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Gut check...what would you do?
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 2006-11-20 1:12 PM |
Master  1791     Raleigh, North Carolina |  Subject: Gut check...what would you do?I was running last week during my lunch hour. I had snuck out a few mins early to get in a longer than normal run and I went a new route. I'm looping through a development. I look ahead and see a little kid in the distance. As I get closer, I see that he looks to be about 5-6 years old and appears to be playing out in the front yard with not a stitch of clothes from the waist down (it was a nice day too - mid 70's). From a distance, there looked to be scratches and scrapes all down his legs. As I get closer, I can see that the scratches and scrapes were in fact magic marker (he had written all over himself). So, I slow down to a jog and say to him, "Hi buddy. Are you ok?" He proceeds to give me a great big smile and said something back I couldn't understand but it sounded like some sort of hello. He seemed like he was having the time of his life streaking around the front yard. Not 10 seconds after this, a truck pulls behind me slowly, and then into the house where this kid is playing. A man steps out and says something to the little guy and the kid didn't freak, so I keep on running. My initial panic thinking the little boy was in trouble turned out to be nothing. Would you have done the same thing? Something different? |
| 2006-11-20 1:15 PM in reply to: #604084 |
Master 1201 Indian Harbour Beach, Florida | Subject: RE: Gut check...what would you do? I would have gone to the front door and found an adult before the truck arrived. |
| 2006-11-20 1:17 PM in reply to: #604087 |
Master 1791 Raleigh, North Carolina | Subject: RE: Gut check...what would you do? TBZ - 2006-11-20 2:15 PM I would have gone to the front door and found an adult before the truck arrived.
Couldn't. Truck pulled up as I got to the kid. Driver did not approach the kid - instead headed directly for the front door. |
| 2006-11-20 1:18 PM in reply to: #604084 |
COURT JESTER 12230  ROCKFORD, IL | Subject: RE: Gut check...what would you do? I hope I would have at least slowed to a walk and kept an eye on the kid to see what happened next. Then reacted from there… |
| 2006-11-20 1:26 PM in reply to: #604084 |
Runner | Subject: RE: Gut check...what would you do? At the least, I would've done what you did. I might've asked the truck driver who he was, too. Actually, I've had something similar, but I was also with a coworker (female). The child, however, was not in the yard, but wandering up and down the street. He had managed to get out a door somehow, while mom was distracted or napping or something. Anyway, mom was freaked out, and very grateful to have kid back in the house. I think, though, that being male has some impact on handling situations with kids. I and my male friends have discussed this, and we're all sort of of the same mindset that if the kid is a stranger, we are much more distant than, say, our wives would be. I tend to not get close enough to touch the child (unless really necessary). Self-protection sort of thing, you know? |
| 2006-11-20 1:59 PM in reply to: #604084 |
Expert 706 New Orleans | Subject: RE: Gut check...what would you do? I had a similar situation happen to me while I was playing with my son at a playground in Cape May, NJ. A little boy (about 3 years old) was walking towards the street (Cape May harbor was on the immediate other side of the street), and there was not another adult anywhere in site. I litteraly had to run across the parking lot to get to the kid before he got out into the street. I brought him back to the playground and asked an older kid that was riding by on a bike if he knew who the child was. He pointed to one of the apartments on the opposite side of the playground and said he thought he lived there. I walked the child to that apartment and knocked on the door. His mom answered the door, cigarette in hand, TV blairing in the background, and was like, "He must have snuck out when I wasn't looking!" She said thanks, took him inside, and shut the door. I was dumbfounded. After picking my jaw up off the ground, I knocked on the door again and explained with a few choice words to the "mom" that her son has been about 10 feet from being run over, and about 30 feet from drowning in Cape May harbor. I was FURIOUS! It sounds like your initial panic was a good reaction. You never know what is happening in situations like that. It's amazing what some "parents" consider sufficient child-care. |
| 2006-11-20 2:10 PM in reply to: #604084 |
Master 1641 Cambridge, MA | Subject: RE: Gut check...what would you do? I probably would've done what you did and assumed "the best" since the kid reacted OK to the truck guy coming up to the house. Tough call though, and it would've made me worry. Better to talk with an adult -- either truck guy or mom/sitter inside -- and even then...it's still sketchy. Some parents really make me worry for their kids. |
| 2006-11-20 2:29 PM in reply to: #604084 |
| Extreme Veteran 488 NY | Subject: RE: Gut check...what would you do? I've had something like that happen to me. I was walking down the street and I saw a kid in the backseat of a car staring out the back window. The car wasn't running, just parked, all windows up. As i got closer, my first reaction was that nobody was in the car. I peered in and a head popped up and the guy just looked at me. He rolled down the window and said "can I help you." Becasue the window was tinted, i couldn't see the guy, i'm now gently embarassed, but feel like i did the right thing. My response to the guy was that I thought the kid was alone, and he gave me a dumb look. So I told him to roll the f-in window down!
I say always react, you will never regret not asking the question. Edited by emac21 2006-11-20 2:29 PM |
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