Wanderling

[None]

The park today was more crowded than usual. Normally I would have kept walking and gone to a different park but today, I stayed. I pushed my little one on the swing for a bit and followed him around the jungle gym where there were many more children his age running about. The park bench was close by and some other mothers were gathered there, chirping and swooning over a month-old baby, so, I stayed by them while keeping an eye on my children. I happened to notice a tiny little girl wandering with seemingly no parent in sight, she couldn't have been more than 10 months old and she looked smaller than normal 10 month olds. Cute as a button. The mothers near me were talking about her and how they couldn't believe her mother would let her wander so far. I didn't say a word, just nodded and smiled. I had noticed there were a several children(who appeared to be related) running past her, occasionally picking her up and bringing her back to a mom way across the park, near her circle of family who were cooking on one of the outdoor grills. The ladies chattered on and on about it and one even took the little girl's picture. I thought that was a little rude but I didn't say anything. Just minded my own business, keeping an eye on my own children.

After a while, one mother walked off after her child and the mother with the baby was packing up to leave. I peeked over and saw the tiny girl next to the packing mom's stroller, right up against it, sitting on the ground and eating what looked like dirt. The mom ignored her, even though it looked like the little girl was throwing up what she was eating. I walked over, picked up the child and handed her over to her mother on the other side of the park, explaining to her why I'd done so. The mother thanked me. As I was walking back, the mom who just ignored the child was speaking loudly to the other mom saying, "If some strange lady picked up my child, I'd be flipping out all over her!".

I thought to myself, "But I doubt she'll let her child wander off for the remainder of the evening, at least...".

What would you have done?

[Scarletprayers]

Same thing you did, and good for you for caring!

[Vickilynn]

Shalom None,

Oh my goodness. I am floored. You did what EVERY one of those lip-flapping mommas SHOULD have done! Shame on them for ignoring this little girl!

G-d bless you for helping her and hopefully, prayerfully, letting her mother know that her little girl was not being watched carefully!

I can only imagine the tragedy if a predator took the child away instead of you taking her to her mom. Thank you and G-d bless you for your actions!

[None]

Thank you for your replies. It helps to know I wasn't overstepping unwritten bounds. I did explain to the mother, with only a caring tone(non-lecturing), that she had eaten some rocks and thrown them back up. The mom had no way of seeing this and I have a feeling she will be thinking about that for a while, with no words needed from me to add to her guilt.

It is a wooded park and easy for someone to have crept in and taken her, which is the biggest reason for concern, but her family did seem to be the majority of occupants there.

I second-guessed my choice upon hearing the woman go on about strangers but then I realized she, most likely, saw her error and reacted badly to cover it over.

[Guest]

[Afal]

You did the right thing. The child's safety comes first.

[peaches]

thats one of the reasons i hate going to the park. you see so many irresponsible parents. i would have wanted to do what you did but probably would have chickened out.

one time i was at the park with my little sister. i saw this man, prob the father, spanking his probably 4 and 5yr old daughters butts really hard many times over. he was also screaming and yelling while he was doing so. the kids hadnt appeared to have doen anything to deserve THAT kind of punishment. i just stared at him with a disapproving look and he just continued on with his business. i was so angry.

the same week i also saw this guy beating the everything out of his dog with a huge stick! he wouldnt stop. if the dog slowed down a bit, he would hit it over and over. finally the dog ran away from him and he ran after it screaming at it. poor dog, i hope i didnt get caught.

[None]

thats one of the reasons i hate going to the park. you see so many irresponsible parents. i would have wanted to do what you did but probably would have chickened out.

one time i was at the park with my little sister. i saw this man, prob the father, spanking his probably 4 and 5yr old daughters butts really hard many times over. he was also screaming and yelling while he was doing so. the kids hadnt appeared to have doen anything to deserve THAT kind of punishment. i just stared at him with a disapproving look and he just continued on with his business. i was so angry.

the same week i also saw this guy beating the everything out of his dog with a huge stick! he wouldnt stop. if the dog slowed down a bit, he would hit it over and over. finally the dog ran away from him and he ran after it screaming at it. poor dog, i hope i didnt get caught.

No one should ever punish while angry. I find it very heartbreaking to hear of a child being publicly beaten. I don't like any kind of hitting, but especially public hitting. It's very degrading and humiliating for the child. Same with yelling.

A happier thought:

My 7yr old son is always online joining every kid's club and it's often hard to keep track. He joined one of the larger, more popular sites and was in a main "room" with other kids when I walked over to the computer to check up. I noticed all the little characters walking around with their screen names over their heads. Some interesting names these kids come up with. Then I saw this one male character walking around with a long number over his head as a screen name. I thought that was odd. I moved in for a closer look and here it was MY phone number. My son was walking around this very large site with our home phone number over his head for who knows how long. I was laughing too much to be upset with him. He didn't know any better.