So I’m driving along in a residential area. going about 20 or so, in no big hurry.
I see a blue playground ball roll out into the middle of the street about 100 feet in front of me, and like any normal person, come to a complete stop easily about 70 feet away.
I look over and on the curb is the predictable 3-4 year old in diapers. He looked at me, and he looked at the ball. His developing brain clearly debating between ‘Road dangerous’, and ‘Want ball’ to his credit ‘road dangerous’ was winning but could fail at any moment.
I was in a bit of a quandry. He was clearly not going to get the damn thing, and I couldn’t go forward with the ball in the street. I unbuckle and open the door and put one foot on the ground to walk up and get it for him. But I realize, in this day and age you just can’t go walking up to kids, so I sigh, close my door, and prepare to backup all the way back down the block.
All of the sudden SUPERDAD appears. He leaps over the kid and lands in the street screaming “STOP!” adopting the ‘Superman bracing to stop the runaway train pose’. I am somewhat suprised by this , having been stopped for a good 30 seconds at that point, but the Kid is scared to hell. He screams falls down and starts crying. SuperDad meanwhile watches me as if I am stalking tiger, and slowly shuffles over to the kid, picks him, up, then slowly shuffles over to the ball and picks that up, then back to the sidewalk in a manuver that takes about 30 seconds itself. The entire time he is screaming at me, and terrifying the kid more.
SUPERDAD sounds a bit slow and careless. I guess I was too paranoid and never let my kids play in the front yard. By the way, your OP would be greatly enhanced by the **Hal Briston **style visual aids.
To an extent, I sympathize with Superdad. When my kid is in a potentially lethal situation, I might be prone to an overreaction. I mean, at the point where he took notice of what had happened, from his point of view, you’re getting back in your car and about to start driving again. He doesn’t know that you stopped, nor that you see he his kid, nor that you plan to back up. Your description of his freak-out does sound way over the top, but I get where he’s coming from.
My other reaction is: why can’t you get out and give the ball to the kid? Loudly state, “Here’s the ball back, kiddo.” so anyone watching can hear your intention. No one is going to tackle you and arrest you as an obvious child rapist. If you’re really that worried, can’t you just get out, toss the ball back into the yard and never get nearer than ten feet? I can’t imagine that the best idea you had is to leave the ball in the street for the kid to retrieve when no one is watching him.
I guess I feel like you were overreacting as much as superdad, just in the opposite direction.
hell no. In today’s world a single guy is just stupid to go anywhere near a kid playing.
One of my friends got a visit from the cops because when he went to walk his dog at the park someone wrote his license plate down when some kids came to talk to his dog.
It sucks being a man in today’s “EVERYONE’S TRYING TO FUCK MY KID!” environment. It’s insane.
I found a baby toddling in the street one morning. I had no qualms about picking the kid up and finding out where it belonged. A man would probably be shot on site.
I do and I understand wolfman’s concerns. I would have stopped and tossed the ball back though. But I do understand the concern and I think it is legit.
As I said, I wouldn’t let my kids play in the front yard when they were that age. I actually fenced off a portion of my backyard to keep my son safe and it stayed up until he 5*.
I tore the thing down and a year and a half later I ended up putting it back up for the dog we got. :smack:
I think I had an encounter with SUPERDAD’s wife, SUPERMOM.
I was coming home from work and turned down our slow residential street. Lots of kids playing so as usual I slow down to 3-5 mph, kids see me, go to the side of the street and let me roll past.
I get to one area and there is a 8-10 year-old girl riding her bike and her 3-4 year-old brother riding his tricycle. Girl sees me and gets over but her brother has his back turned to me riding down the middle of the street. I came to a complete stop so he could hopefully, eventually get out of the way. Older sister is yelling at him to move. He stops, turns around, sees me in my car about 20 yards away, and instead of moving, freezes and starts bawling.
While I’m sitting, thinking older sis will move in any second to help him out, SUPERMOM comes swooping in to snatch him and his trike up.
I was ready for her to turn to me and mouth “sorry” so I could smile, wave, and mouth back “no problem” but instead she shoots me the meanest, dirtiest look I have ever seen as if I was laying on the horn 5 feet away screaming obscenities for him to “move it!”
I have no idea what the hell her problem was.
Last week, I saw a 18 month old walking down the middle of the street, in front of a bar, no less. I and another person stopped. She called the police to notify them, while I picked him up and wrapped him in a coat and got him the hell of the street.
No one thought I was trying to kidnap him or molest him. No one, not the other driver, not the cop, and not the babysitter who showed up a few minutes later. This hysterical environment is all in your head. It doesn’t exist. Yes, I realize that there have undoubtedly been incidents where men have been unfairly accused of inappropriate behavior, but it’s a far cry to think that you have to run screaming from any persons under the age of 21 for fear of immediately being branded and run out of town.
And fuck anyone who leaves a child in danger out of worry that someone might look at them sideways. That kid I picked up? I watched a third driver carefully edge around a toddler standing in the middle of a road and keep on driving. Fuck that guy, whatever his motivation.
Well, you did raise that possibility, when you said a man would probably be shot on sight if he picked up a baby who was toddling in the street. While I, as a man, wouldn’t leave a baby in the street, I’d probably think twice about picking the baby up if I knew I’d be shot.
I’ve read them. The plural of anecdotes is not data. I think it’s a tiny handful of outlying incidents.
The OP witnessed a ball in the middle of a road and a small child, unattended, who was clearly considering running out into the road. The OP’s decision before the dad arrived was to carefully back up and drive away, leaving the ball and the kid where they were. I think that qualifies as “in danger”.
And in my example, some jackass carefully drove around a kid in the road and didn’t stop. Fuck that guy and to a lesser extent, fuck the OP.
I think Dad overreacted in this case. Maybe he didn’t see it until it was all in progress so he didn’t get a clear picture. He might also have been taking out his own feelings of stupidity on you. Just to give him the benefit a little, you know?
But I also think the best bet her would have been to get the ball, say something like “here you go” to the kid, and then roll or gently toss it back past him, so he’d have to go the other way to get it. Then he’s out of the way and you haven’t gone near him.
When I was in college, I worked at an after school program for 8-12 year olds. On the 1st day of the 2nd or 3rd year I was a volunteer, a whole bunch of kids got off the buss and got lost somehow. The bus left them off at the wrong place and only kids who knew the program from previous years knew where to go.
So I wandered around the neighborhood for 2 hours asking any children I saw if they knew any kids who wanted to come with me and do homework and have fun and eat snacks. Obviously I was looking for kids who we were supposed to be responsible for, but I sure must have seemed suspicious.
