You see a lost child in a shop. What would you do?

jackofalltrades wrote: »

Accusse them of trying to abduct the child in public.
Call the guards. You then have to wait for the guards to turn up.
While all around you people are looking at you and judging you.
You then get to be questioned about what you were doing.

Can you imagine how humiliating that would be?
In a smaller down where rumours spread this could be disastrous for the person involved.

And what about being able to protest your innocence and tell those idiots to **** off, and the people who will come to your defence?
Too much power is given to drama-seeking weirdos going by this scenario.

Stheno wrote: »

I'm in a sports club with dedicated time for children's lessons

Duringb that time no one apart from vetted coaches and parents are allowed any contact with the children so I take that same view in my wider life

They are following child safety protocols to protect the club and the children

It has nothing to do with your sports club. That is context specific. We don't apply context specific policy to the entirety of our lives as a general rule.



You don't like kids and you've made that pretty clear. Or their crap parents.

Apologies for the length of the post! But I think it's important for those who wouldn't intervene to help a lost child to read it.

"James Bulger, the two-year-old allegedly beaten to death in Bootle, Merseyside, was spotted by passers-by in a distressed state being dragged along by two children, but nobody stopped to intervene, Preston crown court heard yesterday.

On the fourth day of the trial of two boys, aged 11, who deny counts of murder and attempted abduction, the jury heard evidence from a succession of witnesses relating to the movements of James after he left the New Strand shopping centre on February 12 having been separated from his mother.

Some witnesses said they saw the toddler crying and upset, but did not act because they assumed the two boys with him were relatives.

Kathleen Richardson said she cried out in anger when she saw how roughly a baby was being treated by two older boys. She was on the 67a bus travelling home.

At about 3.50pm, as the bus reached a roundabout about a mile from the New Strand, she saw out of the bus window two boys with a young child between them.

The boys were holding the child's hands. One let go as the other swung the child high above his shoulder. She saw the child's white shoes as he came up.

'I shouted out in the bus: 'What the hell are those kids doing to that poor child! What kind of friggin' parents have they got to let them out with a child like that?'

Under cross-examination, Mrs Richardson added: 'They were being rough with him. That's what made me shout out. It will never leave me because it upset me so much.'

A driver with a dry cleaning firm, Mark Pimblett, said he saw three boys at the roundabout while on his deliveries. Two boys appeared to be dragging the third younger one who was 'trying to dig in'.

As he drove off, Mr Pimblett looked in his mirror and saw one of the older boys kick the child under his right arm. 'It wasn't like a full blast kick, it was more like to persuade him to come on,' he said.

David Keay, a cab driver aged 33, was on the taxi rank outside the New Strand when he saw two boys with a younger child. 'One of the boys had him by the arm, pulling him up, and then he sort of held him up. He just pulled him up and lifted him up and put his arms around him.'

Lorna Brown cried in the witness box as she told the jury how she had watched a little boy being picked up by one of two older boys. When he was set down again, she noticed he was injured.

'He had a fresh bump on his forehead. It was a little speckly mark in the centre of his forehead.'

She walked on, then back in their direction but they had gone. 'I just wondered if the little boy was okay,' she said.

David Turner, QC, defending one of the accused, said: 'You were a little uneasy but not sufficiently uneasy to intervene.'

Mrs Brown replied: 'That's right.'

Earlier, the court heard that by the time James had reached the Leeds and Liverpool canal, a quarter of a mile from the New Strand, he was in a distressed condition. Malcolm Walton said he saw a child, whom he later identified as James, clearly upset. 'He was crying his eyes out.'

Pauline Murphy saw a child holding hands with an older boy in a beige coat. When the older boy let go of his hand, the child tried to run away but was brought back by a second boy wearing a dark coat.

'The little boy looked confused. He didn't know what was going on. I just thought they were friends or something. The little boy didn't seem to mind. I thought they were just relatives."

And YES I realise that it's a completely different situation, and that many of those who wouldn't intervene when the child looked lost but happy enough, would in fact intervene if the child was clearly in distress.

But by walking on by, you could be allowing for a situation to happen where the child does fall into harms way. How could you forgive yourself for that?

As a parent, I honestly believe most people are good. I don't believe in paedos/psychos lurking around every corner, just waiting for an unattended child. It's a total exception.

And I'm not using the "as a parent" thing as an argument that I've only understood this since becoming a parent - I've helped unattended children on several occasions long before I became a mother. I'm sure most other non-parents can understand the concept too ... it's just being a normal member of society. By the way, as it happens, I wouldn't describe myself as someone who likes children. I love my son to bits, but I'm a bit meah when it comes to other peoples' children. But I still recognise the importance of recognising their vulnerability and protecting them if they're in potential danger.

If I lost my son in a shopping centre, my main fear would be that he'd escape and run under a car (he's able to walk and run, but far too young to understand the danger of traffic.) I'd be afraid he'd pull some heavy display on top of himself and injure/kill himself - he loves climbing and pulling. I don't worry about paedophiles - it's such a rarity. And in fairness, if you were going to want to commit such an act and get away with it, it's unlikely you'd hang around shopping centres (full of CCTV) just waiting for the opportunity.

My point being that, in my opinion, most normal mothers (and fathers) would love for you to help their child in whatever way is best for the safety of the child. And in my opinion most normal parents won't mind any person (male or female) picking their child up to bring them to the customer services desk, or (in other circumstances, e.g. a child wandering alone outside) the Garda station if appropriate, whatever!

And if you get a bollocking for it from a hysterical parent, then, so what. It's they that have the problem, not you. Don't let it dissuade you next time.

I've never yet lost my toddler, but he's only one since January, and well able to walk and run. And chances are it may happen sometime (of course I will do all I can to prevent it, but it may happen!) And if you're a male, and you see a very cute curly-haired toddler rambling around alone, I can promise you I'll be nothing but appreciative to you if and when you return him to me.

I would hope that most reasonable and rational parents would be of the same mindframe.

I am a member of staff, and the amount of parents that happily leave their children to wander round never ceases to amaze. The correct answer is, take them to the customer service desk, put an announcement over the tannoy.

Approach in-house security & inform them.