Put your child in first!

[Em MacIntosh]

I'm not a parent but I'm always on the lookout for parenting advice and wanted to thank you all for some great points that never would have occurred to me.

 

[Drac]

Hello, As a part-time Security Officer for Wal-mart, you will see lots of people stop there car (running) leaving the wife/or wife and kids in the passenger seats and the man rushing into the store to get something.

I wrote a woman not too long ago for Child Endangerment because she left 2 infants in a running car doors unlocked so she could run into a pawn shop and buy some gold jewlery...If there was an Aggravated Stupidity law on the books I would have issued one for her comment of "I was watching them", yet she didn't see me pull up to the curb...

 

[Callandor]

Don't assume your child is safe simply because there are other people around.

True. One of them might be the very person you hoped your child is safe from.

 

[Tames D]

Indeed. Several months ago, I was in a grocery store, when I was hit by a small rubber ball... thrown by a girl of about 6, to her brother of about 3. I suggested that she not throw balls in the store, because she might hurt someone, and asked her where her parents were - her father was in the opposite corner of the store, choosing produce. He caught up to me in the parking lot and started yelling at me for daring to discipline his children. I pointed out that I could as easily have picked one up and walked out with him or her, and anyone but himself would likely have assumed I was the mother and the child was having a tantrum, or I could have called the police and reported him for negligence (in Colorado, it's illegal to leave a child under 12 unattended at home, never mind in a store), or for that matter, I could have reported his child for theft (the still-wrapped ball belonged to the store)... as he sputtered about trying to find a response, several other people in the parking lot started clapping. He turned beet red and drove off.

Don't assume your child is safe simply because there are other people around.