Wandering child in action
By Ellie
@ellie26 (4139)
Malaysia
October 25, 2007 12:22pm CST
I wonder why some people are just very ignorant about the safety of their children. A few weeks back, I was outside a shopping mall waiting for my brother to fetch me. Out from nowhere, a little girl, probably 2 or 3 years old was walking alone on the road and a man was following her. I looked at the men who I thought was the little girl's father and wonder why he was letting her walk unsupervised. Suddenly, the man turned to me and asked " Is that your little girl?" I was surprised when I realized that the man was actually following the lost child, trying to protect her. Then the little girl started to cross the road and almost ran by a car. I shouted at the man to grab the little girl and he did. She was almost hit by the car. He brought the child to me and asked me what should be done to the child. I said we should surrendered the child to the police station. Just as we were about to go to the police station, a young mother came out from a furniture shop and was calling for her child. I approached her with the little girl and asked whether she was her daughter. She said yes and quickly took her from me. I asked her why she let her daughter wandered off like that, and she explained to me that her daughter was right by her side when she was looking through some furniture. She didn't realized when her daughter wandered off. I scolded her for being careless and shouldnt bring her daughter with her if she couldnt even look after her. I thought if no one saw that little girl, she could have been an easy target for kidnappers or even worse, get killed by a car. Do you think that it is a wise decision to bring your child along if you want to do some serious shopping? Wouldn't it better to let someone look after them at home? Share your thoughts.
4 people like this
10 responses
@mamasan34 (6518)
• United States
25 Oct 07
I am glad you told her what you did. I am sure she could have found a sitter, or at least got one of those child leashes. I know many people don't agree with those, but it's better than losing your child. It's obvious she could afford a sitter if she could afford to shop in a furniture store. So, that is inexcusable to allow your child to run off like that and almost be hit by a car. Good thing for her that you were there and the man was following the child to keep her safe. Thank God, that the child didn't happen upon someone who wasn't so nice. I can't believe that people do that. My husband's ex-wife is like that. She lets her kids run around unsupervised in the neighborhood and they have been far down the street once and their mother was asleep! I was outraged to hear that. Then we heard that their youngest child jumped out of the window to go to Toys R Us while their mother was asleep. This child was 4! We tried to fight for custody, but my husband ended up going to Iraq and we have to put it off. It angers me that some people with children don't pay attention and are so self involved that they lose track of their kids. I know when I had to take my daughter shopping, I made sure she was in a stroller, or I held her hand and made sure she stayed with me.
1 person likes this
@mamasan34 (6518)
• United States
26 Oct 07
shonna, those are terrible stories but they happen all to often! It happens all of the time and all over the place. People just take it for granted that their children won't wander off, they don't take the extra safety precautions and they don't keep close watch. In this day and age, it is highly important to watch, take those safety precautions and keep your eye on the children regardless of what is going on. It saddens me to hear about children drowning in their own swimming pool or wandering off and drowning in a body of water or getting run over by a car, then the parents are racked with guilt because of what they could have done to prevent this. Why wait until this happens? Prevent it now! I know that things happen regardless, and kids are very sneaky and very slick, but doing everything you can do to prevent it, will help deter them from that. My daughter is 13, I always make sure she doesn't walk alone in the neighborhood, I am very strict about her curfew and she knows the consequences of it. Her friend snuck out of her house the other night at the urging of a new girl in school and her parents found her at the play ground at 2 in the morning!!! Needless to say, she is grounded for a very long time. But my daughter told me, that the other girl is a bad influence that is why she doesn't hang out with her and that sneaking out is totally stupid and dangerous. There currently is a rapist loose on our base and they haven't caught him yet. This is a dangerous world we live in for sure.
1 person likes this
@ellie26 (4139)
• Malaysia
26 Oct 07
It is scary just to read your stories. I cant imagine how some parents can be so ignorant about the safety of their children. Even if my sons now age 13 and 11 go out, I still wont allow them. They are mad at me because I am so strict about going out or hang out with friends. Better be safe than sorry.
1 person likes this
@lynboobsy11 (11343)
• Philippines
26 Oct 07
For me I think in a parent like her it is not wise for her to bring her child to the shopping and after that leaving her child unattended and enjoy the shopping seems she's alone. I've been a mother of two and I can proudly say I carefully take care of them until now they totally grown up. We us parents must be aware of something that our child is a kid and anytime something that might hurt them will happen to them if we are not attended to them that's why we must see to it if we leave them or we bring them along with us in any other places we must take the constant care for them. I had a friend she let her child walk along the kitchen with the hot bowl soup was in the table when the child accidentaly pulls the table cloth, the hot bowl soup trown over the chest and gives the child big damage on his chest. Poor child with the careless gurdian the kid hurts.
@copperkitten (3473)
• United States
26 Oct 07
ow careless of the mother. Im glad the man was a good gut and not a child molester or kidnapper! He was like he angel for the time being. If you take a small child to the store with you PUT THEM IN A CART!!! Thats what the carts are for. If you doing shopping and dont think you can watch your child LEAVE THEM WITH A SITTER!! I leave my kids with a friend everytime I go to the store. Then I can get what I need and not have any fights or have to keep track of them. Man some parents just dont think. What would she have done if her little girl did get hit by that car?? People who dont watch there kids shouldnt HAVE THEM!! It only takes a SPLIT second for them to dissapear and be gone forever!! Im so glad that you and that man watched her and got her back to her mom!! I hope she watches her child more closely!!
1 person likes this
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
27 Oct 07
I agree with you but it is not always possible to find a babysitter and or pay for someone to mind your child. I was left majority of the time with my son while my husband worked and I did most of our serious shopping with my son -I would always use the shopping carts and have him ride in them so that he was always with me. If there was no shopping cart then to have him carry the shopping basket with me - which he use to play with all the time. Now that he is five he wanders off in the next aisle even if I am with my husband buying groceries but he knows never to go outside alone. I was very overprotective of him and never let him out of my sight - my husband hated that I did that and should allow him a little bit of space. Still, you just never know what might happen to them which is why its hard not to let him move around when we are out and about.
@Amberina (1541)
• United States
26 Oct 07
I know what it's like to have a child get away in the blink of an eye, I'm the mother of three (they are all grown up now) but when they were little oh my gosh they could disappear so fast! Anyway I think your right if you know your going to be doing some serious shopping and there is not going to be a shopping cart handy then the little one's should stay with someone. Shopping carts were a blessing for me when my kids were little, and they used to make those harnesses for kids kinda like a "leash" I used one of those on my oldest son that lasted about 5 seconds he was a smart little Hoidini lol. I see it all the time kids running around without thier parents I sometimes find myself watching over them until they find thier parents and when they do find them the parents aren't even upset that thier kid has been missing I just don't get it. People wonder why kids get taken by predators. -Amber
1 person likes this
@ellie26 (4139)
• Malaysia
28 Oct 07
Yes, I agree that shopping cart comes in handy when bring little ones for shopping. I have seen some parents who let their children do their own "shopping" in the shopping mall. These children will just wander off inside the shopping mall while their parents is no where in sight. I think these parents assume that their children will be ok while inside. Little did they know that children can be so trusting to stranger sometimes that they are the easiest target for kidnapping.
@laurentyu1 (743)
• Romania
26 Oct 07
Yes you are right ,i have seen people that let their children to do everything they want although their children safety was in great danger....i do not know how do they think.
1 person likes this
@jennybianca (12912)
• Australia
26 Oct 07
When I took my daughter with me shopping, I would have her strapped in a stroller. It was the only sure way I had of keeping her with me. Some of these shopping centres are very crowed, & if you need to reach up to get an item, or look through clothes, it is near high impossible to watch your child at all times.
If I was at all in doubt about taking my toddler shopping with me, I would get her babysat.
This Mother was indeed careless of her toddlers safety.
@ellie26 (4139)
• Malaysia
26 Oct 07
I think it is definitely not advisable to bring children in a crowded place like the shopping mall. Shopping for anything is an adults thing and when shopping with children, we end up all stress up with shopping and making sure our children is by our side all the time.
@shakeroo (3986)
• Malaysia
26 Oct 07
That is very careless of the mother letting her daughter out of her sight. She should know how dangerous it is for a little girl to wonder by herself like that and yes there are lost of bad people who would readily take advantage of that situation. There are already many cases where unattended kids are kidnap, raped and even killed and when these things happened, who do we blame?
She should have not brought her kid along if she is doing some shopping alone. Many thing could happen especially when the mind is preoccupied with shopping and temporarily forgets about the child.
@kodie420 (872)
• Canada
25 Oct 07
Your right but the fact of the matter is not everyone can afford babysitters or even can find one. Its sad when a parent has no idea where there child is when they go out. I find this really bad considering in the past 2 years up here in Canada and in this city of Peterborough we have already had to different people trying to go around and pick kids up. Its scary and if your child is not made aware of these types of problems then they are more likely to take off when the parents aren't looking or paying attention. I guess all we can do is keep educating parents and children on the dangers that lurk out there for children and hope eventually one day all parents smarten up and keep an eye on their child.
1 person likes this
