Parenting Tip #1 (from a non-parent)...but still, I think I'm right.

If you love and are that distracted by the sight of crafts, get a babysitter before you go shopping.

Thursday at work I was standing in the back work shop talking to a co-worker, something caught my eye after talking for a minute. I look over and see a little toddler climbing a ladder in our shop! By the time I saw him he was 3 steps up, I ran over to him and helped him down and told him we needed to go find his mom. He ran out of the work shop area and I followed him to make sure he got to his mom. His next stop was our 'Employees Only' order area, which is under construction. Half built shelves, stacks of wood, extension cords all over, screws, nails, tools, etc. He looked around in there for a minute and I stayed with him. I didn't want to pick him up and scare him or anything so I tried to lead him out, hoping his mom would find us. No such luck. He saw an open door in the order area where a big red truck caught his eye. He ran outside! I of course followed him because he was now in a side alley where big trucks constantly pass through loading and unloading stuff. He was really excited to look at a parked red truck, but I finally decided it had been long enough. I leaned over and asked him if he would come with me to find his mom. Thankfully, a big grin came over his face and he reached out for me to pick him up. (He couldn't have been older than 18 or 20 months.) I scooped him up and walked back to the store area. She was no where in the back part, so we headed to the front. We got to the front part of the store and found 3 women. He started bouncing, giggling and pointing and one of them so I walked over to her.

Me: Is this your son?
Women: Yes. (No reaching for him. No surprised look that a stranger was holding him.)
Me: I found him climbing a ladder in our workshop and then he ran outside to the alley way full of work trucks.
Women: Ooohhhh. (No I'm sorry. No Thank you. Still not reaching for him, so I set him down on the floor and walked away.)

I wish I would have told her what I really thought.

I can understand if you look away for 5 or 10 seconds and your kid runs away. But when you realize that happened, YOU GO FIND THEM. I can understand having more than one kid and realizing they are not all by your side anymore, BUT YOU GO FIND THE ONE THAT'S NOT. But one kid, and TWO adults. This kind of thing should not happen. Yes, after listening to them as they were leaving I learned that one of the other two women in the store was this child's Grandma. My adventure with this child wasn't long, 2 or 3 minutes max, but I think that's way too long.

I would say that maybe I feel stronger about it because of where I work because it's not safe for kids, but I don't think it's that. Because, what public place is safe for a toddler to run off alone?

Am I overreacting?

Is it really that easy to get distracted in public?

So annoying.