Scene
New York City sidewalk
Dramatis personæ
Two nannies
Two children, in strollers
The two nannies are pushing the two strollers, side by side, chatting. The two children are conversing (in a manner of speaking, they are at least looking at one another). One child is wearing Crocs; however, she has one pink shoe off and in her mouth. The nannies are oblivious (see above, chatting).
I note the child with shoe in mouth and think:
Should I say something? The nanny will just be annoyed that her conversation was interrupted. But, wouldn't the parent like to know that a stranger extracted a shoe from the child's mouth? On the other hand, dirt's good, it builds the immune system. But, ohmygod: dog shit, rat poison, piss, vomit, garbage!
To act or not to act, that is the conundrum.
What, dear readers, would you have done?
20 comments:
I would not have acted but I'm a wussy.
maybe the kid never walks on the city streets, only in his home? LOL!
Oooh, that's a good question. I probably would not have acted, or if I had, it would have been to smile at the nanny and say, "Shoes! The other white meat!"
Ditto Lollipop.
My rule is say nothing unless imminent harm is evidenced.
Linda
Probably would not have acted. I tend to follow the same rule as Linda.
I wouldn't say anything in that instance. My daughter used to love pulling her shoes and socks off and holding them when she was a baby, and I used to get so annoyed when people would tell me she was doing that when I pushed her around in her stroller!
I would have said nothing. I tend to work from the position that people who are doing their jobs know what they are doing & unless I see something totally unsafe I would not say anything. For all you know this kid does it all the time & the nanny has tried to stop it & the parents said oh, just forget it & let her chomp on the shoe...
I would have done nothing.
I would've thought "d'oh. My son needs a new pair of crocs when school gets out."
I'd have taken a picture. :)
I probably wouldn't have even thought twice about it because I am not good at realizing that things like that are not good for kids. (My kids probably eat a lot of dirt and feces.)
I never did sweat dirt and crap getting in my kids' mouths. No bleaching of toys etc for us. I would have said nothing -- raise wash and wear kids, not dry clean only ;)
City living: Good for the microbiome!
What everyone else said. There are times when I wouldn't act but would wish I had the requisite guts. I don't think this would be one of them. Of course, Angus used to chew on a raw potato while grocery shopping when he was teething. I was pretty sure all the other moms made fun of me for that.
Yep, I would have passed on commenting--not from wussiness, but just because it's not all that dangerous. i love the comment about wash-and-wear kids verus dry-clean only.
i would have said nothing, going the "germs are good for you route."
*sigh* It's so hard to witness when people act like idiots.
I would have taken a pic, and tweeted it to the world. (maybe i'd blur the kids to protect the innocent.)
I would have intervened if the kid was doing something dangerous -- like darting out into traffic. But eating a shoe? That seems fairly harmless.
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