<p>I went to the store earlier to pick up a few things, and on my way out I saw a VERY young boy (5-7 tops) standing outside selling chocolate bars. I saw no parents around, and this really struck a nerve in me.</p>
<p>First off, I’m furious at the parents for allowing their young child to do this alone. Second, I’m really worried that something might have happened to him. </p>
<p>For future reference, when things like this happen, what’s a good action to take?</p>
<p>I always ask the kid, “Hi! Who’s watching you?” l00 percent of the time, they point to someone I hadn’t noticed, looking at them from a distance, perhaps smoking a cigarette or talking on a cellphone, but there. Then I smile and wave at the adult, so they know I wasn’t a creep, and walk on. </p>
<p>Good question.</p>
<p>mkay. Thanks! 
I’m just so worried…I hope he had someone watching him. :(</p>
<p>That’s what I do too, P3T. </p>
<p>The kid probably had someone nearby, maybe on a cell phone on the corner, sitting in the car, or inside buying a snack.</p>
<p>Usually so. COuld even be a parent sitting in a car that you didn’t notice, watching him like a hawk but wanting the kid to feel like he’s selling the chocolate bars and being very independent. </p>
<p>He’s fairly safe standing right outside a store. The store clerks might even be aware of him. That;s another choice; you can ask the clerks if they know he’s there. It’s not their job to keep an eye on him, but it just raises up the level of awareness. </p>
<p>I can understand you concern. A better move for a parent would be to stand so any stranger can readily see that the child IS being watched. </p>
<p>Now there are some negligent parents out there, stupid enough to send their kids out into a neighborhood to sell stuff. If unwatched, that child actually had good sense to choose to stand near a store door, actually. Plenty of light, people, security cameras.
I’m not saying it’s safe, I’m just saying within a range of choices, that’s better than standing on the dark edge of a parking lot or something.</p>
<p>Was the neighborhood decent? Dave Chapelle has a comedy routine about driving at 3 a.m. in a very deserted neighborhood. He decided the neighborhood was “dangerous” at the moment he saw a 3-year-old standing out alone on a street corner. And how he wanted to help, so he starts to roll down the window of his limosine but then gets afraid of the 3-year-old, figuring he could only be dealing drugs at that late hour. I realize the humor falls flat in this forum, but like a lot of comedy he twists the reality which is also kind of sad, into funny. </p>
<p>It takes a village to raise a child. I appreciate your concern. Figure he was okay or you’d have heard about it on the evening news or tomorrow’s newspaper. Short of that, assume he was watched. And when you have your own kids someday, don’t do it that way. Stand obvious.</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of those school fundraisers where kids sell chocolates for their schools for this reason. If the parents want to walk door-to-door, fine, but most work and can’t do this readily. As teachers we always emphasized not to go door-to-door. Frankly I wish PTA’s would stop doing this form of fundraiser. Times have changed and the money’s not worth the risk.</p>
<p>Yeah, I suppose you’re right. And it is a pretty safe neighborhood-a suburb in LA county, VERY low crime rate. I actually hadn’t thought about that. I think my maternal side just took over for a few minutes.</p>
<p>I agree with you-my school never does fundraisers like this (of course I am in HS)…at the most we charge a few bucks to come to school events. Thanks for all your input. :)</p>
<p>He probably had a parent or older sibling watching him at a distance and he may have been perfectly safe outside a busy store, but you never know. Remember Adam? The murdered 6-year-old boy whose dad starred in a cop show about Most Wanted criminals? Security guards shooed him out of a Sears store in Florida and he was standing outside a bit bewildered when a man in a van saw his opportunity and pulled up, grabbed him and drove off. </p>
<p>It doesn’t hurt to inquire if you see a child that young by himself to make sure there’s someone keeping an eye out. </p>
<p>It reminds me of story I read somewhere…a woman observed a mom walking a little boy with a school backpack, about 5, to a bus stop and leaving him there. She probably thought he was out in the open, what could happen. The next day when the woman saw the boy sitting alone, she walked over to him and said hi and asked him to give his mom a note. The note said: “I’m not a child molester, but I could have been. And I got close enough to your child to sit next to him and give him this note.” The next day, the mom was sitting at the bus stop with the child until the bus came.</p>
<p>jazzymom, good one. I love that story. Not sure I would have enough nerve to do that.</p>
<p>I loved the story, too, jazzymom. I can’t imagine leaving a 5-year-old alone at a bus stop. I wouldn’t even leave my 9-year-old alone. I realize that I may be overprotective.</p>