On the heals of another thread... I just have to vent about what happened whilst the hubs and I were out shopping today!Ugh... DH and I grabbed a snack at Target (whilst we were in a shopping mood) and sat down in the little food area. This mom came in and dropped off what I thought were her two kids at a table... one looked around 3 the other around 5. She told them to stay there while she (BRACE YOURSELF) did her shopping!! OMG! I about fell off my chair... but not wanting to cause a scene... just kept to myself.
Five minutes passed, ten minutes passed, older boy starts singing to the younger boy "just stay put, just stay here, my mom will be back to get us, your mom will come home soon" (sweet of the boy), FIFTEEN MINUTES PASS! At this point I am about to get up and go get the manager of the store (YES, I am one of those who would have called CPS at this point in THIS situation), the mom comes waltzing back with a cart full of stuff she bought. She hands a game to the older boy and says "here is for staying put and watching him, now lets go get some lunch (at the food bar in Target)."
Now this is what REALLY boils my blood... she can leave her TWO PRECIOUS CHILDREN unattended in a room full of strangers, but she looks around and takes her cart full of purchases with her to the food counter! How in God's green earth is your junk you just bought more important than your children and those you watch?!?! That is my definition of an irresponsible parent!
As we got up to leave she was returning. I looked at her and said, "What you just did is insane and you are lucky I felt too guilty to leave the table area. Someone could have stolen your kids! If I see you in here doing that again, I will call CPS on you." (okay at this point I had been quite long enough, poor dh was embarrassed and I was so furious, so it might have not been the best thing to say, but oh well, if it makes her think). You know what she did... infront of her kids... looked at me and called me a "witch" (but replace the w with a b)! .... i almost let out a "white trash" but held myself back. :)
The 3 yo was blonde, the 5 yo was blondish brown. The younger of the two was thinner with more delicate features. The older was a little more husky.
The mom/caregiver was heavy (not huge, but noticably heavy), frizzy blonde/brown streaked hair. She was wearing sweatpants and a grey shirt.
IF THIS IS YOUR CAREGIVER PLEASE FIRE HER IMMEDIATELY!
This was today (3/21/08) at around 12:00-12:30 (noon-ish). It was at the TARGET on Sawmill Road in Columbus (Dublin), Ohio.
"whilst" ?????? OMG- did you seriously use that word??? OK Shakespeare.
ReplyDeletePersonally I would have called the manager and insist she be paged and then informed the police were called as she abandoned 2 young children in the food court.
I assume they were too young to be left that is.
I bet she would have thought twice about doing it again.
Your reaction I'm afraid did nothing to help.
Might I suggest you put a link to this site and a copy of your post on your local Craigslist in the Rants and Raves section so there will be a better chance that the mother of the younger child will have a chance at actually seeing this.
I simply can't believe this behavior. How horrible! And we wonder how babies are left in cars in the summer to die from the heat. Parents just don't care about their precious little children.
ReplyDeleteI agree with where4's suggestion: publicize this incident more widely. Hopefully something will come of it and that lady will be set straight.
I wouldn't knock somebody because they use a "fancy" word.
ReplyDeleteAt least she probably knows it's "Wherefore ART thou?"
As soon as she left I would of called the police. All they would of did in target was page the person the child was with and that would of been that..
ReplyDeleteI shall now make "whilst" my word-of-the-day.
ReplyDeleteThat is really horrible of this mom/care giver to do. I seriously wish people had to get a license/take a class/something in order to be allowed to have kids. She should be shopping at Big Lots bc Target is obviously too fancy for the likes of her.
I use "whilst" fairly often.. but using it twice, and so close together is a bit of an overdose.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it obvious that it was the mom, considering the boy was singing a song about MOM COMING BACK SOON?
ReplyDeleteEither way, unbelievable. People do some very bizarre things. Hopefully she'll think about what you said to her and never do anything like that again.
At least you got a chance to look down your nose at someone (though I didn't realize eating @ the Taget snackbar was so elitest?) if not do something actually productive!
ReplyDeleteKudos to you!!
Op here...
ReplyDeleteThe mom did not look anything like the littlest boy. There were other indicators as well that I didn't feel were relevant or nessecary to put in original post... and my family is of English decent... so stop ragging on me for the use of the word "whilst." Ugh. Really...
I would definitely publicize this more, especially because of what the little boy was singing. Since you said she did not look anything like the youngest boy, it definitely could be the oldest boy's mother and the younger boy's nanny. If the younger boy was my child I would definitely want to know.
ReplyDeleteIt said right in the post that the older boy said "My mom will be back to get us, your mom will be home soon". So she was a mother to one and a care giver for the other.
ReplyDeleteWe're just messing around about the 'whilst' thing, simmer.
I guess I will never understand people who see bad things, children left alone, animal cruelty, abuse. And never do anything about it! I mean really like do you need a lightning bolt sent straight to your behind from the big man himself to realize that you need to act???
ReplyDeleteOP is obviously British or from some Commonwealth place. Yes, "whilst" sounds funny to us but that's what they use. But, seriously OP, why didn't you call the police? Esp in Dublin they probably would have come pretty fast.
ReplyDeleteOP Here...
ReplyDeleteAt the point I was ready to do so, the mom/caregiver came back. I was not ready to get into a "your word vrs. mine" in the Target store. (too Jerry Springer for my taste) So, I just called her out and hope that she was frightened into not doing it again.
Also, my DH is very non-confrontational and did not want me "Causing a scene"
I am sure if I was on my own I would have caused one about 5 minutes in.
Wait. You sat there for 15 min and watched the kids, thinking about calling someone, but not doing anything instead of going to the customer service desk which is located less than 100 ft from where you were sitting? (I go to that Target all the time).
ReplyDeleteAlthough I hate that someone (mom or nanny) would leave their kids alone for even a min. in a busy public store, what is wrong with people? Why don't people report things like this to the store or police or security (there is also a security gaurd on duty in that Target at almost all times).
Because nothing bad happened to the kids, and because no one got involved except for one lady who yelled at her, this mom/nanny will probably go on leaving her children alone.
They ought to show the movie "Adam" to every parent before they are allowed to leave the hospital with their new baby.
ReplyDeletePeople are so lazy and stupid sometimes.
12:12, I take it you meant "elitist"?
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
OP, I agree that this was a very stupid and dangerous thing to do, but as soon as the woman finished the sentence "stay here while I shop", I would of gotten up immediately and notified someone. How is telling someone that two small children being left alone is causing "a scene?" You didn't have to tell the woman herself, just notify a worker at the store. Don't give people like that so many minutes to come redeem themselves. A child abduction can happen in the blink of an eye. I don't care if she was only going off to grab one item and checkout.
ReplyDelete