I have to share something most disturbing to me as it should be to everyone.

Several years ago I was at the local Post Office and I parked next to a nice new shiney black luxury car. A baby was in the car alone in a child car seat. The windows were tinted and I bent down to look in and see if I had missed seeing an adult. Nope. The baby, around one year of age, was alone. So I stayed and watched over it a good five minutes until the mother came out. I can't recall exactly what I said to her but it was along the lines that you can't run off and leave a child alone like that. It wasn't hot weather but this could have been a prime case for child abduction.

The response I got was not a kind "thank you" for caring for my child or "I'll never do that again!" No, I was cussed out and told to mind my own business. Does that hit any of you as odd?

So, just recently there I was at the PO again. A young mother in a big white SUV pulled in to a parking space right next to mine at the same time I parked. In the back seat was her maybe 9 month old child strapped into a car seat. I started to go in but then I heard her greet another woman whom she apparently knew as she stepped to the front of the truck. She did a quick look back at her baby and told the other women "It's OK. I'll just be a minute." I stopped in my tracks and leaned up against my front fender to watch over her child and to see just how long her minute was. I thought about how long it would take someone to walk over (the windows were part way down) open the door, unfasten the belts or cut them, lift the carrier out walk to a nearby vehicle and stuff the carrier to the floormat, start up and drive off. I figured that someone could get it done with ease and was half way thorugh the senario again when she walked out. She kind of looked at me funny and then with a little alarm as she realized that I was probably glowering at her as I looked from the baby to her and back a couple of times.

I spoke up and said "Oh that's OK. I just figured that someone ought to watch your baby while you were inside." Now she was shocked. And angry! At me! I turned and got back in my truck. I realized I had lost a piece of mail I intended posting, somewhere in the cab. As I was poking around under my seat I heard her power window going down so I turned toward her as she sat in her SUV. "I don't appreciate you criticizing my parenting." she said angrily. I said "I don't care what you think. You put your child in danger and anybody could have snatched him while you were gone." With that I turned my back to her and kept looking for my missing mail. She sat there for a long time and I know she had to be thinking hard about what had just happened or better, what hadn't happened. She was still sitting there when I pulled out to return home and look for my missing mail.

So, what do you think? Did I handle it right? Did I expose myself to possible recriminations? Should I have said anything? Should I have reported the incident? Or should I have just been a silent Guardian Angel?