Niño Perdido en el Centrocomercial

There are few things that make me angrier than when parents neglect their parental responsibility.¡Me saca la piedra! The three of us went to the mall and while my husband was grabbing a bite to eat in the food court, I was entertaining Sofía with the chaos of everything. We noticed a boy a little older than Sofía wandering alone and then wandering in front of the tren causing the tren to stop. I knew his parents weren’t around and I knew no one was going to step up because they thought his parents were around. So I went over and moved him out of the way. I then spent the next 15, yes count them FIFTEEN, quince, minutos, with Sofía in one arm, chasing, dragging, trying to calm and talk to this child. He was like a feral animal. He wasn’t crying for Mommy (like Sofia would be doing if I was out of eyesight), he was RUNNING everywhere just making his own kind of din. I figured that the parents must be in children’s play area, so I corralled him over there. Finally a young mother comes out of the play area towards him. She looks at me and says, “Oh did he run out of the play area?” I was livid! She hasn’t been looking for him. She wasn’t embracing him because she was concerned for his whereabouts. She didn’t thank me for finding her baby. I replied, “NO!!! I’ve been chasing him around the entire floor for 15 minutes looking for you.” She shrugged me off. I’m not so sure she could hear the disgust in my voice because of all the noise, but I’m sure she saw my FACE. How can you not see your child playing for 15 minutes? I would be panic stricken. 15 minutes of pure terror it would be for me trying to locate her. But it doesn’t end there. Within that same 1.5 hours at the mall, we saw THREE other people leave their child in the stroller unattended and go out of SIGHT!!! We think one woman left him there while she went to the restroom. Each time of course, we stopped and stood by the stroller until the parent returned. I know I may be a bit anal, but if I HAVE to turn my back on Sofía, it is only for a second and I don’t let go of the stroller. We were utterly amazed and disappointed, but most of all felt sorry for these poor niños that are being brought up by parents who don’t take their responsibilities seriously.