That’s because there seems to be an unwritten rule in the Pit–no matter what has occurred, the OP is wrong in some respect. It doesn’t matter what has happened, the OP will not receive more then tepid sympathy or support–and that’s on a good day.
Good for you for doing a nice thing. The parents might have been embarrassed, but that doesn’t seem likely. They could have at least said thank you. Or maybe the boy’s name was Hansel? 
Nice job Shags. I too have a toddler with a severe case of wanderlust. In addition to that, he also seems genetically pre-programmed to self-injure his skull a lot. Toughening it up for later, I suppose.
I’m guessing that your critics stumbled upon point 3.
The decision to intervene has to be taken with care, lest one appear intrusive or worse. So a escalation strategy is necessary. I suspect that Shagnasty isn’t the only good Samaritan who has faced this challenge.
Props to Shagnasty for neither minding his own business nor rushing in without due regard for diplomacy, prudence or possible misperception.
You said in the OP that you carried him to his parents…
Well, not really FS.
Shagnasty skipped the part about setting the kid down and having him walk over to his parents. Or maybe the kid just looked over at his folks.
Shame on you for not providing these details, Shagnasty!
Good going, Shag. I"ve got a son now 21, but when he was two he could lose you in a second. Had him run into a road. It was my fault, it only took 5 seconds of not paying attention.
For the rest of the naysayers in this thread, suck canal water.
Wouldn’t a reasonable person suppose something along these lines had happened?
I don’t know what it is, but something about the retelling of events makes it lose some of its urgency to parents. I’m not saying that Shagnasty can’t communicate well, but when you’re a parent and someone comes in shepherding your kid and he’s just standing there, safe and sound in a Burger King far away from getting run over by a 3,000 pound car, I suspect it’s hard to really appreciate exactly what has or could have happened. There’s a big gap between actually seeing a toddler wander off towards a road and being told after everything turns out alright by some stranger that he’s wandered off towards a road. It doesn’t excuse the negligence, but it shouldn’t lessen the gravity of what you did. The parents might be a lot more freaked out when they get home and have the chance to reflect on it a bit.
You’re the man, Shags! As the parent of a maniacal toddler, I think you handled the whole situation perfectly. I’ve got no clue why the parents seemed so indifferent - I’d be shoving money and hugs and "thank you"s your way for the next hour - but you definitely did the right thing.
I propose, as a reward, that you get your own Budweiser “Real American Heroes” commercial. Any talented Dopers wanna do the honors?
Cues Music
*Real American Heroes,
Mister Shagnasty Baby Saver!*
“Today we salute YOU, Mister Collaring Of Der Kinder…”
It’s possible that the parents were simply embarrassed about losing their kid. They’re probably smacking themselves right now for being so indifferent in the restaurant. But I still think you should’ve given the parents a serious earful… because yelling at stupid parents is just plain fun.
Good on you ! Shag
That, or the frightening alternative, which is that they simply didn’t care enough to at least thank Shags for rescuing their child.
I would have been mortified myself, but then again, my constant visual sweeps for out of range toddlers are run every few seconds, so there’s no way little **FoieGras ** would have gotten very far.
Things like this are confirmation of the Paranoid Society idea of remaining by the road with the child while calling the Police.
“I found an abandoned child wandering into the roadway. Please send an officer immediately.”
Then allow them to deal with the parental neglect.
At the point you had to chase the kid across the street and grab him, I would have called the police. Any parent who lets a kid that age wander and almost get killed deserves a public dressing down.
A reasonable one, yes.
Its possible that Shags - to the parents, left the impression that he was wildly exaggerating the seriousness of the escape or that he was presenting what could happen when toddlers go unsupervised rather than what did. I’ve probably shrugged my shoulders and not given looked for thanks more than once when I get what I perceive as unwelcome parenting advice from strangers. We only have his side of the story - and while I’m not doubting it - what the parents HEARD may be wildly different than what Shags tried to communicate.
Or they could be assholes.
(And I seem to remember you know very well that sometimes people hear something different than what you are trying to communicate and sometimes rather than saying “thank you thank you” when people tell you you are screwing up your kids, you tell them to MYOB. So you should understand.)
You did a good thing.
Uh-oh. I agree with Dave. I feel icky!
-Joe
I agree that men have a different set of problems with helping children in distress. It sucks, but it seems to be the reality.
For future incidents such as this, you grab the kid by the hand and speak loudly, saying “This child is lost! Does anyone know who this child belongs to?” Make your purpose as conspicuous as possible.