We went into Manhattan today. While we were waiting for the boat, the kids played with one of the payphones which nobody uses anymore.
Another woman started using the phone next to it, and when Ana waved at her, I called her back, telling her not to bother other people who are talking on the phone. Then, since the boat was docking, I collected both kids and directed them towards the doors, walking in front of me.
The woman falls in next to us, and is talking to Ana - her name is Anna too, and such and fuch. And then she more or less put Ana's hand in mine and told me "never to let go of her hand" because there are some "sick people" out there, and "she started talking to me".
Yeah. When she was four steps away from me (I tend to count them) and I was watching her the whole time, she waved at a stranger. Wowee.
And really, if you're so concerned about the issue of stranger danger? Here's a hint - don't talk to random kids! Don't call them by their names! Don't teach them that strangers (like you) are great people! You're a hypocrite, you little twit of a woman!
I did, at this point, start holding Ana's hand - although I wished I didn't have to - because we'd reached the crowd and I don't like her getting lost in it. Not that I specifically think anybody in that crowd was itching for a child to abduct, but because there were simply a lot of people and it can be hard for a little girl to see around them.
As far as stranger abductions go, the numbers I see around are a little divergent. Either there are something like 3000 of them in the US every year - or there are only some 200 in the US every year. I don't know which ones are the more accurate numbers, so I'll be safe and go with the larger one. With those numbers, the average child still has the same chance of dying in a car accident with a drunk driver. (Nobody is going after drunk drivers who kill people with near the same ferociousness as any of this, and what people *know* about carseat safety is usually vastly different from what they *do* about carseat safety - and you'd think this would be something easier to control than predators!) And I don't even want to think of the number if we added in non-drunk-driving crashes!
Remember the nine year old? People asked his mom "how would you feel if something happened that day?" Sheesh. They ought to ask themselves how they'd feel if their kids died the next time they rode in a car, because that actually happens a lot more often.
Of course, I'm all for taking reasonable measures to preserve safety. I do not, however, think insisting that an (almost) five year old child never, ever, EVER let go of an adult's hand is reasonable. (I do think that puts her at a serious risk for nursemaid's elbow, though!)
(Oh, and a special note to my morning bus-driver - yeah, jerk, I know the bus stop isn't at the corner. The stop for the *other* bus is, though, and I like to be able to catch *either* bus. And if you "looked right at me", you should have seen me getting both children corralled so they would get on the bus with me instead of being left behind - and you certainly should not have deliberately closed the doors in my face! Oh, I should move faster? Yeah? And what, drag the baby along the ground when she trips? She doesn't run that fast yet. The woman in front of me had not even taken her metrocard out of her purse when you pulled that little stunt. Those five seconds weren't exactly going to throw you off schedule. So yeah, fuck you.)
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