I never notice stuff like that. But then, I don’t exactly go looking for it either. I really think some people actually are on the lookout for that kind of stuff. Busybodies. The most I ever notice is the kids next door getting a “whoop’m”. That always brings on a pleased smile because they are a couple of brats who deserve it. Call the cops? I don’t think so. I lean more towards giving the parents a medal for doing what needs to be done. That takes a lot of guts these days what with all the busybodies around.
Too bad there weren’t a few more “busybodies” around last summer when parents were cooking their kids in cars.
Well, no. I can think of far more spiteful things to do. Like run in the store and tell her someone just drove off in her car. Or it’s on fire.
And I was far from “on the lookout” for it. This woman parked right next to me as I was approaching my car. The observation was unavoidable.
Suspenderz: I hope, I sincerely hope, you never live near someone who abuses their children, if you don’t already. I hope you never have to undergo the psychological pain and torment that comes from knowing you helped ruin a child’s life by `not being a busybody.’
Because if that happens to you, I will be unable to empathise with you, and I will have to fight back an innate desire to run you into the ground.
Oh, my God! However will I go on??? 
Susp, just hope it never actually happens.
Hmmmm. The above, in conjunction with your prior post, almost sounds like a veiled threat to me. Should I be concerned?
Susp, get your head out of your goddamned ass and listen for a change:
I have zero sympathy for anyone who would let a child come to harm. Zero Tolerance. Do you get me?
I am not threatening you. You shall under no circumstances construe this as a threat! I am simply stating my opinions on the subject, and you acting like a little child, constantly willing to `take it outside,’ never willing to act like a responsible, caring adult, isn’t helping.
Yes, you must be responsible. I don’t care if your father was a deranged carnie and your mother was the platoon fuckrag, you must be responsible for those less able to defend themselves. Reneging on that responsibility is a moral crime, the equivalent of committing the crime yourself.
Now, do you understand, or should I repost with more obscenities?
See, Robyn, I took this to mean “walk away”. Up and down a grocery aisle isn’t generally ‘a couple feet away’. So, hopefully, you’ll understand why I posted what I did. I am** not **claiming that you’re a bad parent.
we’ve gone round and round this issue before, different people have different comfort levels. I remember Scylla saying that he’d never leave his kid in the car for any length of time, and I admitted that when my son was little and I worked nights, coming home w/25 lb toddler and groceries, I’d pull up in the drive next to the door, leaving son in the car seat w/car turned off, locked, would open up the door and unload groceries into the vestibule, then return and get son, and then maneuver all up the stairs. IIRC, he thought that was too dangerous, but I had in fact done it.
It’s a difficult subject. It was not at all clear from the OP how far away mom was. It was clear, IMHO, that mom wasn’t ‘keeping her eyes’ on the kids or the toddler wouldn’t have been hitting the baby. So regardless of the distance the ‘keeping an eye on’ wasn’t happening.
While I don’t necessarily consider myself a “stupid @)*@)” (more of a dumb !@#$%, but that’s just nicking pits), I’ve tried leaving my kids on several occassions…and they’ve always found their way home.
Ba-dum-bump.
(sigh, not even Ed McMahon laughed)
Sorry to dissapoint ya’, but I dont get any important mail. 
Suspenderzzz I guess I should have qualified some of this. First, I’m a mom. Not a Dad.
Next, the stamp machine in question is in the part of the P.O. where all of the boxes are. The counter is in another room.. I’ts behind doors. It is impossible to see the stamp machine from the counter.
The baby was sitting, in the floor, in its carrier, directly in front of the door with folks hurrying in and out. I expect, with the temperatures, this was quite a breezy spot for one of tender age.
The toddler, cute as she was, was very busy. Here you had, not just a bunch of strangers dashing back and forth, but the stamp machine, which could be tipped over, and a parking lot full of cars coming and going.
And, if I had left my son in a running car at 2 years old, he’d have driven it off. 
What NinetyWt describes falls outside my comfort zone. I wouldn’t leave Aaron like that, and certainly not with a toddler. An older child, maybe, but not a toddler.
That said, I’m fortunate to live in a relatively small community and I do most of my daily stuff on a military installation, so it’s fairly well-protected. Obviously, that zone shrinks when we’re out at the civilian supermarket or other civilian businesses. On those rare occasions when I’m shopping for an extended time, or at the mall or somewhere like that, I’ll bring the sling or his stroller, and he rides that way.
Finally, the nice child-safety instructor told the class that the baby goes in the house first. This gets him out of the elements, and takes some of the opportunity away from a potential snatcher.
Robin
Well, in my case, I felt that the safest place for him to be was strapped into his car seat in the car that was within my sight. Outside of the elements. locked away from potential snatchers. within my eyesite.
had I taken him inside first:
a. He’d have woken up, more than likely.
b. He’d have been wandering around inside w/o me there, steep stairs involved while I unloaded groceries.
c. The way I did it, I had in my eyesite at all times, and confined so as to not hurt himself.
I made an assesment of the risks, and took what I felt to be the safest route.
shrug.
and now that the OP has clarified the circumstances (which, like I said, it was clear to me that the child wasn’t in sight of mom) perhaps the folks who thought they were being busybodies will be happier.
:eek:
Jesus christ. It takes a special sort of asshole to have a pleased smile when a helpless child is being beaten. Don’t lean on your ‘european heritage’ to get you out of this one…I’m sure many of our friends across the pond will agree with me.
It’s useful to know what your state considers to be child abuse or neglect. (I’m not saying you have to agree with it, so please don’t rain down horror on me.) It’s a nasty shock to leave your kid while you pay for your gasoline and then get a letter from the state saying your license plate was reported and that you’ve abused your kid.
Some of us are mandated reporters–we have a legal mandate to report anything that appears to fall under the state’s definition of child abuse. That doesn’t mean that all mandated reporters do so, but it does mean that a lot of people (teachers, teacher’s aides, childcare workers, CNAs, RNs, LPCs, MDs, psychologists, MSWs, etc.) are out and about who have this obligation. How zealously mandated reporters pursue appears to be determined by personal conscience and how egregiously child-abuse-like the activity is, but the law says, Report everything.
wring, if it helps ya, I think you have worked out a good solution. Better to have 'em in a locked car then up to their inquisitive ways while you are too far away to help them.
And, jarbabyj, I agreed with you about the "whoop’em"s.
What I especially enjoyed was the superb acrobatics of Suspenderzzz’s gargantuan leap to conclusions such as : 1. I am male and 2. I am a busybody.
Why, he don’t know me from Adam’s off ox. :rolleyes:
Superbee comes close here ( I liked the pull key part) but, Why not take the time to stay there and tell the other person that they are breaking the law, which we should all know, right, even us old folks without kids for years and years, and that if they don’t clean up their act that we will turn them in for child endangerment? Huh? Huh? Maybe a few glass houses around here? We all are always doing it correct and by the book? Bwhahaha … cough, cough … sorry…
Anyway, why not. Why this “Call the cops mentality”? Why not put up? Can’t be civil and polite while doing it? FEAR ???
This is isolationism on a personal level and fear running amuck. If I yell about you enough, costs me nothing, maybe you will not be able to see my feet of clay?
It is a very bad thing to leave a child in what may end up being harm’s way.
That said, as a mom I now tend to cut people a little more slack. I often think “Well, I sure wouldn’t do that” but I acknowledge that I do not know the circumstances. I doubt there could be a good reason for why someone might leave their two kids out of sight, but there might be an excuse. Maybe the toddler and baby were driving her crazy and she was worried she might lose control and hit one or both of them if she didn’t get away from them for a minute or two.
I know I’ve often kept an eye on a little one that was out of his parent’s reach on a playground or something. Maybe mom or dad got distracted or is attending to a skinned knee on a sibling. We’re all in this together, to some degree, and I’d like to think someone would keep an eye out for my little one if I wasn’t right there (whatever my good or bad reason).
according to some, however, that means being a ‘busybody’.
5 years ago a dear friend had to resort to doctors because she had problems getting pregnant. She gave birth to quats, four healthy rambucious boys. Doctors had told her that she was imcapable of getting pregnant unnassisted, they were wrong, 10 months later she gave birth to another boy.
From her, and my frequents visits I learnt to appreciate parents’ patience and came to realize that I wouldn’t have known what to do in her situation, probably jump off a bridge. I often took’em to the park near my house (with their nanny) and picked them up from school a couple of times. I was amazed that sometimes they kids would do things that I thought highly dangerous and their mother (a loving mom as I’ve never seen) would just let them. At the beggining I would be hysterical, then I learnt that moms know how far their children can bend before they break. I am much more tolerant to both children and parents now.
Having said that, I agree with Cranky that raising children should be an undertaking of the whole community. Although in my country the dangers of children being kidnapped is not even in people’s mind it is also true that kids have a talent for getting in trouble. More than once I’ve had to keep an eye on kids when parents are not watching, sometimes these kids have been doing things that were potentially very dangerous (amazing what kids can do, huh?). I am glad that in my country people are not really afraid of strangers, so I always leave with the gift of a child’s smile and a heartwarming “thanks” from mom/dad. We ALL have a responsibility to watch for our children.