Warning: This post is all about me venting. No sunshine or happiness here. Nope. Just complaining.
If you’re still reading, let me start my soapboxing by saying, I understand no one is perfect. We all make mistakes, have temporary lapses in judgment, forget things – sure, I know that – from personal experience. What I’m having a hard time understanding is intentional situations involving parents not paying proper attention to their children in public. Not correcting their behavior when needed. Not making sure their little ones are safe.
One situation involved our family outing to a college baseball game. The game was great. It was the rowdy, unwatched crowd of young children that encircled our fam that raised my anxiety level.
They fought with each other. They hit us from time to time. They stared and even pushed on Nia and Nate as they enjoyed their dinner of stadium food. They ran into other members of the audience around us. They almost fell through the railing. They wandered away from their parents without being noticed for minutes. In fact, the 3-year-old stood next to me for so long, you might have thought he was my child. (If not for my look of concern aimed at the child’s parent who was sitting a section away from us.)
Another situation starred a child in the middle of the street. The main street to our neighborhood. A busy street. There he was, sitting on a skateboard. He was one house away from that main entrance, where drivers come around the bend at a good clip. I stopped and then drove by the child with dramatic caution as he waited for me to pass. The mom? Oh, she was in the garage. The child immediately went right back to the danger zone after I passed. The mom? Well, she stayed in the garage. I was so tempted to turn around and ask her why she thinks that’s ok. Why is it ok to let your 4/5-year-old play in the middle of a busy street? The way the world works sometimes, it wouldn’t surprise me if that mom sues the driver who hits her child – and wins.
I guess my main thing with all this is, I don’t know what’s ok anymore. Is it ok for me to correct a stranger’s child? Should I confront parents I see doing something that could endanger their child? Is it my place? Also, when it comes down to it, I guess I’m pretty territorial to my own. I have two precious sweeties of my own, thanks. I’m really trying to make sure they grow up safely and responsibly.
Are You Zhazha? 
I suppose you are talking about the kids in Colton Landing? I don’t know how many times I/we have had to literally stop in the road to avoid those kids. At least you saw an adult in the vicinity. I usually never see any adults nearby, just unsupervised kids roaming the street. Grrr!
Yep! I’m starting to think they maybe want their children to get hit – so they can sue the driver and win. It wouldn’t surprise me!
Girl – I am right there with you, both with the frustration and the confusion as to how best to handle these situations. Let me know if you figure it out!