Forum Discussion

minn_camping_fa's avatar
Jun 19, 2013

Saw something scary this weekend...

We were at a state park this past weekend. Early Saturday morning I was up in my pj's having my coffee and looking out the window. There was a pop-up with a family that was diagonal from our site. At about 7:30am the pop-up door opens and out come the two little kids in their pj's. Couldn't be more than 3 and 2 years old. I expected a parent to come out of the camper also but no-one did. These two little kids went down the road and around the corner to where I could no longer see them.

There was a very large group across the road from them and I thought, maybe, they are a part of that group and the kids are just going there? There were a few people walking around so I know I was not the only one to see them, still it made me extremely uneasy and I watched and watched to hopefully catch a glimpse of them.

About 20 minutes later the mom comes out of the pop-up and starts looking for the kids. At this point I'm really anxious because now I'm thinking, she doesn't know where they are. I'm about to go out there and tell her what direction they headed when I see the little boy come from the opposite direction and the girl trailing behind. They had gone around the entire loop and the only thing I can think of is that they went up to use the bathrooms and then came around the long way.

This lady sent her 3 and 2 year old babies to use the bathroom by themselves. Even now, days later, I can't comprehend it. We just had a terrible thing happen in a different cg in this state where a little girl wandered off and was found dead in the river not long after. There is a river going thru this park also. It wouldn't take long for two quick moving kids to get down there.

Very thankful nothing bad happened :(
  • HappyKayakers wrote:
    As a workamper, I see situations like this way too often. I don't know if the parents assume that campgrounds are the safest places in the world or if they assume that someone else in the campground will babysit the kids for them. Either way it's just wrong.


    Since going full time I have observed this also and a lot! God love em but most of them are from the city where their kids can not go outside safely and so they go camping so the kids 'can' run around free. They get a false sense of security and don't keep an eye on them.

    I don't think they realize that all is NOT safe in a CG.
  • This lady sent her 3 and 2 year old babies to use the bathroom by themselves


    If that was the case, why would she be searching for them knowing they went to the restroom? BTW, where was the father in all of this? Maybe *he* sent them off to the restroom without telling his wife.

    Pffft... assumptions, and, of course, it's *always* the woman's fault.
  • Bumpyroad wrote:
    exeter_acres wrote:
    This lady sent her 3 and 2 year old babies to use the bathroom by themselves.


    that is an assumption.....

    maybe the parents were still asleep and unaware at first?
    maybe the door was locked and the 3 yr old unlocked it.........


    wait a minute, let everybody jump to their own conclusions. it did take the mother a while to notice that they were gone however.
    bumpy


    If she had been asleep, She would not have noticed till she woke up.
  • Kinda scary. Pretty common to see moms walking though parking lots texting away oblivious to their children walking behind cars backing up. I recall one women taking pictures at the Grand Canyon while her two year old was stumbling towards the edge - no brains/no headaches.
  • That is just plain scarry!! I have JUST started letting my 7yo go from one place to another in a familiar safe environment by herself (such as from her Sunday School room to her choir practice room on our church campus). However I will admit to being on the other side of things too. My 5yo son is autistic, curious and has absolutly no sense of fear. He is also an escape artist, and has managed to elude us a couple times nearly giving me a heart attack. Without speaking to the parents directly there is just no way to know. Glad we are not hearing about them on the evening news.
  • As a workamper, I see situations like this way too often. I don't know if the parents assume that campgrounds are the safest places in the world or if they assume that someone else in the campground will babysit the kids for them. Either way it's just wrong.
  • exeter_acres wrote:
    This lady sent her 3 and 2 year old babies to use the bathroom by themselves.


    that is an assumption.....

    maybe the parents were still asleep and unaware at first?
    maybe the door was locked and the 3 yr old unlocked it.........


    wait a minute, let everybody jump to their own conclusions. it did take the mother a while to notice that they were gone however.
    bumpy
  • This lady sent her 3 and 2 year old babies to use the bathroom by themselves.


    that is an assumption.....

    maybe the parents were still asleep and unaware at first?
    maybe the door was locked and the 3 yr old unlocked it.........
  • We once found a 4 yo little girl in PJ's walking down a narrow main road near the CG. She had gone to the rest room and got turned around trying to get back. She was crying profusely and very scared.
    We stopped and helped her find her group but the idea of this tiny little thing wondering down the road still horrifies me. There just too many "animals" out there.
  • Some kids parents!!!!! Here in FL, if a parent allowed their children to walk around like that, the parents would be arrested for child endangerment. I'm just glad everything worked out.