Kids: The Good, the Bad, and the One's I yell at...

[Red_Dazes]

^_^ The Children Fear me and their parents HATE me. ^_^ I am the unofficial child round up for our store. When ever we have kids miss behaving or untended my managers always call me and tell me to handle it. ^_^ It's the one part of my job I love.... I get to tell them off.

[RootedPhoenix]

Helper
<snip>
She was such an helping me clean up my register, too. And we kept doing a little 'hide-and-seek' thing from the register. I'd been having a crummy day, but that just made me

Aw. I love it when kids are like that. Reminds you that there's good kids and good parents out there.

[MoxisPilot]

The "Child Left Behind" scenario is one I always, always, ALWAYS hated about working in a daycare.

We closed at 6pm, every night, no excuses. Come 6:30, at least once a week, we'd have three kids still waiting on mom and dad. Come 7, we'd have one. We'd call their parent, and said parent would say they were too busy to pick up little So-and-So, and could we please call Parent #2/Guardian/Friend of family?

One of the parents notorious for this (who was always "too busy"), when no one else could come, would breeze in at 7:30 (!!!) with shopping bags from [nearby mall] piled in the front seat of her car.

This was, of course, partially our fault for not enforcing the overtime fees, but we did eventually call child services on her. Nothing came of it.

The excuses we heard for late pick-ups:

1. I was at work. Why didn't you call me??? (Uh...we have to call you to remind you to pick up your child?)

2. We forgot he was at daycare today. (!?!?)

3. Mom/Dad thought Dad/Mom was picking child up.

4. I lost track of time.

[hobbitt97]

Me too!

When I was about 11 I was at a local garden nursery about a half a mile from home. My mother told me to stay with her as she was just going in for a few minutes. I ignored her request and was trying to get a parrot on display to talk. I must have been with the parrot for about 15 minutes when I became aware that my Mom was no longer in sight. Now I usually have walked to the corner store on numerous occassions and the nursery was about halfway between home and the corner store. I had to walk home. I got punished for not staying with my mom as she had instructed.

[trunks2k]

This absolutely breaks my heart My own son would be hysterical if he couldn't me for a few minutes, never mind hours! I'm definitely curious what the parent's excuse was for showing up 6 hours later!

Probably something along the lines of parent forgot they had the kid with them and thought the kid was with the other parent. A few hours later, the parents get together and go "uhh... where's Billy?". A sort of Home Alone-esque sort of situation. I'm not too quick to jump on parents when this sort of thing happens. Sometimes even important things just slip your mind, especially if you have deviated from a normal routine and/or you're exhausted. I can especially see it happen if the kid is well behaved and fairly independent. Unfortunately, that one important thing can have tragic consequences.

Something similar happened to me when I was 7 or so, but I was left at home. My mom went to go play softball, and I was playing somewhere outside. My dad left later to watch the game and thought I was with my mom. He got to the softball field and figured I was playing around the woods near the field like I always did. About half an hour into the game he talks to my mom and asks her where I am. Then they realized where I was. My dad rushed home - I didn't even realize he had left.

Edit: After reading their excuse, I think that's BS. I can understand forgetting the kid at the store. But I can't see something not clicking in your head when you don't see your kid after being home for an hour (at most).

[trunks2k]

Exactly. He was only 5 years old. That's too young to possibly just leave at home while you go shopping ...

To play a bit of devil's advocate - mom and dad are at home, dad brings Billy with him to the store which he normally doesn't do. Dad forgets Billy is with him, figures he's at home with mom. Dad heads home, leaving Billy behind.

That part, I can buy.

It's the coming home and not realizing that Billy isn't around for six hours that I don't buy.

[taxguykarl]

These kids were playing in the cart corral, and I told them to stop. I walk away, and not a minute later as I walk back, I see them playing in it again.

me: Excuse me! WHAT did I just say?
kids:

I'm sorry, but not that sorry. I mean, I did warn them. They just happened to be the last straw on this poor camel's back...

Don't be sorry...If those kids got injured, your organization would be sued. Very likely for doing nothing to stop their horseplay.

[tphillip]

Leaving kid behind - bad; Not knowing where they are - Not as much

The parents who left their kid at the store for 6 hours should have some face time at the local Public Safety Building, and then regular colonoscopies from CPS. My parents never did that to any of their kids. Then again, I'd get smacked because it was my fault for not keeping up.

But concept of knowing where the kids are every minute of every day would have been a foreign concept to my parents and may others where/when I grew up (And AFAICT it's still that way). My brothers and I would vanish for hours and no one thought much of it. I remember being 7 or 8 and telling my mother I was going to bike to school to play at the playground. School was 5 miles away and I'd ride my little one-speed down and back. I'd be gone for 3-4 hours at a minimum. Nobody blinked an eye.

When I was older (11-12) my family got an All Terrain Cycle (ATC), and I'd disappear for 1/2 the day as I rode over thousands of acres I and my neighbors owned. Over the river and through the woods was not a figure of speech where I grew up. Neither was clotheslining yourself on the maple sugar piping when you weren't paying enough attention. But so long as I was home by dark (Sometimes 6-8 hours away) it was "have fun" from the parents.

I guess it's a different mindset when you're out in the country: keep an eye on the kids when you're away, but give them free reign when you're home.

[tropicsgoddess]

What the hell?!!! Leaving the poor kid behind on his birthday and showing up for him 6 hours later?!!! That's just wrong. As for the other kids, they could use a little tanning on their hides and I wouldn't mind doing it either. The little girl was so sweet helping you out, seeing kids like her make me have more faith in humanity.

[Calie]

and the parents show up 6 HOURS LATER!!!

Reminds me of this story: http://www.katu.com/news/local/41542747.html

Only in this case, the mom didn't notice for 17hours! Granted, some of that was overnight when the kid was assumed to be in bed, and the lady has a lot of children who usually babysit...but still. It seems far too common these days that parents just "forget" their kids even exist. If I'm ever in a situation like the OP, I'll be on the phone with CPS as fast as I can.

[BethB]

My mom forgot about us kids once....ONCE! Anyway, my mom dropped us off at the local mall while she went to a friend for a visit. Said she'd be back in about 2hrs. 2 hrs roll by, we wait at entrance. 2.5hrs we head for phone to call but we were given a wrong number(go mom) so we decide to just walk home which was about a 2hr walk. Thnakfully my mom's boyfriend's brother and sis in law were driving by and gave us a lift home. And after that we never again agreed to being dropped off at the mall when she went to her friend's house. It was better but more boring to just stay home.

Now, I can never forget my kids. How?! Even when they were infants I was hyperaware of their existence. I still am and my oldest is 11. And I insist she stay nearby or if she wants to go look at a store, we ALL go to said store. I get nervous with all the news reports that make front page and wonder how many don't get media coverage. I'm not sure the kids are aware of how paranoid I am. Guess I hide it well or at least I will until they want to head to Mexico for spring break. Then my inner paranoid nutcase will come out of hiding