Scary moment turned into Scout moment

[cajuncody]

Hi all, I hope this goes here.

I was running late this morning and had a sick child. We were on our way to the doctors office on a winding hilly, back road here in East Tennessee when I came around a blind curve and found a T-Dot (Tenn Dept of Trans) truck parked on the road with flashers on. This gave me the heads up I needed to hit the breaks. Good thing I did because there was a small (around 2 yrs old) little boy walking up the rural road ALONE!!! The driver of the T-Dot truck was just sitting in the cab watching this boy toddle along. I immediatly got out and caught him (gently of course). As I brought him back to my car to use my cel to phone for help when a very angry man came storming up a driveway 200' down the road yelling and cussing this poor child. He yanked him out of my hands and proceeded to take him home. While he was doing this his other child (who should have been in school) walked right out into the road at the other end trying to follow him. This one was maybe 7. Well as soon as I went far enough down the road to get signal to my cel phone I called CPS and the Sheriffs dept. I really couldn't risk an altercation with an angered man in front of my 2 boys and the T Dot driver left when he saw the man coming.

Now to the point: I related this to the nurse while my son was being checked (nothing major, just a virus) and she was shocked that I had called and reported it. She said that other people had told her of things like this but refused to report them due to fear of making some one mad. I guess it was the Youth Protection Training in action that made me act before thinking about the feelings of a strange man endangering his child. I just thought it was what anyone would do but evidently I was wrong. Are Scouters that different from other people?

Kristi(This message has been edited by cajuncody)

[dsteele]

Kristi:

 

If I may borrow a bit from the movie "Stripes."

 

Yes, Scouters are weird. We're weird. We're really, really WEIRD!

 

We care about other people's kids. We spend our time to develop them.

 

Aside from being weird, which is not necessarily a bad thing, we're rule-followers. We have rules with which we deal with our need to help other people's kid.

 

We're on a mission -- to instill in young people the values to make ethical choices over their lifetime. The values we seek to instill are those found in the Scout Oath and Law.

 

I know I've mis-quoted the current version of the mission of the BSA, but I'm off in the right direction.

 

It's what we do.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Unc

[PNScouter]

I would not hesitate to contact the CPS if I thought a child was neglected or abused. However, based on your post, the man seamed to be hot on the trail of his kids and surly was angered to see them in the road. From what you have described, I am not sure I would have called CPS. Was the situation abuse or neglect, or did the guy show poor judgement and take his eye off the kid just long enough for them to find trouble?

[OldGreyEagle]

Then again, I am not sure if I would be able to sleep if I heard a week following such an incident that a two year old boy was hit by a car on that highway because his father was too engrossed in other activities, legal or illegal, way to go Cody

 

(BTW Cody, remind me about tennessee Cheesecake, not in this thread, but another)

[cajuncody]

I don't think this was a case of looking away and them getting away. This 2 yr old toddled down a 75' gravel driveway, across a road and up 200' of road and ditch. He wasn't moving very fast, he was doing the high step that most "New" walkers do. The man wasn't just angry he was belligerent, with me and the child. The only excuse he offered was (and I quote) "I told you not to go near the road". To quote another wise saying "The very young do not always do as they are told" (Stargate). He was at fault. I would never have forgiven my self if I had hit that boy with my boys in the car or if I hadn't called and he did it again but was hit.

Kristi

[PNScouter]

OGE, I certainly would help this youngster back to safety and proably give the man a tongue lashing. Too many people look the other way in the cases of abuse and neglect. However, in this situation, I would not be so quick to judge this man and using the words legal or "illegal" when refering to his activites with the small amount of information given seams a bit strong.

[OldGreyEagle]

OK, maybe I was being a little melodramatic, ok, a lot, but I think cajuncody did the right thing

[dan]

So PNScouter

You are better at judging abuse then the experts? We are not to judge only report SUSPECTED forms of abuse.

Your tounge lashing could have done more harm than good.

[PNScouter]

No dan, I dont claim to know more than the experts. I am not sure that this case meets the level of "suspected forms of abuse".

[dan]

If you are not sure, report it, right?

[PNScouter]

Right.