Did I do the right thing? Found a lost toddler

[reallifeboogie]

So I kept her. Haha. No not really. Obviously.

Took my mum for breakfast at dobbies garden centre. Attached to the restaurant is a massive soft play.
Restaurant fairly busy at 10am this morning. Lots of mums and toddlers going into the soft play.
I then notice a little girl, no more than 2.5, wandering around the restaurant with no shoes and socks on. I watch for a couple of minutes and realise she's not with any of the customers in the restaurant so presume her parent(s) are in the soft play.
I got up and tried to ask where mummy was but she was too little to understand and kept pointing towards a table with people eating. I asked them if she was with them and no she wasn't.

Couldn't see any restaurant staff so I took the little girl by the hand and took her into the soft play.

Lots of parents sitting around tables there but nobody seemed to know who the child belonged to.

So I wasn't sure what to do. At this point the girl started to cry so I picked her up and told her we would find mummy.

At this point a very angry woman stormed up to me asking me what I was doing with the child. I explained and asked if she was mum. She said no... she was the girls childminder and had taken another child to the toilet, which is out of the soft play and restaurant area and in the main garden centre. Childminder shouted that I shouldn't have picked the child up and that she thought I was kidnapping her. Apparently I should have just left her to wander around.

It must have been 10 minutes in total from first spotting the child to handing the child back.

Did I do the right thing picking the child up??

Not sure why you’re talking about dealing with wandering children? The problem here was a wandering childminder!

You did the right thing. The childminder was probably angry because she knew she was in the wrong. Don’t give it another thought Poor child.

You did a lovely thing but it could so easily backfired on you. A long time ago I used to steward at a festival and every year we would get training on what to do if we found or were approached by a lost child. Firstly, always involve another adult. Sometimes we would be the only steward at a venue so we’d have to ask another member of the public. Secondly, never touch then until they touch you. I couldn’t take their hand. If a child feels safe they will hold your hand. There was more to do but that’s the basics.

Of course you did the right thing. That child could easily have been snatched/wandered off/injured without a responsible adult intervening. That childminder is a disgrace and should be reported to the parents.

Many years ago I found a toddler wandering around between cars on my road. It took an age to finally find her Mom who was high and completely unaware that she was missing. I agonised over the decision but reported the incident to SS who intervened.

This child’s parents are entrusting their child to a negligent carer. I would follow it up.

Yes, you absolutely did the right thing as good knows what could've happened to her.

As for that so called 'childminder' she should've been thanking you instead of being a rude, ungrateful bitch.