Rescue Heros

This evening, the boy was able to live out his fantasy of being a "rescue hero".

We were off to do some shopping in the rain. We parked the car pretty far from the store (the NEX) and were walking when a car alarm sounded. It did not go off immediately, so I walked over to see what was wrong.

Through the windshield I could see a young boy. Wendall and I tried to tell ourselves that an adult must be in the car with him, but then why would the alarm still be going? We walked closer and saw that he was alone, in the middle of a busy parking lot, in the rain. I stayed with the car and Wendall ran for help. A moment or two later, a woman stopped her car to ask me if something was wrong (seeing the boy and me next to a car which was blaring might have tipped her off). I told her that there was a child inside, but that we had gone for help. After he left, a man walked towards the car. I asked him if it was his, and I thought he said yes. I asked why he had left a child in the car, and he told me that his car was the one next to the car I meant. It turned out he was an off duty military police officer. He pulled out his phone and made a call as Wendall returned. He asked the boy to open the door, which he did, and he waited for a moment to make sure everything was ok.

The boy's name was Dawson, and he turned four in September. Dawson was very happy to talk to us, and he explained that his parents had gone shopping and would be back soon. He said that he did not want to be in the car anymore, but that he was not sure where they were. I told him that he had done the right thing by staying in the car, because parking lots were dangerous places for kids to be. He and the boy started being silly together, and Wendall and I waited. Finally, three police cars arrived at the same time, along with the off duty officer, who came back to make sure all was well. We gave the officers our info and what little we knew, and then the boy's parents arrived. The mother's first comment was "Dawson, what happened, why didn't you stay in the car?" The father told him that it had been his choice to stay in the car, and that he was bad to have changed his mind about wanting to be there. We said goodbye to Dawson, ad left everything in the hands of the police.

I won't get into the fact tha it is illegal to leave a child under 10 years old alone anywhere on base even for a moment (including buckled into their car seat in your driveway while you run into the house for something). How as a parent can you justify leaving your 4 year old in a car on his own while you go grocery shopping??? The parents came out of the store with five or six bags of food. The lot was full, so the store must have been busy. How do you justify the lack of safety? He willingly came out of the car to talk to us. When he stepped out of the car, none of the people around him were in a uniform, or looked like we had been sent to help him. It would have been so easy s\for someone to grab him and be gone before anyone noticed. I stood next to his car for twenty minuted before his parents arrived. Twenty minutes! I have no idea how long he was in the car before he set off the alarm, but I can tell you that 5-6 bags of food, on a busy evening, takes well over a half hour to purchase.

My three year old has told me "Mom, I'll wait for you in the car." on rainy days. There is no way I would ever allow him to wait for me. My judgment as a 32 year old is slightly better than his, and so I tell him I'm sorry, he'll just have to come along. If both of us are there, one might run into a store while the other waits with him in the car, but we would NEVER leave him alone.

Can you tell that this episode upset me?