Can a Mom Leave Her Kid Alone at the Library for Three Minutes?

why would this mother feel the librarian was not the "dangerous" individual? This even goes to our older children I have worked in bars most of my life, and I can't tell you how many people leave me in charge of their drinks and therefore their safety. Be smart watch yourself and your own children. What if the library became busy and someone came in and took the child who is the mother going to be upset with, and what about the librarian who was doing her job, but failed to notice how would she feel? I had 4 children learn to multitask and sometimes you do without your stop!!!

I have worked in a public library for 12 years. We are not babysitters. If another customer comes up and needs help, I would not be able to tell them that I have to watch the 5 year old in the corner till her mother comes back. If you bring this child to the library, you are responsible for this child in the library. If you bring this child into the world, you are responsible for this child in this world. Can't tell you how many times we've had to call a "Code Adam" because a frantic parent can't find their child they left for "just a few minutes". Luckily, all outcomes were happy ones.

Why is this woman having a 5 year to decide whether she wanted to stay alone-unsupervised or go with her???
I can't stand when adults (parents) ask small children to make decision they should make. What do you want to eat? where do you want to seat?, ridiculous!!!
Kids learn good-decision making by watching their parents.

God only knows where she had the 3 year old dumped at that she had to pick her up from somewhere soon.

When the woman said to the librarian "I'll be right back", it implied that the librarian was responsible for the child. Otherwise, why would she have said it?

Let me just start off by saying I nor YOU have the right to tell someone how to parent and what is right for them. With that said in my opinion watching your children when you are out of your home is important. I know all the stats about how unlikely it is for a stranger to kidnap your child, but I also watch the news. I'm sure those parents who children were kidnapped walking home from school wished they would have picked them up from school or walked with their children. For me it's just not worth the risk. PERIOD.

People are so stupid. Look up Family watch dog. Why would you think it is safe to leave your child unatended for even 3 sec let alone 3 min.. Do you think a child molester would pray on a child in the adult section or the kid sectoin first. I am a Marine wife raising 3 kids durring deployments and I understand wanting a min to my self but as mom's that is not a luxary..

Not to Offend anyone,
But there was a case in Fall River, MA , in which a loving mother left her 4yr old child alone in a library for 3 minutes. When she found him he was being molested by a registered sex offender. He is in jail now but, that does not make up for the pain the child feels or for the pain the poor mother feels for leaving your child alone .

I'm with you sister. Just blink too many times and my two year old is off like the leader in the Daytona 500. I realize this girl is 5, but not very nice things happen to very nice people all the time. No need to tempt fate. The child is yours and is your responsibility. She trusts you as her guardian to keep her safe so Love her! Protect her! Cherish her!

I agree, why risk it? Your child does not need to know what your intentions are, you do not need to scare them. Not taking care of your child is lazy and irresponsible. It's not likely that anything will happen but it is possible and if it does, you can never reverse it. Also, why do people think that just because there is another adult there, that it is that adult's job to supervise the child? This happens a lot. In this story it is the librarian, she is there to watch the LIBRARY. Not as a day care provider.

Okay, let's look at this from an objective point of view. In our library the children's room is huge with lots of book shelves, comfy chairs and places to hide. We are not talking about a classroom here. The librarian has other responsibilities for which she is paid besides watchings someone's child. And, if she watches a child for three minutes, then it is someone else's for five and so on. So who's responsibility is it...clearly the mom's. Bonus if the librarian obliges. It is her choice and it is a gift!

I work as both an elementary librarian and part-time in a county library. While I have classrooms of 20-25 students that I am responsible for throughout the day they are all in a contained moderate size library. I would not be comfortable if asked to watch a child by a parent at a public library. There are too many individuals we know nothing about. Also within a matter of 5 seconds we could go from zero patrons at the checkout to a line of three or four needing to checkout or with questions. At that point you would not have your full attention on the child and then.......???

You are absolutely right! We cannot let our guard down when it comes to our children. Leaving them in a public place under the care and supervision of a stranger is just plain wrong. Sadly, we do live in a time when there is a potential of danger lurking around every corner.

Kevin, You couldn't be more wrong. These things that happen to children are much more published these days, but, they have been happening forever. I was a 1960s latch key child(before the term was invented) of uneducated ,young parents. I was sexually and emotionally abused, by two different men,over several years.Several times there was an unsuspecting adult in the same room!!!The thing I feel we can do for kids today,is too let them know that their feelings and gut instincts are valid.If something doesn't fell right,they need to speak up,yell,curse,scream,whatever,to make sure they are heard. if I had gotten this message as a child,the abuse I suffered would have been stopped the same day it started.

I WOULD NEVER EVER leave my 5 year old alone in a public place for 3 minutes. It is NOT the responsibility of the librarian to watch over your child. You see on the news and read in the paper all the time of things that go wrong in the blink of an eye and I do not mean a sinister, horrible sicko-person involving incident. What if your child got up and started to wander around? What if your child swallowed something? What if your child had a seizure? What is your child had to use the restroom? Come on parents have a little common sense and lots of responsibility. Is it really such a big deal to bring your child up with you to the adult check out. I bring my daughter to the library every week and I accompany her to the child reading room and then she accompanies me to the adult section upstairs.

My mother-in-law is a Social worker and counsels pedophiles. She told me that it takes a pedopile only a few minutes to get his "fix." They hang out in department stores because children tend to stray from the parents. I don't let my kids out of sight for that reason.

Mean world syndrome? How about realistic syndrome? There is a time to let go a little but it's not when your child is too small to protect themselves. You want to take a chance with your child? Is it worth all the things that could happen based on the thought that most likely it won't? Sorry a good parent does not take those kind of chances with their childs life and the mother did not directly walk up to the librarian and ask her to take direct responsibility for her childs safety and well being. She is working for the library, not a daycare.

Why would any Mom entertain the idea of even leaving her child, with by the way a complete stranger at 5 years old or any age in this day and time. The situation speaks for itself, you are the parent, be responsible for you're children! These are people that work there to help children maybe read, not grow up! To many choices could present big problems in the end. Children take direction from their parents, that was a great message for the mom to send! What is she going to scream when the child was either gone or worse and blame it on who?

Thank you. The library is a public place, the librarian in the room at the moment can not necessarily stay there. Not long ago a 5 year old boy was sexually molested in the stacks of the library in Pennsylvania while his parent was on the computer 10 feet away. The perpetrator was caught and punished, but that child will carry those scars. Sight lines in libraries with book stacks are not good. Do not leave your child alone, the librarian has a job to do, and part of it is educating users about what they can and cannot expect. Keep your kids with you, a tragedy only takes a moment.

There are predators in every public place . Were you and your child alone ? Really lets look at our laws before they were just locked up . now they are let out to prey upon other children. Were you really alone, Letts get real here how would you know . l would not leave my child alone with any one I dont know .