What was this parent thinking?

[WhispyPixie]

Try this scenario on for size....

Over the Christmas holidays we were at Disney and had just left the Beauty & the Beast show. We stopped in the shops to the left and ran into the bathroom between one of the shop an the Once Upon a time shop.

As we had a party of 6, we just were hanging out on the curb waiting for everyone. Even after the last one in our party joined us we just sat there and chatted. About halfway through this I leaned back to find a stroller with an adorable little girl about 3 yrs old wide awake and chatting to her toy.

There was a man standing at the railing, I looked up at him and smiled..thinking it was his child. We stand up to leave and he turns to leave, the CHILD ISN'T HIS! We look around all over the place. No parents! We certainly were not going to leave her alone. My 16 year old went to find a CM and before she returns with one, a man walks out of the bathroom, grabs the stroller and child and off they go!!!!

I was floored! Who in heavens name would leave a child and stroller alone while they go into a bathroom. You can't even keep an eye on them! I told him, I would have been happy to watch her while he went to the bathroom if he is just asked me! Of course, he didn't speak English and just walked off.

I get you may not want to take a little girl into a male bathroom...but Disney is covered with family restrooms.

It broke my heart!

 

[tsme]

Last September, I saw a little girl, around 3, by herself crying in the FP line to Kali river Rapids ride, her mother was not in sight at the time. I tried to talk to her, then her mother came walking angrily from further up. They were foreign, the little girl appear to not understand English and it seemed she didn't want to ride so her mother walked off and left her there. And the mother looked at me like I was crazy for asking her daughter if she was ok. Then later in the trip, we were at AKL in the main lobby. It was very crowded. When I hear a child screaming and crying. It was the same little girl running around by herself crying dressed in only a tshirt and underwear. All I could do was shake my head.

 

[WendyLou]

Great actions by a well trained, kind hearted CM. Glad you noticed, as a mother of 2 I appreciate your kindness.

 

[erc]

Reminds me of the time I tried to teach my 3 year old a valuable lesson in staying by my side in a Kohl's Department store. As he wandered off I decided to keep going a little ways away but kept an eye on where he was, or so I thought. When I didn't see him come running back in a panic like I expected I went to where I thought he was, and he was no where around. So suddenly I'm the dumb, panicked parent running from rack to rack looking for a 3 foot kid in a Bob the Builder t-shirt. Luckily I found him before anyone else did so that I wouldn't be the subject of disapproving glances.

 

[Alpha1]

The CM are also well trained at comforting parents. I witnessed a frantic father being calmed by a CM. The CM asked what the child was wearing and then started pointing out cameras to the father. Not even 2 minutes later she received a call on her radio that they found the child.

 

[jo-jo]

About 35 yrs ago, Dh and I were at Busch gardens in VA. We are walking along the base of a slope (think outside of the land pavilion) We are walking and in the corner of my eye I see a stroller rolling. I grab it and go to hand it to a couple that was about 15 ft behind us. Nope not their kid. I look around. At the top of the slope the parents were looking at something and had no idea their baby rolled down 150 ft.

 

[39CINDERELLA]

we were at AOA last June. We took a walk over bridge to see what Pop looked like. There was a little boy (4-5?)standing outside of a room looking for someone who had the same color band as his to let him back in his room. He said he just woke up and was alone in room, went outside to see where his parents were when the door locked behind him. I did not want to leave him alone in the dark pathway for something to happen to him, so we asked him to walk with us to the pool where we could get a CM to help him. (we could see the pool) He was taking off towards the pool anyway that is why I said walk with us. I actually had my DS go up to him and walk with him as to not freak him out and try to make it less scary for him. Get to pool no CM. This little boy told my DH his parents were in food court. MY DH took the boy into food court and his parents were there sitting down to dinner! They gave my DH, a TOTAL stranger, the room key/band to go let their son in room. I said no way!! and went to the front desk and asked for the mgr.. I explained the situation and she took over. If we didn't help, this little boy was going to go running all over the place by himself....

 

[Nata]

Try this scenario on for size....

Over the Christmas holidays we were at Disney and had just left the Beauty & the Beast show. We stopped in the shops to the left and ran into the bathroom between one of the shop an the Once Upon a time shop.

As we had a party of 6, we just were hanging out on the curb waiting for everyone. Even after the last one in our party joined us we just sat there and chatted. About halfway through this I leaned back to find a stroller with an adorable little girl about 3 yrs old wide awake and chatting to her toy.

There was a man standing at the railing, I looked up at him and smiled..thinking it was his child. We stand up to leave and he turns to leave, the CHILD ISN'T HIS! We look around all over the place. No parents! We certainly were not going to leave her alone. My 16 year old went to find a CM and before she returns with one, a man walks out of the bathroom, grabs the stroller and child and off they go!!!!

I was floored! Who in heavens name would leave a child and stroller alone while they go into a bathroom. You can't even keep an eye on them! I told him, I would have been happy to watch her while he went to the bathroom if he is just asked me! Of course, he didn't speak English and just walked off.

I get you may not want to take a little girl into a male bathroom...but Disney is covered with family restrooms.

It broke my heart!

When I was growing up overseas, it was completely normal to leave sleeping child in a stroller unattended near a store entrance to grab some groceries. I am pretty sure that it is quite acceptable in other countries now. Just different cultures, different parenting styles.

 

[minniemous]

we were at AOA last June. We took a walk over bridge to see what Pop looked like. There was a little boy (4-5?)standing outside of a room looking for someone who had the same color band as his to let him back in his room. He said he just woke up and was alone in room, went outside to see where his parents were when the door locked behind him. I did not want to leave him alone in the dark pathway for something to happen to him, so we asked him to walk with us to the pool where we could get a CM to help him. (we could see the pool) He was taking off towards the pool anyway that is why I said walk with us. I actually had my DS go up to him and walk with him as to not freak him out and try to make it less scary for him. Get to pool no CM. This little boy told my DH his parents were in food court. MY DH took the boy into food court and his parents were there sitting down to dinner! They gave my DH a TOTAL stranger the room key/band to go let their son in room. I said no way!! and went to the front desk and asked for the mgr.. I explained the situation and she took over. If we didn't help, this little boy was going to go running all over the place by himself....

Absolutely unbelievable.

 

[tina.tina]

As far as older siblings wandering away, I was in line for a kiddie ride with my DS(3 then) at an amusement park. There was a group of kids ranging around 5-8 years old in front of us with an 18 month old (no parent). When it was their turn to ride, the toddler was too scared to ride. So, one of them puts the toddler down at the entrance to the ride and told her to wait there. All the kids except the toddler are on the ride and as soon as the ride starts the toddler starts to take off back down the entrance ramp. There are no likely parents around anywhere and nobody paying attention to her, so I scooped her up. She wasn't happy but I held her for a few minutes until I saw another kid dragging a man along and pointing at me. I motioned to ask him if she was his and he nodded. So, I went down the ramp and handed her over. She was very happy to see him. The kids were getting off the ride by that time, shouting that the toddler refused to ride. He thanked me and said apparently the other kids weren't as responsible as they'd thought.

 

[tina.tina]

we were at AOA last June. We took a walk over bridge to see what Pop looked like. There was a little boy (4-5?)standing outside of a room looking for someone who had the same color band as his to let him back in his room. He said he just woke up and was alone in room, went outside to see where his parents were when the door locked behind him. I did not want to leave him alone in the dark pathway for something to happen to him, so we asked him to walk with us to the pool where we could get a CM to help him. (we could see the pool) He was taking off towards the pool anyway that is why I said walk with us. I actually had my DS go up to him and walk with him as to not freak him out and try to make it less scary for him. Get to pool no CM. This little boy told my DH his parents were in food court. MY DH took the boy into food court and his parents were there sitting down to dinner! They gave my DH a TOTAL stranger the room key/band to go let their son in room. I said no way!! and went to the front desk and asked for the mgr.. I explained the situation and she took over. If we didn't help, this little boy was going to go running all over the place by himself....

If you were looking for an extra kid, you could have gotten him and his luggage.

 

[39CINDERELLA]

If you were looking for an extra kid, you could have gotten him and his luggage.

lol...no kidding

 

[minniemous]

This falls along the lines of forcing a child on a ride because a parent wants to go on the ride. It is a lot of very selfish behavior.

When we were on TOT there was a little girl begging her father and his friend to not take her on. (I guess they felt they were doing the responsible thing by not leaving her alone in a stroller). They kept telling her she would be fine and she would love it. Se was terrified.

When I looked at the group picture later it was heartbreaking how scarred she was. Just terrified. When they got off she certainly did not do the "can we go again" thing. I really do not know what is wrong with some people.

 

[Dawnlight]

There is such a wide variety of parenting styles and when you take into consideration the fact that Disney attracts people from all over the world, you find parents who are lax with supervision compared to US standards.

I'm glad that the child was reunited safely with the parents, but I don't necessarily agree that the little one was in danger.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Leaving a small kid alone in a public place is asking for trouble. The kid could run off at the very least.

 

[Magic Band Defender]

As a parent of a 2.5 year old with developmental delays, a big THANK YOU to all the kindly WDW'ers on this thread who intervene when they see a small child unattended. Better safe than sorry. It hasn't happened to us (yet), but my little boy is a RUNNER and has very limited communication skills and I am terrified of him getting away from us at a large, busy place like WDW. I don't understand some parents-they make sure to lock their laptop in the safe, but allow their small children to be unattended. Which is more valuable?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

When I was growing up overseas, it was completely normal to leave sleeping child in a stroller unattended near a store entrance to grab some groceries. I am pretty sure that it is quite acceptable in other countries now. Just different cultures, different parenting styles.

This is how I see it.

In other countries it's common to see a 4-5 year old doing "grown up" things. I've been to several Latin American countries and whether it's a poor area or wealthier area, it's all the same. Lots of freedom, no hovering and lots of alone time. I've seen children on the beach (in a group) as young as 3 and the oldest being 5, by themselves

 

[JimmyV]

Maybe the kid was a child actor and ABC was shooting an episode of "What Would You Do" with John Quinones hiding behind some bushes.

 

[Sydnerella]

I tend to try to help in the moment of these types of situations (admittedly with some internal outrage) and then afterwards realize that I am not privy to all circumstances and let the judgement go...

We do not always know what is going on with what we see/hear - just a little something I learned from Madonna in her literary achievement, Mr. Peabody's Apples

Sydnerella's Mama

 

[Alpha1]

Slightly off topic, but has a child ever been kidnapped from a WDW resort?