ARGH!!! Irresponsible parents!

[mrsv98]

Really yucky day in Chicago so I decided to take DD and DN (19 and home from college) to see Chicken Little in the local upscale mall. Have lunch, then DD went to play in the "tree house" play area in the middle of the mall.

She played and I tried not to get cranky about all the too old, too wild, parentless children running around. Then it was time for the movie. We leave and start to walk to the theater when we notice a little girl, maybe three years old, sitting in the middle of the floor. We stopped and looked around, trying to determine her parent. There is a Corner bakery, Starbucks and various kiosks so it was reasonable to think her parent was right nearby. However, we couldn't figure out who "owned" her. Started asking the people sitting in tables outside Corner Bakery, nope, then a woman standing in the door said she had been sitting there for several minutes. Tried asking the little girl, but her speech wasn't clear. I was about to send DN to find the security guy when a woman casually ambles up and says "Oh, I thought I saw you leave a few minutes ago"

Excuse me??? You a)weren't sitting in the play area with your little girl, b) noticed she had left the area and c) didn't get off your lazy butt to come get her????!!!!

With no difficulty, I could have picked her up and said I was taking her to guest services and walked off with her and been gone. Really, some people are too stupid to have children. And before you ask, there was no way she could have seen the little girl from where she was, there was a huge kiosk in the way and she was around a corner so it was not a case of "teaching" her a lesson for walking away.

 

[Stitchfans]

No doubt this would be one of those people who we would see on the evening news sobbing, "but I only took my eyes off her for a second" when he daughter is taken by some stranger. what a horrible excuse for a parent.

 

[GoofieRuthie]

At Red Lobster a few weeks ago, there was a little boy that looked to be a little less than 2. We were seated toward the front and he would come from the back room and head toward the lobby. It would be what seemed like ages before the father would come looking for him. Then he would be giggling chasing him to the back. I kept my eyes on the boy and the door the whole time, but he could have easily went out or been taken out. Some people are oblivious. I try not to be too overprotective, but I at least have a clue, yanno?

 

[disneynutt1225]

I work in a strip mall and there was quite a commotion a couple of months ago because there was a 7 or 8 year old little boy walking around aimlessly in the parking lot. He was just wandering around for about 30-45 minutes, and people who work in the mall were trying to ask him where his mom was while trying to keep him away from oncoming traffic. Of course, because we were all strangers he didn't want to go into any of the stores with us to wait for his mom. She finally came out of a store she was clothes shopping in, and basically yelled at the child for wandering off. She seemed to be more annoyed that she had to stop shopping to look for her son. It takes all kinds I guess.