Since when are we not allowed to talk to the children?

zaksmum

The world's gone mad. I saw a kid aged about 3 crying in a shopping centre that he'd lost his mummy - went over to help him asking what was mummy wearing etc. when she suddenly reappeared, grabbed the child and SMACKED him and told me to get the f*ck away from him!!

Poor, poor kid.

pawsies

I can understand concern under the age of maybe 7. However I think I'd like to endeavor to tell my kids that talking to adults is ok however they must never go out of my sight, accept any offers and to be polite.
I'd like my kids to be somewhat independent.

dizziblonde

Thing is - then they go ballistic if you DON'T return a wave or a "hiya" - you literally just cannot win!

rpc

peachyprice wrote: »

Since the media whipped the world up into a frenzy and got everyone believing at all strangers a pedos.

And all this despite the evidence that children are most at risk from people they know and from family members the most.

Spendless

I've said it before on here and I'll say it again. I do not tell my children they aren't allowed to talk to a stranger, I tell them they are not allowed to go off with one. There is a difference! It's just as well I had this rule, as 11 months ago my son was assaulted near a field in the village we live, by 3 kids all younger than him. A group of others watched, egged on and 1 filmed it :mad: All the children concerned were known to him and had attended the same schools for the past 8/9 years. DS got free and went to a stranger for help, which he gave him.

I have a daughter of 9, she often goes and sits on a bench if we are out on a shopping trip as she gets bored of looking at stuff. She is perfectly capable of this as she's 9 not 2! She wouldn't have a problem chatting to anyone. We have a family password, so in the event of you saying something like 'I know your Mum, she says it's ok if I take you to x' DD would ask you to supply the password and when you couldn't she wouldn't be going anywhere.

Saturnalia

It's a real shame. A few months ago I was on a train and a little girl (about 3/4 y.o.) was there with her parents, and she toddled up to everyone in the carriage and said hello to us all. I said "hiya!" to her and she kept coming back and saying hiya! to me and giggling.

The sad thing was, everyone else on the train completely ignored the girl when she spoke to them. Probably for exactly this reason.

jemb

She shouldnt have been left outside the shop on her own! Some people are v strange. It would have been everyone elses fault should the little girl have disappeared when she wasnt attended. Perhaps she gave herself a scare. I dont think you have to not talk to them though! I had a little boy in a trolley strick up a conversation with me the other day. I was looking at clothes in Asda and he said "Hello, what's your name, I think you're quite pretty" his Mum laughed and said he's a chatter box. But I did talk to him for a couple of secs and she smiled and said thanks. Before Christmas I was a little bit concerned of what to do as a little boy am eup to me crying in M and S shouting Mummy, he was about 6. I asked where he'd lost her. Asked what his name was, and started shouting "Has someone lost a Joshua!" It wasnt until I found a member of staff that put a call out that the dad came over. I sdtayed with him as he was distraught. I had a little bash at the dad as he said, I thought you were around. I said he was really upset and crying for him Mum, he said oh, we were busy. Flounced off. No don't worry dear you're welcome! The M and S man looked really embarressed and said thank you to me as in all took 15 mins to sort out!
I think the woman you encountered should have had her child by her side if she was going to wrap her in cotton wool.

Treevo

victory wrote: »

I can't actually be a pedo though can I?

Why not? .

avantra

Haha, what a portrait of current Britain. In other parts of this world the general public is considered to be part and parcel to how kids are brought up (two examples south Africa and south US where adults are still sometime greeted with sir by younglings). Do talk to the kids otherwise it's just giving up to the hype the media creates in order to make money for few despicable individuals. Yes Mr Murdoch I was talking to you.

annie1975_2

victory wrote: »

I was in a shopping centre and sat on my own on a wooden bench ( can sit 4/5 people) there were 4 benches, two very close to the entrance of shops....

A little girl comes and sits on my bench, probably 8/9 years old and smiles, happy, chatty, cute little thing.

I ask her where her mummy is and she tells me in the shop choosing a dress, she had been to the dentist and her mum wanted to see if the dress she saw the other day was still there.

The little girl asked me if I was a mum, where were my kids, do I like the dentist, just the usual chirpy chit chat:D


It didn't last very long, a few minutes? And out from the shop comes her mum.....

She says ' what are you doing?' I didn't answer because I assumed she was talking to her daughter...'I asked you, what are you doing?' I realised she was talking to me....

I replied ' nothing, I was just talking to your little one, she was telling me...' I never got a chance to answer, the mum ranted and raved about having to protect children from 'people like me':eek: she went on to say that no mother gets any peace, grabbed the little girls hand turned round to me and said ' you should think about what you are doing'

I never did anything:eek:

Either she is not a nice lady, she felt guilty in allowing her daughter to leave the shop or she was having a bad day, it left me shocked, embarrassed and questioning myself.....

Since when are we not allowed to just chat to the children?

Maybe she will keep a closer eye on her next time....A few minutes is a long time,long enough for someone to have walked off with her...I know it is easy done to take your eye off the ball for a few seconds,but she certainly shouldn't have had a go at you.She was probably wondering what you thought of her allowing the child to leave her sight,and turned it on you for her stupid mistake...I wonder what the child thought of her reacting like that?..Try and not worry about it too much,you haven't done anything wrong.