The Day I Left My Son In The Car

What irritates me more than anything is that the author allowed this incident to make her think that she was ever in the wrong. The parking lot of a suburban store, inside a securely locked car, is, relatively speaking, one of the safest places on the planet.

Passers-by will be frequent, and despite the perception to the contrary, the overwhelming majority of them would help in any dangerous situation. That is to say, they would offer real, substantial help, not just calling the cops and waiting for them to possibly show up, and possibly not also escalate the situation to violence and arrests.

The real problem here is self-righteous people, fearful of a dangerous world, and overly submissive to authority. Rather than catching up with the mom and offering to keep an eye out for the kid while she went in to shop, the video-taking narc sought to sic the cops on her instead. The fact remains that *someone was there, watching the kid, nominally with his welfare in mind, the whole time.* The world is essentially the same as before. At need, any child can approach any adult, ask for help, and receive it. They rarely ever need that help, and most of the time would prefer that the adults not interrupt their fun. But the implicit offer remains. All parents do, in fact, look out for each other's children.

The entire architecture of the American suburb revolves around being a macroscopic nursery, playpen, and playground for children. The roads are laid out for slow traffic, bouncing balls, pedestrians, pets, and bicyclists. The most dangerous things found in the yards are trampolines and swimming pools. We build this safety into our society, so that we *can* turn our heads to look away from our kids and not have them drop dead on the spot.

And at the end of the article, what does the kid fear? It isn't that mommy won't ever come back. It's that the police will come to kidnap either one, or both, of them.

Embrace freedom. Beware submission to authority. Stop fearing bogeymen. And discard your self-righteousness.