Stupid Parents. I saved a life.

Parents...are you listening? No? Well sit down and pay attention. PAY. ATTENTION. TO. YOUR. KIDS.  I swear, parents should be forced to pass some sort of competency test before they're allowed to procreate. I'm not usually one to rant, but today I saw a parent being stupid - and luckily for her - I was paying more attention to her kid than she was, because I saved his 2 year old life.  So here's the story: I was sitting around at McDonald's, eating a quick dinner because I am wayyyyy too tired lately  (I fell asleep at 6 pm yesterday... seriously.. for an insomniac, that's unheard of) due to illness to bother with cooking. Anyways - there were these two Army women sitting at this little table with a 2-year old still-in-pampers little boy with them. They were gabbing it up - letting this little kid roam all over the place. I first noticed him when he was opening the cupboards under the condiment stand, messing with all the little under-the-counter stuff that McDonald's doesn't really want their customers to see. I sort of shot a glare at his mother (not that she noticed) because what sort of parent doesn't say a word when their kid is fiddling with obviously off-limits stuff?

Whatever - So this lil blonde-haired toddler toddles his way past my table - far away from his mother who is paying absolutely no attention - and makes his way OUTSIDE to this little enclosed fenced area.  He was safe there, but it took his mother a minute to realize he was gone.  She brought him back in, and sat down to chat.  Not five minutes later, he was out there again. She gave up, and she and her friend went to sit at the "bar" overlooking I guess what you'd call "the patio". I thought "good for her - she's finally gunna keep an eye on him".

No. No she didn't. 10 minutes later, the little boy (who I was watching and giggling at on his little adventure) came back in, and immediately went for the second door.  At this point it took him all of three seconds to open the other outside door, and pointedly step into the drive through lane - right in front of a truck.  The truckdriver saw him, and freaked out, but I immediately jumped up to stop him - and very loudly, yell at his mother. She freaked out and ran over  to grab up her kid - who was on his way to the highway as far as he was concerned. The little boy was just fine but the stupidity of that mother makes me want to slap her. At least she was grateful - she did stop by my table to thank me.

If you have kids - watch them. I don't care where you are, or what you're doing.. you should know where your kids are, and what they're doing. Be a responsible parent. Your conversation with your best friend isn't so important. What are you going to do when your kid gets killed in a mc donald's drive-thru? How are you going to explain to your family that you were too busy gossiping to notice your toddler left the building?