’s an epidemic!
May 28, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Would it be considered illegal for me to continue telling my children when they start bickering for the 400th time, “Straighten up or I’m going to call the local orphanage to see if they have room for 5 kids!”?
May 28, 2008 at 5:22 pm
All five? No. You’re going about it all wrong. Divide and conquer. name two of the children worth keeping and relegate the other three to the orphanage. Tell them that you’ll take the three of them in the morning, most likely.
But each day pick a different top two.
This will assuredly keep them on their toes. Unfortunately, this could also ensure massive therapy costs for them as they get older. But the good news is they’re Catholic so they can just go to a priest for free. (And you might have some pretty bad Confessions!)
May 28, 2008 at 8:56 pm
All jokes aside Matthew YOU are making a poor point. You wrote “Now the fact that they got no bids could be good news or it could be the fact that nobody in Germany wants babies evidenced by their woeful 1.4 children per couple birthrate” Why do you generalize an entire nation does not want children? Some families want more children or even just one, but that is not always the case. Dont critize what you dont know. If you wanted to say their cars are made cheaply fine.
May 28, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Upset,
Is it fair to say that Germans as a whole do not value children as they should as evidenced by the very low birth rate.
Yes. Of course not every German, but Germans as a whole have bought into the the secular mindset that children are a luxury or a burden.
May 28, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Could it be that people are poor and the children they have are starving or sleep in conditions we would find unacceptable. To be a Catholic doesnt mean that people need to have as many children as they can. I do agree there are those of secular mindset but we should be thankful people like this dont have more children.
May 29, 2008 at 1:59 am
Germany is certainly full of contradictions. When you homeschool, you are thrown in prison, and your children taken from you and put in mental hospitals.
Try to sell them on EBay, and you are merely slapped on the wrist.
They need to listen more closely to the Holy Father.
May 29, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I believe Cathy M. needs to read your post.