He was caring for his granddaughter, Malaika, when she was about eight months old. Her parents were not around at the time, and Jim was watching her by himself. He felt confident because he had just finished his work in psychiatry at Bradley Hospital and had experience working with children at various developmental stages.

Shortly after he began caring for her, Malaika started to fuss and cry. Jim tried several familiar strategies for soothing an upset child. First, he carried her around the house and held her like a football, a technique that had worked with his own two sons when they were young. When that failed, he walked her around with her resting on his shoulder, but that also did not help. Finally, he placed her in her car seat and drove around the neighborhood, another method that had worked for him in the past. That, too, was unsuccessful.

After trying all of these approaches, Jim realized that Malaika was likely missing her mother. Acknowledging this, he spoke gently to her, saying that he understood she missed her mother, that he knew he was not her mother, and that it was okay to feel sad about that. Soon afterward, Malaika fell asleep, and not long after, Jim did as well.