Ever heard of mean world syndrome? I think you are suffering from it.

There is not a danger around every corner, every second or every minute of the day.

If you keep your child in a cocoon and bubble-wrapped how will they ever learn to develop their own internal safety compass? How do they learn to assess their vulnerability in a given situation when parent constantly does this for them.

I highly suggest reading the Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker for a more rational viewpoint on how safe the truly world is.

Lighten up and don't be so paranoid. We'll run out of prozac when these grow up to be neurotic adults!!!

These days people sue for everything. Could be the librarian just didn't want to be responsible. I happen to think that even the librarian could be a danger. All the stories you hear about children being molested, abducted, sold into slavery in other countries etc. begin "I only took my eyes off him for a minute" Truthfully it only takes a second. I don't think this lady is a bad mom. She's parenting the way we were parented. We were free, allowed to go to our friend's house down the block alone, play outside 'till the street lights come on etc. Unfortunately our world has changed sooo much! How can we ever get it back?

If you're willing to take a chance, then do so. I, personally, am not willing to take chances. Sure, the "odds" are in your favor by an enormous margin . . . but tell that to the very miniscule percentage of parents whose children have been abducted, molested, etc.. If given another opportunity, they certainly wouldn't have taken the chance. There are places and times to teach children independence, but as a responsible parent, I don't believe leaving a 5 year-old in the care of a reluctant librarian in a public place is ever a good idea.

I totally agree with you. I never would have left my kids alone at 5 years old in a public place where they were not even in view. Maybe noone else was around, & maybe not. You just don't know. Funny that one person justified leaving their kids alone in public by saying that other kids are "bubble wrapped". There's a difference between living in fear & having common sense based on the potential for harm.

No kidding, Eileen. I work in a public library. That's where the mental cases and homeless hang out. I wouldn't leave my kid alone there for 2 seconds, although there are a lot of foolish people who do. You shouldn't leave your kid alone anywhere, but a public library is a particularly dangerous place. Get a clue, Lenore.

Most importantly- when did Librarians become Babysitters? I'm a professional Face Painter and Kids get left w/ me a lot. The parents don't even have the manners to ask if I'd mind, etc. I can get so busy, I can't watch every child left with me & then who's to blame if the child gets hurt, or worse?

I totally agree with you. You can't be too careful. Is it worth a lifetime of sorrow, regret and guilt if God forbid something was to happen? The librarian herself could be a problem. Ministers and priests are so why not a librarian? You can't trust ANYONE but yourself with a child's precious life. Anyone who thinks differently "good luck to you" because it will be just that, LUCK, if your child grows up without anything happening to them.

Yes, before the ;liberals got toal control and starting preaching their Anti-American, whats yours is mine BS, you could trust people. Now they have taken us into a very dangerous world, especially where the government is concerned!

The sad truth is we should all know we live in a world where our precious children can easily be victimized. Think of the poor Delaware parents who left their children alone for mere minutes with their pediatrician who turned out to be a monster! It is so sad but, yes, I agree with you....trust no one with your precious children because minutes apart can become a lifetime of regret.

In addition, I think that this mom may just have been trusting her instincts ablout the librarian, the empty library and the length of time she'd be gone. Not what I would do even now, but still no judgement!

First to the the above comment...you must not have ANY kids. Secondly...i do understand where this mother is coming from...there are clearly some circumstances where parents really need to be on there guard...but judging from her story and circumstance it sounds to me that the librarian was out of line for the mere fact that she would even incinuate that she was intentionally or unintentionally putting her child in harms way. as a parent I've been there...and would not judge this parent to quickly or harshly for what she did...!!!

Wow. I am a single mom, two girls, now ages 12 and 15. I live in an urban area. When my oldest was 5, I'd have had no problem leaving her in the children's section of the library. Look around, don't see anyone but the librarian, say to the librarian, "I'm running to grab a book and will be back in less than 5 minutes - she'll be reading in the corner." Let daughter know she is to sit with her books until I get back.

If I'd been the librarian, I'd have smiled at the mom and said to the little girl, "You're going to stay right there til your mom comes back, right?" Then look at mom and say, with a smile, "No problem, we'll be right here!"

With my youngest, I'm not sure at 5 she'd have been ready for that, because she was an explorer at that age. She was kid who had no interest in sitting still, preferring to climb and investigate and hide. She was a very compliant child, but left alone for 5 minutes, her need to explore might've gotten the best of her.

In a nutshell, it depends on the kid.

Eileen, the world only seems more dangerous because of the 24/7 media we are all constantly barraged with. Violent crime rates are as low as they were 30 years ago, including crimes against children. We just hear about ALL of them, and we hear about them CONSTANTLY. Our kids are not in grave danger every time we look away. They have to be taught to be self-reliant, and 3-5 minutes in the children's section of the library with a librarian who isn't busy on alert - that's really not a big deal at all.

We've lost all perspective, I swear.

If anyone listened to your advice they s/b shot. And I hope you don't give advice for a living. You must not be a parent. Leaving your kid with a stranger albeit a librarian is to put it plainly, moronic. Some years ago I left my swimbag with a security guard at a college, she promised she'd keep an eye on it and when I returned both she and the bag with the wallet were gone. Not exactly the same thing, but you get the picture.

I am a librarian and I assure you the librarian here said the right thing. I work in a lovely, busy library in an extremely affluent area, but while our library looks calm and safe to most people who come in, at any given time we are almost certain to have a half dozen people in there who could be called "unsafe to be around children." They are mostly very mentally ill and they practically live in public libraries because they have no place to go. We can not throw them out until they DO something but we know them to be unstable and irrational... and likely to SCARE a child to death if not harm them. All libraries are havens for the mentally ill. And pedophiles, too. We are always having to ask suspicious adults, likely pedophiles, to leave our children's room. Librarians can be called away at any second to tend to other customers or to search for a book in storage, so we can't promise to supervise kids til their parents return. If we did that at my library, we would have requests to watch another kid every minute, literally. We would never get our jobs done. It's simply impossible. I think the librarian did this mother a huge favor by alerting her to the dangers that often lurk in safe-looking places.

I agree. I would not leave my child for a moment. It's common sense and the librarian is not a babysitter nor should she want to be responsible for that child if something happened. Why should she -- the mother should pick up the child and take her with her, not asking the child if she wants to stay. Who's the parent for heaven's sake -- the one that keeps the child safe.

I totally agree with your comments. As a former children's librarian, I would also have said, "No" to the mother. It's not only that there might be strangers, but often unsupervised children damage books and materials, cry for their parents, run out of the children's room to find their mother, etc.

Even if there was no one else in the Children's room at the time, there is no guarantee that 10 children plus adults wouldn't come into the room a minute or two later. Plus, the librarian can't guarantee that she won't be leaving the desk or the room to receive a phone call, have to search for a book behind the scenes, supervise a staff member who is shelving books out of sight of the child, etc.

The librarian was too soft. A child that age should not be left alone for
3 seconds let alone 3 minutes. And you don't know who the librarian
is. This isn't even an iffy situation the mom was just plain wrong. Sad
new world but here we are. noa

Good God!!! What is wrong with people today? That librarian was completely wrong and should lose her job. When I was a kid, it was expected that we were SAFE in a GOVERNMENT-OWNED building with adults in the room. Of course, that was over a generation ago. The day when a parent is not able to leave a child in a room with an adult and ask if it's "okay", then that is the day that I decide to move to Europe.