Quoted from http://abcnews.go.com/2020/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=4709538&page=1:
ABC News: A Child Is Lost and Afraid: Would You Help?
Imagine you're on a busy sidewalk rushing to work, running an errand or simply out for a stroll, when suddenly you notice a little boy standing all alone. Is he really lost? Do you stop to find out?
I think I would stop. Is that because I'm a parent and I would completely freak if it were one of my children and no one helped them? Unfortunately, as the commenters to the story on ABCnews pointed out, stopping to help a kid is often asking for trouble. Too many people too many bad things into a small innocent situation :(
I'm not completely sure if I would approach the child. I might simply call 911 and stay nearby to monitor the situation until the police showed. Even if the kid knows where their parent is, the parent still sucks for having left the child alone and deserves what they get.
2 comments:
I stop. Every time. Without a doubt. It's happened a few times. In the park, on the street, at Kid's Day at the US Open Tennis tournament. Each time I've stopped.
There have been plenty of times I've been unsure if the kid was lost and I watched the child, followed them until I saw them connect with their adult.
The thought of a child lost and alone amidst a sea of adults just breaks my heart. I can't let it alone when I see it.
A few years ago, the son of neighbor had started school at a local elementary school that he didn't like. He missed his preschool. One day at the end of school he decided he'd had enough. He walked out of the elementary school and started walking in the direction he knew his preschool was in. That he was able to walk out of the elementary school without being stopped is a disgrace. Thank goodness, though, a woman on a bus saw him walking down the street and knew that a cute, little 5-year-old boy did not belong out on the street alone. She got off the bus and helped him get back to school, where, by then, his mother was with the police. Thank goodness for that woman.
Part of me doesn't understand how that many people in the ABC experiment could walk past those kids. But then again, another part of me does know.
They didn't even see them.
I don't know how many times I have walked with my kids on busy streets or through crowded events and had to pull my kids aside or pick them up to protect them from people would barrel right over them without even seeing them. There are so many people who live their lives so apart from children that they don't even see them even when they're right in front of their faces.
I watched that 20/20. I usually montior for a couple mins, if no one is around, I go in. But I never make any physical contact. Usually, just a "are you here with your mom? where is she?" My kids sometimes wander around the library or grocery store...I am always appreciative when someone brings them back or tells me where they are.
That sounds like I am a bad mom...but it happens from time to time.
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