that a woman stacking shelves in Iceland would make a point of getting my 3 year old to look at her because she happens to be called Maddy

Agree with NineUnlikelyTales.

She stacks shelves for minimum wage - there is a large reward and a shed load of media coverage.

my dp says... "thats why ppl who stack shelves stakc shelves.."

I think most of us would look twice hearing that name but I can understand why you're miffed.

hmm, yeah quite true, but if you yourself heard someone shout out the name you may find yourself looking in that direction. Shop assistant was perhaps a bit impulsive in this instance.

If you had abducted Madeleine McCann - currently the most famous child in the UK, if not half the world - would you seriously be taking her on a shopping trip to a supermarket? And be calling out her name in the middle of the store?

Agree with Edam. Voyeuristic thrills for some people.

I think you're overreacting tbh and can't see why it should be a problem. No-one knows where the missing girl is, she could be in your town for all you know. What i'm saying is that some poeple perhaps take things a little far but what if maddy is found by a member of the public being a little over vigilent [sp].

Oh for heaven's sake, some people are just loving all this, aren't they? As if a dark-skinned, dark-eyed child looks anyting like Madeleine. Woman was just getting some voyeuristic thrill out of it.

Would be very pissed off.

A bit odd granted but nothing to get in a lather about.

good point, nine.

How ridiculous. So this woman could save a child's life in the 3rd world by giving £2 to Oxfam or whatever, but she felt she would be doing a better job if she checked all the 3 year olds entering her local Iceland? Pathetic.

All right, she may also give to Oxfam or whatever but it still gets on my nerves.

i'd have been livid! this whole hysteria thing drives me nuts.

I remember walking along the road with my grandfather when I was about 7 - we were going to meet my mum. When we met up he told her that we had been followed by a policeman all the way and he had been radio-ing through a description of me on his walkie talkie - a little girl had gone missing at about the same time. I hadn't noticed of course but he had.

It must be a bit annoying but shouldn't we all be glad that people are keeping an eye out for children?

Annoying and intrusive. It would piss me off.

OH THERe are loads of stories like this.

friends neighbour has a daughter who looks similar to MMc and people have walked up to her and stared straight in the poor childs face.

Bizarre

I can see why it would annoy you.

tbh i don't see the problem, there are far worse things in the world to fret about

I don't think there's any harm in it, TBH, though slightly odd with a dark-skinned child! My four-year-old, fair-haired girl has been given long, searching looks a couple of times in the past weeks, but people have looked away again quickly when they see she has brown eyes. I haven't minded; the more people keeping an eye out, the better.

When my ds was about 3.5, we were in a shopping centre close to closing time. I knew there was a toilet at the back of one of the dept stores, and as he was busting we dashed in. By the time of our exit, the shop was shut, and the staff were milling about the exits waiting to leave. Meanwhile my ds started a tantrum. I don't know where it came from but he started screaming at me "get off, you're not my mummy, I want my mummy, I want my daddy, leave me alone" etc etc. His tantrum was so bad I had to scoop him up, but he was fighting and thrashing all the way through the shop, past all the staff and through the exit. At the time I was extremely embarrassed, and so just tried to hurry out with him.

When we finally reached fresh air, he snapped out of it. But then it occured to me that not one of the staff, possibly about 10 of them in total, intervened in the situation. Here we had a woman half-dragging, half-carrying a frightened child out of a store who was screaming that this was not his mother.

He had been screaming all the right things if, god forbid, he is ever snatched. Yet not one person came to his assistance. What more can a child do to get attention from bystanders? I was very saddened by what I witnessed that day. I wouldn't have minded being stopped to explain the situation. Let's face it most tantrums stop after a few minutes, and most of us carry pictures in our purses, so I could easily have explained things. Maybe we should all be a little bit more interferring.

my 3 year old is a madeline as well and I have had a few people look at her she is very blonde and have very blue eyes and it does make you feel uncomfortable as a parent, but the other part of me thinks I would want them to look at every child if one of mine went missing and its good to know that even in France it is in the news

@quadrophenia
How awful, to feel that you can't call your daughter's name in public.

Of course, it is important that people are observant but surely it is going too far when the mother of a brunette dark-skinned child is looked at suspiciously.

There's a difference between having a covert look and being outright rude. I'd've given the shelf-stacker/shop assistant a wee bit of verbal for that.

Agnes

as the mum of a blonde madeline, i have found lots of people to stare at her if i call her by her name in public, tbh I've stopped calling her by her name now as i found it quite odd.

I guess the lady didn't analyse it that much and just sort of 'checked'. Bit crass to judge her motives in terms of displays of one-upmanship of 'caring'. May well have been a knee-jerk - for which the media are to blame, I grant you.

Still don't see the harm - on balance.