POMWA Parents- seeking Peace Of Mind! 98 members

By: mrsncook 2 months ago

Can she see the children from her window?  Is the park in a private community?  Is she leaving them for short periods of time, like washing dishes looking out the window for half an hour?  Is it a quiet street?  If not, I would share your concerns with either the mom or the authorities, depending upon the situation. 

I've seen one child at about 2 years old wandering up and down the street from morning until night in a dirty diaper, hours on end not being changed, filthy.  Lunch and dinner passed with no food or supervision, it was a very busy road.  That is a call to the authorities without even thinking about it.  There's no reason a child is left wandering the streets day after day with no supervision like that.  I once saw two young boys under 5 late at night, just underpants/diapers on at 8-9p in the cold weather.  They were out for at least half an hour.  It was cold enough I had on a fall jacket, so I called the cops and told them about the situation.  No excuse for that lack of parenting. 

But if it's a dead end street and there's not a lot of concern about the kids getting hit, if the parent is just inside doing chores and checking on them frequently, and if they can see the park from the window, I wouldn't worry about it too much.  Maybe you could say, "I noticed your children at the park.  I was worried they might get hit by a car.  If you need help, I'd be happy to watch them at the park for an hour on Saturday so you could get your chores done."  Then you could see if the mother is perhaps overwelmed and needs help, for which you might be able to provide resources.  (I.e. Here's the number for a summer day camp.)

By: BradyBunch 2 months ago

You didn't mention how old - makes a huge difference at least to me.

By: BethOry 2 months ago

I feel it's best to talk to her before rushing to judgement and/or calling authorities. It is very easy to mis-read a situation and cause more harm than good.

By: julez 2 months ago

 3 and 5 year ods have no business being unattended in front of the house, let alone across the street at a park.  I don't know how far you want to go with this, but you have to do something. What if the mother was in the bathroom and the 3 year old wandered into the street?  Heaven forbid they get stolen, which is my biggest fear.  No way would it ever be ok in my book to leave such young ones alone, whether in the house or outside. Its irresponsible and unsafe.  Whatever chores she has will be there at naptime, or later in the day.

By: crickle1969 2 months ago

I would probably watch them until I was ready to leave and then walk them home and explain to mom that you didn't feel comfortable leaving them by themselves.  I would probably also tell her about a news report I saw about children being snatched from a park and then just say something like, "you may want to make sure you are in safe distance to your children."  Then, go home.  This was not a choice so I didn't actually vote.  Because I would watch them some so they could play, but I would also talk to her in as non threatening language as possible.  Now, if it kept happening I'd get a little more firm.

Of coruse it also depends on the community.  Here where I live there is no way I'd condone leaving children of that age in a park even just across the street.  However, I have a friend who lives in a town of just a couple hundred people where everyone knows everyone and she does live across the street from a park and it isn't so unusal to see young children there when they live across the street.