13yo standing at bus stop by Sidwell asked by stranger to watch small boy & dog for a few minutes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok whatever, you will be the one crying when something happens.

Oh and look at his judgement today, he missed his bus because he couldnt stand up for himself. Thank goodness that was not a kidnapper.

Yes, the real problem is not that a stranger asked a 13-year-old at a bus stop to watch a small boy and a dog. The real problem is that the 13-year-old might have been kidnapped!

Or, well, no it isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok whatever, you will be the one crying when something happens.

Oh and look at his judgement today, he missed his bus because he couldnt stand up for himself. Thank goodness that was not a kidnapper.

Seriously? I have a 13 year-old. He'll walk to Starbucks or whatever. Its really important developmentally to allow them some independence. You can't keep them in bubble wrap forever.

[Anonymous]

So... there's a lesson in this story.

It isn't "Teach your kid not to tell strangers he will watch their kid and dog for them when he is waiting for a bus." THAT was ONE situation that happened out of millions of scenarios that could happen and you can't plan for every situation.

The lesson is to know when something feels uncomfortable to you -- it's ok to say "I"m not comfortable with that". You should try to figure out why you aren't comfortable with it. But even if you can't figure out all the reasons or possible problems, you can just decline to help.

Actually there's a second lesson here: the boy did the right thing! Given that he accepted the responsibility to watch the kid and the dog... when his bus came, he stayed and didn't abandon ship so to speak. Another kid might have left he 5 year old with the dog or something. The boy showed maturity.

[Anonymous]

The kid was wrong. He should have said " sorry,I can't watch your dog, kid because I am waiting for my bus and don't want to miss it.
A little bit of assertiveness would go a long way, which is needed especially when you leave him alone at a bus stop for any perpetrator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kid was wrong. He should have said " sorry,I can't watch your dog, kid because I am waiting for my bus and don't want to miss it.
A little bit of assertiveness would go a long way, which is needed especially when you leave him alone at a bus stop for any perpetrator.

Huh? 13 year olds are not 5 year olds. Do you still hold your 13 year old's hand? Your 20 year old's?
You're either troll or unstable.

[Anonymous]

um, that is a hard one. When I first read it, I was thinking like an earlier poster that this could have been a ploye to divert the kid's attention while some guy in a car snatched the 13 year old. (I'm paranoid since I've only ever lived in a city all of my life and have been a crime victim myself).

Under the circumstances, if this is a true story -- the 13 year old boy is more mature than 99% of boys I know of that age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:um, that is a hard one. When I first read it, I was thinking like an earlier poster that this could have been a ploye to divert the kid's attention while some guy in a car snatched the 13 year old. (I'm paranoid since I've only ever lived in a city all of my life and have been a crime victim myself).

Under the circumstances, if this is a true story -- the 13 year old boy is more mature than 99% of boys I know of that age.

+1

[Anonymous]

What type of bus was he waiting for? If it was a school bus, doesn't the driver have a responsibility for getting the kid onto the bus? The driver should have called the police to tell them some stranger left her dog and child with the boy.

Even a city bus driver could have done something to help the kid out.

[Anonymous]

I disagree that the boy did the right thing. I think he should have declined, hell I would have declined. What if the woman never came back? What if the child ran into the street and got hit by a car on the 13 year olds watch? What if another dog came walking down the street and the lady's dog started going crazy and ran away chasing the dog. What if the 5 year old started crying? The whole thing is weird and I would not want any parts of it, or my 13 year old to have any parts of it. To many what if's.

[Anonymous]

I think the 13-year-old was very good and responsible. Sure he missed his bus, but I assume there was another one coming in 30 minutes. If he was truly uncomfortable with the situation but didn't speak up, he may want to practice being more assertive in the future.

The nanny's actions seem not particularly responsible, not because a random stranger *you* approach for help is likely to harm your child (probability of that? < 0.0001%) but because the person she approached was so young and clearly waiting for a bus. However, we don't know what kind of emergency lead her to take her chances like this. And clearly she picked the right guy.

If she was my nanny I would want to know if she made a habit of this, but a single incident, provided it involved a legitimate emergency, would not worry me at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the 13-year-old was very good and responsible. Sure he missed his bus, but I assume there was another one coming in 30 minutes. If he was truly uncomfortable with the situation but didn't speak up, he may want to practice being more assertive in the future.

The nanny's actions seem not particularly responsible, not because a random stranger *you* approach for help is likely to harm your child (probability of that? < 0.0001%) but because the person she approached was so young and clearly waiting for a bus. However, we don't know what kind of emergency lead her to take her chances like this. And clearly she picked the right guy.

If she was my nanny I would want to know if she made a habit of this, but a single incident, provided it involved a legitimate emergency, would not worry me at all.

Nope. I'd fire her. Right then, right there.

I can see maybe leaving a dog tied to a post or even with a stranger if I had to pop into a school real quick. But a child? No way. Why on earth couldn't the woman bring the child into the school with her. It just makes no sense. Sounds more like laziness than an emergency to me...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the 13-year-old was very good and responsible. Sure he missed his bus, but I assume there was another one coming in 30 minutes. If he was truly uncomfortable with the situation but didn't speak up, he may want to practice being more assertive in the future.

The nanny's actions seem not particularly responsible, not because a random stranger *you* approach for help is likely to harm your child (probability of that? < 0.0001%) but because the person she approached was so young and clearly waiting for a bus. However, we don't know what kind of emergency lead her to take her chances like this. And clearly she picked the right guy.

If she was my nanny I would want to know if she made a habit of this, but a single incident, provided it involved a legitimate emergency, would not worry me at all.

Are you F'ing kidding me? You would be okay with your nanny leaving your child with a stranger? I agree with the other poster, she/he would be fired immedietaly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the 13-year-old was very good and responsible. Sure he missed his bus, but I assume there was another one coming in 30 minutes. If he was truly uncomfortable with the situation but didn't speak up, he may want to practice being more assertive in the future.

The nanny's actions seem not particularly responsible, not because a random stranger *you* approach for help is likely to harm your child (probability of that? < 0.0001%) but because the person she approached was so young and clearly waiting for a bus. However, we don't know what kind of emergency lead her to take her chances like this. And clearly she picked the right guy.

If she was my nanny I would want to know if she made a habit of this, but a single incident, provided it involved a legitimate emergency, would not worry me at all.

Nope. I'd fire her. Right then, right there.

I can see maybe leaving a dog tied to a post or even with a stranger if I had to pop into a school real quick. But a child? No way. Why on earth couldn't the woman bring the child into the school with her. It just makes no sense. Sounds more like laziness than an emergency to me...

How could her actions be motivated by laziness? Bringing the child with her would be both easier and faster. There must have been some legitimate reason why she couldn't bring either boy or dog with her. If she explained this reason, and it made sense to me, and if I could be reasonably sure that this would not happen again, no I would not fire her. Again, this is not something I would be happy to find out, but if I can trust someone who starts out as a complete stranger to watch my child for 10 hours a day while I work, why is it unforgivable for her to trust him to someone else for five minutes?

[Anonymous]

I think it important to point out that there are no school buildings directly on Wisconsin Ave. Maybe Zartman House, but even that is 75-100--yards away from the Avenue. It could take quite some time to get to the playing fields or even the closest building is hardly something that would be very quick. 10 minutes is a long time to be standing with a dog and a 5 year old on the Avenue while someone walks completely out of sight to go into the school building. This is really scary--it could have gone very, very badly.

[Anonymous]

PP again^^, I mean I know the buildings are technically on Wisconsin Ave, but they are way, way back from the street.