I have written before about the seeming carelessness of some folks out here. It happened again.

Yesterday at Hobby Lobby I was waiting in a long line, watching a mom with two little girls, ages four and two. They were in cute little outfits, with Pinteresting braids in their hair. The girls were screaming for candy and the mom snapped, “No candy. You guys just had shakes.” This was the last mother-child interaction for a few minutes, as Mom was busy with the cashier. After the older girl gave up screaming, she started systematically taking the candy and dropping it on the floor. Her little sister began to help. When Mom scooped up the littler one, she left the candy on the floor, and the older girl began skipping about from aisle to aisle, merrily pulling things off of shelves and dropping them on the floor behind her, all the while looking to see if Mom would notice. She did not.

Now, I don’t know this mom. I don’t know what her burden is. I don’t know what else she had had to deal with that day. I could only surmise from appearances that she had not yet invested much time in teaching her little ones how to behave at the store. This mom needed help. After all, it takes a village.

Other moms started putting the things back on the shelves. I did not. Seeing the child a full 50 feet from her mother, I leaned down and whispered, in my scariest mom-voice, “Where I come from, we let the alligators eat little girls who don’t stay close to their moms!” You’re welcome, random mom.