| User | deepinthought | | Topic | Pisses me off | | Message | Ok...this happened a few minute ago and Im either furious or want to cry, I’m not sure which. I was walking into the market shops with my daughter and husband about 7pm (so it’s dark outside). The outside of the shops aren’t very brightly lit. So we’re walking in the door and I see a little girl standing outside of them. She was so cute..probably about 3 yrs old with long blonde hair and big eyes, carrying a doll. I go to walk in the door and she looks up at me and I can actually feel my heart trying to leap out of my chest...she has this sad, terrified expression on her face. So I stopped, and started talking to her. I asked her if she was OK, and where her mommy was. She pointed in the general direction of inside, but she didn’t know which shop. I started to walk away and the little girl started following me....I stopped again and got down on my knees and smiled, and talked to her....she didn’t know which shop her mother was in and she looked like she was about to jump into my arms. My daughter, who is 4 and twice the size of this little angel pats her on the shoulder and says its ok. About this time in walks a man who I assume to be her father, and asks whats wrong... I told him I was just talking to her and he said her mother is in the shops and thanks...So I get up and walk away, but I looked back..and the little girl is just staring and trying to follow...There wasn’t anything else I could do , so we got what we came for and left. We got almost home and realized we had forgotten something, so we turned around. My husband went in the shops and when he came back out he said the little girl was still sitting on a bench outside..as he left he said he saw her leaving with her mum and dad, but that she smiled at him and waved. This little girl breaks my heart...she looked scared to death and all I wanted to do was hug her. It even got to my husband, who is hard to rattle. Someone could have snatched her up or hurt her...and her parents would never have known. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d like to beat her parents senseless...the child was ready to hug a complete stranger simply because I showed affection to her....Anyway, sorry this is so long but its killing me... |
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| User | deepinthought | 2005-04-14 | | | Subject | untitled | | Message | My thing is that this kid was 3..no more...and it was dark...any responsible parent would have take the child inside, not left them outside. it shows a complete disregard for the child’s safety. id rather have the child introverted than raped and dead.....this girl should never have been left to wait outside. children should NEVER be left unattended...maybe 50 yrs ago it was different, but not these days. |
| User | Sandburg | 2005-04-14 | | | Subject | Depends | | Message | Well right off, this sounded dreadful, but I have no idea where this happened or what it’s like there. When I was in first grade I used to have to walk from private school about six blocks, cross a train yard, and get on a city bus, then be responsible to pay attention and get off at the right stop. This was in a large city. Now a days they would probably remove a child from the home for that kind of "neglect" but it was just expected of a "responsible" child fifty years ago.
The fact that the child was open to a stranger doesn’t upset me so much, I hate to see introverted children that mumble and look at their feet when you speak to them, they seem to lack any self confidence. That actually bothers me a lot because I wonder what the parents do to make these kids such emotional invalids.
Of course if the girl was expected to wait she should have been taught not to go with anyone and not to leave the spot she was left at.
Now the scenario vendanta19 related is the opposite, shows just wanton neglect and a selfish, self centered attitude. Too bad the police didn’t get involved in that case. |
| User | vedanta19 | 2005-04-14 | | | Subject | yes, i know | | Message | thanks for sharing. it reminded me of this restaurant i worked.
we were done with our busy sunday lunch and i was getting ready to give my shift-handover. i told the crew to check on the cleaning part and side-station fill-ups. one of my crew came running to me and said that there was this child, looking completely scared and seemed very lost. About to cry his loudest. we had a three-level restaurant, i ran up to check on the same. And noticed this kid of around 5years, standing quietly with his toy-car. Extremely petrified. I came up him and smiled and complimented him on his really nice car. The kid immediately hugged me and cried. He kept on asking for his mom. I offered him a icecream and told him that his mom had gone to the loo. He was not convinced and told me that she had forgotten him there and he hugged me even tighter. I sent one of the crew to complain to the local police station. Our restaurant was near a busy beach and finding for the parent would be very difficult. As I entertained the kid, the kid holding my hand, rather tightly followed me everywhere. One the diner recognized the kid and immediately dialled his parents’ number. The parents came after couple of hours and went tearyeyed when they saw him. The kid by that time, did not want to go with his parents. When I asked the mom how something like this could happen. She apologised and told me that they had ’forgotten’ him there. He was the birthboy and she completely pissed me such a silly answer. |
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