My son fell over...

victory

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Elle7

It's a difficult one...

At Alton Towers last month I saw a 2-year-old standing at the front of a very long line, looking very lost. She was clearly petrified, was biting her lip to stop herself crying and refused to speak. I did have to think about whether to take her hand and lead her somewhere or just stand there and hope her mum and dad came back.

I decided to take her hand, which she gave me, but as soon as I did a woman ran up and screeched "Is that your daughter?!" at me. When I explained she was apologetic, and walked up to the front with me to give her in after trying to talk to her herself, but still. The society we live in has turned sinister, and I'm female. If I was male, I would never have risked taking her to the front.

It might have been the same with your son...although I would have spoken to him to see if he needed help.

I hope he recovers soon...it sounds like a bad fall!

peachyprice

It's such a sad state of affairs but I'm afraid that's what happens when a society sees everyone as a potential sexual predator, people are too scared to help children for fear of being accused of wrongdoing. And it's the children that are paying the price for that.

pigpen

He would probably have been mortified had a stranger gone over and helped him up and made him look like.. in his eyes.. a baby... He was probably embarrassed enough at face planting without the added shame.

I know my 12 year old would have wanted the ground to swallow him had he fallen over.. injuries or no!

There may well have been a few people who saw but waited to see if he was capable of getting up and getting home safely before walking on.. he may not have noticed these people.. i have seen a young man go a55 over t!t from his bike.. which i wouldnt have let him ride as it was icy and he ha his arm in a cast already.. he skidded went flying right over the handlebars.. scrabbled to his feet and rode off as fast as possible.. had he hesitated i would have gone over and checked he was ok.. offered to ring his parents etc..

It is very different with a 2 y/o ... obviously as they do wander and get lost.

victory

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*Louise*

I know I would have stopped, and all of the kids I work with would have stopped as well (we do First Aid training), as would many other people I reckon.

I think your son was maybe just unlucky with the people around him at the time Victory, I hope he is okay

jolfc

Fortunately he never hit his head otherwise I would be off to the docs, I have checked for brakes as he keeps saying his leg hurts and is walking funny but there is no swelling etc so it is just superficially, oh I give up on this day, really.


You may be aswell to go to check out his leg. A girl at the school where I work fell off a little log and put her hand out to break the fall, there was no visible break and she said it did not really hurt, but when she got home later that evening it became very painful and when her mum got her to A and E her wrist was broken, :eek:. I am not trying to scare you, . Hope he is feeling better, if I had seen this happen I would have helped him.

Tropez

A guy who used to work at a local business once prevented a school girl from falling over. She tripped on a slightly raised piece of the pavement and he was quick to react and grabbed her, accidentally handling her in the chest area at the time. The girl herself said that he had saved her from potential injury but the local dishrag media and some supposed witnesses were quick to brand this man a predator, danger to society etc. It made no difference what the girl herself said, it made no difference that the situation would have been avoided if the local authority took care of its pavements properly... in fact, nothing seemed to make a difference. In the eyes of everyone who had no business passing comment or judgement, this man was guilty of.... something.

I recall a documentary on television not too long ago. A child actor was sent into a shopping centre, feigning distress as if he was a lost child. Hardly anyone stopped to help and when the documentary makers caught up with those who walked passed the most common response was that they didn't wish to be accused of anything. Notably, those who did stop to help were generally older people (55+).

I think the reason people are so reluctant to help children is out of pure fear. While logic dictates that those with no untoward intentions towards a child in need would ever be punished, the unfortunate ability of others to turn harmless situation into something sinister lead well-meaning people to be fearful for themselves and therefore refuse to put them in any situation whereby there would be the possibility for them to be falsely accused, although thankfully such accusations themselves are something of a rarity.

Going off on something of a tangent, during a criminology lecture we were given a case study from the United States. The question was based around a study conducted in the UK where more than 60% of male respondents said they would not offer assistance to a female who had broken down for fear of being accused of something. In this case in the US, a college-aged girl had crashed her car at night in a low-traffic rural area of the US and we were asked would we stop to help her. Most of us, myself included, said that we would phone for help at the nearest opportunity. As it happened, that is what was done in the case in question, but in the ten minutes between one driver seeing the accident, phoning for help and help arriving, the girl had vanished and has never been seen again. It resonated with me personally because I like to think of myself as a good person, yet for reasons of fear, I would do something different to what my heart might tell me to do and it could have awful implications. I still periodically Google the name of the girl from that case in the vein hope she's turned up safe and well.

snowmaid

I have to agree. Everyone looks at others, unfortunately mostly males, the minute they try and help someone else. Noone can accept that someone may actually be trying to assist someone else. There must always be a sinister ulterior motive. As a female I just about comfortable assisting a child, however, if I were male, I would think twice.

This is what we've become. Sad, isn't it....:(

Wicked_witch

A similar thing happened to my son at that age, he fell off his bike and cut his cheek open, cut his legs and arms badly... apparently someone looked out of their window at him, then just disappeared! Luckily, he was very near home at the time.

I had an experience recently that was difficult to handle- a neighbour's child, no more than 2, had somehow got out of the house and wandered into the street. I saw him just as he was about to dash into the road and found myself trying to guide him away without actually touching him, just in case. When he tried it again, I did pick him up though and my husband went to knock on their door. But yes, I'm a woman and even so I was very worried about touching him after all the publicity about those women working in nurseries who abused their charges. There is no longer the assumption that a woman will mean no harm.

sheilavw

A few years ago I was driving home from work when a lad of about 13 came across the junction in front of me, his chain had come off his bike and he went over the handlebars and badly cut his mouth. I helped him up and got him in the front seat. I managed to fit his bike in the back after dropping the seats. His mouth was bleeding badly. I drove him home, his Dad was washing his car. I explained what happened and he lifted his Sons bike out. I never even got a thank you for driving him home, and my upholstery was covered in blood!