Crash had a really shit day on Saturday. After swimming, he took the kids to Broadway shopping centre so that Ben could go to a birthday party at IntenCity. Unfortunately, Charlie really, really liked IntenCity. Crash gave him a game of air hockey and then promised him another after they had finished the shopping Crash wanted to do.
It was all going ok (Charlie approved of the porridge making device, but disapproved of the casserole making device) until Crash headed out to the car to deposit the purchases. Perhaps Charlie felt that his deal had been broken. For whatever reason, he took it upon himself to go back to the birthday party, without warning.
It was an hour before Crash found him.
For the people who walked past the crying three year old in Broadway on Saturday, I have a few tips:
- If you see a small child with no obvious adult nearby, take 15 seconds out of your precious life to scan for an adult that looks like it belongs to the child.
- If the child is crying, don't walk away unless you are positive an adult is overseeing a tantrum.
- If there is no adult watching a crying child, ask them if they are ok. Worst case scenario it will take you 5 minutes to take the kid to security and you can get on with your life. You will save an adult and child a great deal distress.
On the plus side, we've had the massive scare that should stop Charlie bolting again and it all ended well. Poor Crash needed a lot sympathy and kindness that night.
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*shudder* Poor boys - both of them! So glad it all turned out ok.
ReplyDeleteRed jackets are good :)
Oh, oh, oh. My goodness. People really walked past a crying three-year-old with no grownup in sight? Who does that?
ReplyDeleteThe Motherlode blog at the New York Times had a column on lost child stories with happy endings. This one made me shudder more than most of those. Hope you're all recovering.
Oh! I really feel for you guys. How scary!!!
ReplyDeleteI lost Jack, when he was three, for about 5-10 minutes and that was scary in itself.
Sad that no adult helped. It really does make you wonder about humanity.
On a positive note, Jack took a walk in a holiday park and got lost when he was six. He cried. A man found him. Jack had a map with him and showed the man our cabin. Using that the man was able to bring Jack back to us. So some people ARE decent.
I should have said that in the end he was found because a woman did stop and help Charlie. So there was at least one kind and caring person in the place.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am told this morning that one of the mothers at the party told her husband on the phone what was going on and he volunteered to come down and help look for Charlie.
Not to mention everyone else at the party who looked after Elissa while Crash looked for Charlie. So there were lots of helpful people.
I'm still just amazed that anyone would walk past a crying pre-schooler.
But we are all good now. It has prompted some useful conversations in our house, and in quite a few others as well. :)
I am so glad it all ended well, that must have been the longest hour of Crash's life. My heart sinks just thinking about it.
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