Now, this is a big stupid situation and the police are overreacting like crazy, but that was the wrong move. What you should do in that situation is either stay put, or get someone (security/store staff/mom) TO stay put with the girl. Reason being that leaving creates situations exactly like this more often than not, whereas if you don't leave, the parent is likely to come back looking for their child, and even if they don't, you can still call the police, and you're not going to make things worse. It's a mistake anyone could make though, and arresting the kid for kidnapping over it is ridiculous.

The solution is to always call the police.

Seriously, if you're absent minded enough to lose your child in a store then you can deal with the police I call, not the other way around.

Honestly I wouldn't even talk to the kid. I'd just grab a store employee and let the security team handle it. But yeah, the kid was 14 and just trying to help a lost little girl. Pretty fucked up.

Oh and about cops, I think most of them are just trained to treat young people like shit. I was around 15 hanging out in the parking lot of my friends apartment complex when a cop car came around and shined this bright fucking light in our faces and asked us if we had been driving around shooting paintballs at other cars. The light in the face was just insulting, I was so pissed. We kept telling them we'd been inside playing video games most of the evening and they kept asking stupid questions. When I went to shield my eyes from the light they got all stupid and told me to put my arm down. I got angry and told them I should probably call my mother if they were going to arrest me, after that they sort of lost interest and left.

Law enforcement and the like just have a certain appeal to a particular personality type, not sure what the scientific term is, but I think the general parlance is "ass hole".

It doesn't really require that much absent-mindedness for this to happen. The child wandered off in a store which only really takes a two second loss of focus on the parent's part. And really, she wasn't truly missing until someone left the store with her. The mother was obviously on the ball enough to call the police and run out after the kid.

I mean, it is a mistake, but it's not any more of a mistake than walking out of a store with someone's child. If we should be taking anything away from this, it's to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Edit: I watched the security footage. It looks more like the Reddit article is exaggerating. It's just one of those hilarious misunderstanding sitcom moments except they're not quite as funny when they happen in real life.

I call bullshit. You've got to be spacing out to lose your small child. You should probably have them by the hand whenever you're in a situation where they might wander off anyways.

I got lost in a coat store when I was like 3, strangely enough. And it was because my dad was a dumb ass and I was a 3 year old who liked to hide in the coat racks.

I guess I can understand the reactionary nature of someone losing their kid, but they really should have had the wherewithal to pull their shit together before an innocent teenager has to be arrested.

Obviously I'm just anti parents and children though. Make it easier on yourself, don't procreate!

Remember the mother who let her son ride home via the subway alone? This is her side of the story.

It's taking me longer to find the story than I expected, but there was a recent bit here when a woman left her child in the cart after she picked up groceries. The police found the phone number on a toy the child had on him, and called the mother without pressing charges.

It was a "These things happen." thing.

The cops in BC are okay. Maybe yours was just having a bad day.

Have you actually watched the footage? The child is not lost. The mother just got focused on paying (and not all of us can one-hand a wallet) and someone walked out of the store with her.

You can't have your eyes and hands on them all the time.

I think 3 is a bit young (although by that age I think kids should know their address and phone number, but still)

But yeah, 9 is fine. I used to walk home from school alone and go to the park and the corner store on my bike when I was 9. Just because it's the "New York Subway" doesn't really mean anything. You're just as likely to get gunned down on your own as you are holding your mom's hand. (and not very likely at that.)

Kids should have some amount of autonomy by the age of 4 or 5 I think. They start kindergarten at 5 usually, and after that it's all about being your own person, albeit in miniature size.

Edit: nah haven't watched the video, at work, don't want to bogart the bandwidth. But still, its a matter of terrible communication skills at work and over reacting due to paranoia judging by the info I read.

Also, I think I mentioned that parenting is dumb.

Dude, extinction for the human species in your planning book?

As a new parent though I've been thinking about this. You really don't need to be absent minded to lose her for 2 seconds. Especially when in a department store. If you're in the clothing section it can take maybe 1-2 seconds with your back turned before the kid decides it'd be funny to hid on it and then think they are playing hide and go seek. Though usually you would respond quickly but those kids are small so it could be troublesome to find. IF it does happen though she should have gone to the front desk and had them call a code adam(or whatever it is were you live) and then pretty much everyone on the floor stops and starts looking for the lost kid.

But yeah, you;d have to have eyes in the back of your head to not lose sight of a kid for a brief second or 2.

Even though what the kid did was wrong, he still only 14. Might not really understand that stuff yet and thought he was just helping.

Note: I'm not really against parents. I just don't like that wild eyed reactionary bent that seems to crop up in most parents under child-related stress. I can understand where it comes from, I just don't like it.

I was joking though? But what do you mean by wild eyed reactionary bent?