Last week I dropped my kids (10, 8 and 5) at the local library to change their books. I scooted to the supermarket – around the corner – to get a few things. As instructed, they were waiting out the front 20 minutes later. I had bread and toilet paper and they had new books. I congratulated myself on extremely efficient use of time. Bravo me. Until I mentioned it to my friend Fiona, who was horrified, on three levels:
1. What if a predator had been lurking in the children’s section of the library?
2. What if one of my kids had become sick, or injured?
3. It’s a library, not a childcare centre. It is not the librarian’s job to look after your kids.
I dismissed points one and two, but her third made me think. Is that what I had done? Left my kids in the care of others without even asking?
I have enormous respect for librarians. Not for a second did I expect them to be ‘looking after’ my kids.
It was interesting to think about, because there’s been a lot in the media recently about the increasing incidence of people ‘dumping’ their kids in toy shops, public pools, computer stores and at play centres while they take themselves to lunch, play the pokies, or go shopping child-free. This, from the Herald Sun:
Police have been called in to deal with parents dumping children unsupervised at indoor play centres while they go shopping, or to avoid soaring day care costs.
A Herald Sun investigation found children were being left unsupervised at play areas across Victoria every week by irresponsible parents.
Centre staff revealed terrifying stories of toddlers and children being put at risk.
“I would say one in five parents try to sneak off,” Docklands Monkey Mania centre supervisor Lesley Salazar said.
The library is different, I told myself – and Fiona. It’s a public place; my kids know it well and they know how to behave. I like that it’s busy and the kids feel comfortable and confident there. And I really like being able to go to Coles on my own.
Kate Hunter is an advertising copywriter with 20 years experience and hundreds of ads under her belt. She’s also written two novels for young readers: Mosquito Advertising, The Parfizz Pitch and Mosquito Advertising, The Blade Brief. You can visit Kate’s website here or follow her on twitter here.
What do you think – is it okay to leave kids to their own devices while you run some errands? Do we have a responsibility as a community to keep an eye out for other people’s kids?
Top Comments
I work in... Let's just say a luxury kids store. I was excited when I got this job because I love kids and have looked after them my whole life. But we opened a store in a downtrodden area, and I can't compare to my other stores so I don't know if they experience the same, but the excessive amount of unsupervised children that I see on a daily basis astounds me. They contributed to the overwhelming amount of theft that we received in our first six months, resulting in an internal theft investigation, for which I firmly believe niether of my fellow two staff members are responsible for. The products instore are expensive and we have lost a stupid amount of money in broken merchandise. There was one child whose mother works in my center who spent her full six week holidays in my store. I joked to her mother, on the rare occasion that she stopped by, that we'd have to start charging her rent. We'll expect her to move back in next school holidays lol we've had several incidents with toddlers wandering in and their parents don't even realize, they continue walking, kids grab stuff off the shelf and chase after their parents. As staff work alone a lot of the time, we can't follow these kids out of the store, and we rarely have parents return items that their kids have nicked. As children do need constant supervision in store to avoid injury, it's very hard to assist my actual customers. Kids are still the best part of my job and the highlight of my day, however, I job hunted for a position in retail for, I won't even say how long, and specifically did NOT want a job in childcare. And as qualified as a like to think I am, despite working in a children's store, I have zero legal qualifications to care for a child. I don't even have a first aid certificate, although I'm seriously considering getting one. Because it would be my worst nightmare to have a child in danger in my workplace and have very little clue how to help them. I didn't grow up in a generation of unspervised kids so the idea is a bit foreign to me. I don't mean to be rude in any of what I say. I actually appreciate the outlet to express my opinion on this. But just in case there was any question or debate, it is an OFFENCE to leave your children unsupervised in any situation for an unacceptable amount of time without arranging proper care and supervision first. You don't know who is watching over your kids for you, should anyone bother to. I am not a mother so maybe I don't get it. But parents need to remember that we are in fact still human beings. And I opted not to have children. So please don't force me to be a parent to yours. A message to all mothers lol peace
I work in both a library and a bookshop and people leaving their children unattended is one of my biggest frustrations. I'm sure parents believe their children are behaving perfectly in their absence but in the majority of cases they're loud, messy, careless, disruptive to other patrons and continually pestering the staff. Ironically, in the bookshop the children will sit right in front of the junior section (which houses the Mosquito Advertising series) reading and ruining books they haven't paid for and have no intention of paying for while making it impossible for genuine customers to browse in that area. We once politely asked a teenage girl to leave after she'd read through and mistreated a couple of books only to cop 20 minutes of angry abuse from her mother who'd asked her to wait in the bookshop while she went shopping. It's really no fun having our stock ruined or being the bad guy when telling kids to quiet down or move out of the way purely so their parents can have a break and is certainly an aspect of my jobs that I didn't sign up for.