Two year old on the loose in the Burger King parking lot

dolfan · Postby **dolfan** » April 16th, 2010, 11:06 am

Today, I picked up my wife at lunch and we made a quick trip to Sam's in Huntsville. We both went looking for things we needed. On the way back to her office we stopped at the BK in Madison, AL. If you're from here, you know the one. Extremely busy in and out place. We zipped into the parking lot headed for the drive-thru lane and a little boy about 2 was strolling alone off the sidewalk and into the parking lot. I stopped and said "Please, please, somebody", thinking a parent would pop out from the other side of the car he was next to and be all ashamed and thankful.

Nope.

The kid took about 2 more steps and I jumped out of the car as he made a direct line to the middle of the whole parking lot where cars were coming and going. He was headed toward a black Blazer. I got to him and the lady who'd stopped behind me was on my heels. We steered him back to the building and my wife had run up and said, "Let me take him in." You know, she's a child welfare social worker and full of, ahem, pee and vinegar as they say here.

About that time, a lady in her sixties with a 1 year old in her arms strolled nonchalantly (interpret that as space-cadety) out of the BK. "Oh, she said, "there you are. I was looking all over for him. I knew he was gone but I had this one [she wagged the 1 year old] and I looked all around inside but couldn't find him."

My wife said, "Well, you need to pay attention to what you're doing then because you're not watching this one." Silence.

This mammaw then walked all the way across the parking lot not even with her hand on the 2 year old, who dutifully followed her to the Blazer. She struggled to get them in their car seats (understandably, but at least she had 2 car seats -- whew!). She acted as if it was no big deal.

This after a 4 year old was crushed to death in their neighbor's driveway earlier this week in our state. I am absolutely paranoid about that and I won't bore you with how I beat that in the ground and break it off in warning my daughter about cars, the driveway, streets, etc.

I honestly wanted to slap the lady. They had out-of-state plates. Some village in Mississippi, if you're looking for your idiot, check out US 72. She's probably coming through there about now.

Ilovebigcats · Postby **Ilovebigcats** » April 16th, 2010, 5:06 pm

Ohhhhhhh.. that makes me sooooooooooo maddddddddddddddd.......................... :evil:

LisaMarie · Postby **LisaMarie** » April 17th, 2010, 5:48 am

I am the nanny of a wonderful 2 year old and a 2 month old. I bought one of those cute animal backpack leashes for the 2 year old. My daughter said that some people called them child abuse. I told her I would much rather know that I could stop him if he got away from me than live with the fact that I couldn't stop him and he ended up under a car. He loves it and I felt so much better when I had him downtown last weekend for a busy weekend.

Postby **Jeremy Gault** » April 17th, 2010, 6:36 am

dolfan wrote:I honestly wanted to slap the lady. They had out-of-state plates. Some village in Mississippi, if you're looking for your idiot, check out US 72. She's probably coming through there about now.

I would of. You should of. (I just have NO tolerance level for this kind of idiocy.) Oh, and please tell me she wasn't headed NORTH on 72 was she? Because if so, she may have made it to South Pittsburg (TN), where I have to be next weekend... and if she played her cards right, she may have ended up here in Cleveland! ::shudders::

dolfan · Postby **dolfan** » April 20th, 2010, 5:11 am

Jeremy, I doubt could have made it out of Madison, Alabama to be honest. Looked to me like she was probably keeping her grandchildren and had taken them to the BK. Almost got one of them killed but who can quibble? She didn't know how close she came to having the whole police department and DHR child welfare surrounding her SUV.

Postby **Jeremy Gault** » April 26th, 2010, 12:43 pm

dolfan wrote:Jeremy, I doubt could have made it out of Madison, Alabama to be honest.

Whew.

dolfan wrote:Looked to me like she was probably keeping her grandchildren and had taken them to the BK. Almost got one of them killed but who can quibble? She didn't know how close she came to having the whole police department and DHR child welfare surrounding her SUV.

Yeah. She got lucky. You know, last night, Amber and I were at Wally World and saw someone with a 2 or 3 year old child walking through the parking lot, NOT holding their hand. Mind you, they were walking with their parents, but nothing stopping them from taking off. Amber about had a fit. (And she does social work, too.) I can't blame her though -- I mean seriously, how hard is it to hold your kid's hand so they don't run amok in the parking lot?

dolfan · Postby **dolfan** » April 27th, 2010, 3:34 am

My daughter is 6 and I do it to this day. She doesn't take a permitted step in a parking lot without holding my hand and me physically pointing and telling her where to stand, walk, etc. It may sound more like I'm walking a dog or something to some folks, but I'm going to do whatever I have to do to (a) protect my child from risks she can't understand or appreciate and (b) teach my child to open her eyes and pay attention to what's going on around her.

jessicacook · Postby **jessicacook** » April 28th, 2010, 9:57 am

I always tell my son before we go outside that he has to hold my hand because we are going outside and there are lots of cars around. He still fights and cries and tries to snatch away. I have a tight grip on him and I tell him he either holds my hand or I will hold him. Hopefully he will grow out of that soon; it's hard trying to carry a purse, shopping bags, and drag a screaming kid across the street before someone runs us over! All because he doesn't want to hold my hand. *sigh*

Jude 2