I've decided that the world is full of idiots. Nothing new there, but I had another encounter with one last night.
If you see a small child with no adult in sight running for the door of a restaurant, would you open the door and let him out? I hope you said no, or I'm going to smack you. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! Small child running + open door + no parent = small child in parking lot potentially getting hit by a car.
Several times a year, this happens to us. Ellie and Emma did it and now Sam does it. The running child would slide out of the booth and take off for the door before I could even get to the edge of the seat and stand up (one reason I don't care for booths). Said kid would be out of sight in a flash. Pretty much every damned time it happened, some moron opened the door for the kid.
Most of the time it isn't the restaurant staff. We eat out often enough that most of them around here recognize us and won't let the errant child out the door (the teenaged hostesses at Logan's are the main exception).
It is almost always a man that opens the door. Maybe it is just so ingrained into them that it is rude not to open a door that they can't help it. But when the person you are helping is three feet tall and doesn't weigh enough to push the door open by himself, maybe, just maybe, it could occur to you to not let the kid escape? And then perhaps I wouldn't have to look like a dumbass running pell mell through a restaurant trying to catch my kid. Please?
On the other hand, I could just put a leash on all the kids so they can't run away from us. It might save us all a headache.
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3 comments:
My first response when I see a child running anywhere without an immediately visible adult is to grab said child by the hand and hang on to them until said adult becomes visible.
Strangely enough, it's gotten me in trouble a couple of times. Parents freak out because I put hands on their child and don't appreciate the fact that I wasn't sure if the child had slipped away from them or not.
Still, the majority of parents appreciate me taking the initiative and keeping their child from running out a door or otherwise hurting themselves.
Every parent needs a hand sometimes. Let's face it. Little kids are slippery little devils.
Don't cha just wish men had maternal instincts too?? Life would be so much easier.
If somebody let my young, escaping child out a door I'd probably blow a fuse. And I'm sure they'd blow right back and say it was my own fault for "allowing" the child to run free. People are always so quick to judge parents.
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