What is wrong with people today? (child neglect)

[Tina]

Tonight I decided to stop by Target on the way home for a couple of things. As I was walking to the check-out, I noticed a little boy about 3 years old, wandering aimlessly, looking around like he was lost. I asked him "Are you lost? Are you looking for you mommy?" He looked at me as if I had 3 heads, so I assumed he didn't speak English. Not uncommon in the Hispanic community here. So I walked up to the nearby check out and said the (late 20's) cashier, "I think that little boy is lost and I don't think he speaks English. Do you have someone you can call?"

He looked at the boy and said "I think I know who his sister is" and started scanning the front of the store for her. "There she is" he nodded toward a young girl pushing an empty cart. She couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 and had two younger children trailing her. He gestured to the little boy in the direction of the sister and he wandered after her.

As I was checking out I asked "where is their mom? Are they here alone?"
He shrugged and said, "They've been here for hours."

A few seconds later, as I was leaving, I noticed the little boy was once again alone, sitting on the floor of a closed checkout, digging through the candy display.

I thought of going to customer service, but as I passed, I noticed one young girl working the counter, probably about 16 or so. No adults. I left the store.

Now I can't stop thinking about it and wish I had asked them to call the store manager. And I should have then asked that store manager to call the police. In this day and age with child molesters and abductions, that little boy, or any of his siblings, should not be wandering Target for hours without a parent. I'm willing to bet the parent works in the area and is using the store as a child care facility. I hate days like this. I wish I had acted differently.

[agnes!]

Was it the Target on Route 1 at Beacon Mall or maybe the one up at Potomac Yards?

Yeah, some days it's easy to get down on ourselves about the woulda/shoulda/couldas , but try no to be so hard on yourself. At least you care enough to be bothered, so many people *don't*.

agnes!

[Tina]

Originally Posted by agnes!

Was it the Target on Route 1 at Beacon Mall or maybe the one up at Potomac Yards?

No. It was the one in Bristow (just south of Manassas) on 28.

[agnes!]

That's what people around here use public libraries for as well, but leaving kids at Target alone for hours is a first for me.

agnes!

[metime]

Everytime I complain about seeing something like that my husband declares "Darwins theory of evolution".

3 year old not in a car seat Dh says "thinning of the heard"

little kids playing on a busy street unsupervised in a bad area "survival of the fittest" (he means smartest)

Men have no mother instinct, sadly neither do some mothers.....

[Handbag Lady]

Originally Posted by agnes!

That's what people around here use public libraries for as well, but leaving kids at Target alone for hours is a first for me.

agnes!

I worked at Knott's Berry Farm for a few years just after college. I worked the information center, which also meant we did lost and found, lost children, annual passes, etc.

There were two families that would send their kids (walking) to Knott's and that's where they stayed while mom or dad or some combination therein was at work. There were two or three kids that came in a group. The youngest one was 7. When the older kids (about 10 and 14) would ditch the youngest one, security would take them to us. Nice.

The older kids wouldn't come and get the younger one, so he had to sit with us for six hours and then security would call the police. The police would call the parents, the parents would say that one thought the wife or older child had the kid, etc., and then nothing would happen until the next week or so. And yes, most of us in the center ended up buying the poor kid lunch since the department refused to feed lost kids.

Good parenting skills

[luvsJack]

Dh's aunt used to own a roller skating rink. She had several families that would drop off their kids, as young as 3. at night and go out partying while the kids skated. She posted that all children under a certain age had to be with an adult but she still had some that would drop them off, pay their way in and take off after they got them inside and on skates or busy with a video game or something.

[mrsstats]

A woman on LI was just arrested last week for doing this same thing. She dropped them off her kids at a public pool and left them there all day.

[MM27]

Originally Posted by agnes!

That's what people around here use public libraries for as well, but leaving kids at Target alone for hours is a first for me.

agnes!

I have students that go to the library after school from 3 o'clock until 6 when their parents get off of work if they can't get into the after school program. I guess the parents feel like it's safer than the kids going home. Not really fair to the librarians though. I had one girl last year that would beg me to stay after school and since I'm there anyway I usually let her. She actually would fall asleep in my classroom after school and I would have to wake her up when I was ready to leave. It's sad for the kids.

[PatsGirl]

Originally Posted by MM27

I have students that go to the library after school from 3 o'clock until 6 when their parents get off of work if they can't get into the after school program. I guess the parents feel like it's safer than the kids going home. Not really fair to the librarians though. I had one girl last year that would beg me to stay after school and since I'm there anyway I usually let her. She actually would fall asleep in my classroom after school and I would have to wake her up when I was ready to leave. It's sad for the kids.

Our town library encourages kids to hang in their teen room after school There's usually at least 5 or 6 that arrive by bus and stay until their parents get out of work. One girl goes everyday and has been hanging out in the children's corner for a couple of years, she is now 12. My daughter will start getting dropped off there on T and Th because she doesn't want to stay home alone and there is no after school program for kids once they hit middle school (6th grade). While I think it's great for the middle school aged kids, I think it is asking too much of the librarians when the kids are younger...

[ma2jr]

Maybe they belonged to a store employee who was a babysitter short that day?

[Tina]

Originally Posted by ma2jr

Maybe they belonged to a store employee who was a babysitter short that day?

I suppose that's a possibilty, but that doesn't change the situation. This little boy was completely unsupervised in a public store filled with hundreds of strangers. If his mother was working "somewhere" in the store, that doesn't eliminate the danger.

[3boymthr]

Originally Posted by ma2jr

Maybe they belonged to a store employee who was a babysitter short that day?

That was my thought.

We have one set of parents that drops their kid off at the ball field every day and leaves him for hours. Their other kids spend all day at home watching TV. This is a family that has a lot of money and can well afford a sitter. It's sad really.

I don't work in the library but we used to hang out there all the time. I used see the kids in the library too. They are there every day. Our library has averted some of the "babysitting" by setting a minimum age limit that kids can be unsupervised and by calling parents when they arrive without one.

[Carly_Roach]

Originally Posted by metime

Everytime I complain about seeing something like that my husband declares "Darwins theory of evolution".

3 year old not in a car seat Dh says "thinning of the heard"

little kids playing on a busy street unsupervised in a bad area "survival of the fittest" (he means smartest)

Your husband has a point. Think about this: all this protection of "the children" over the past few decades has led to those children growing up, reproducing and becoming the kinds of parents that are now being complained about.

Through good intentions (the road to which Hell is paved) we've contaminated our gene pool.

Maybe if we had allowed Darwin's Theory of Evolution to run it's course, there wouldn't be so many defective parents out there.

[Liberty Belle]

Originally Posted by Carly_Roach

Your husband has a point. Think about this: all this protection of "the children" over the past few decades has led to those children growing up, reproducing and becoming the kinds of parents that are now being complained about.

Through good intentions (the road to which Hell is paved) we've contaminated our gene pool.

Maybe if we had allowed Darwin's Theory of Evolution to run it's course, there wouldn't be so many defective parents out there.

Wow. Ok. I'd like to see you try to push that agenda.