Today we had a three year old boy wandering around on our school playground...."Is your mommy here?"
"No, I'm just playing."
"What's your name?"
"Carlos." (all names have been changed for protection)
"What's your last name?"
"I don't know."
"What's mommy's name?"
"Mommy."
"What's daddy's name?"
"Daddy."
"How old are you?"
"Three and my brother goes to school here."
"What is his name?"
"Mi-Mi." (Of 900 students...none of them are named Mi-Mi.)
Carlos is dressed well, clean and fed. He is taken to the office and the police are called. We figure he couldn't have walked far and after they canvas the neighborhood they find his house. The babysitter is the 14 year old sister who fell asleep on the couch. Why is she at home, you might ask? Hmmm...she says she was sick today. So, a "sick" 14 year old is taking care of a 3 year old. We also learned that little Carlos does have a brother that attends our school, but we know him as Michael. Mom and Dad were called and come to the school to pick up Carlos. We also had to contact social service.
MOMMY AND DADDY, PLEASE TEACH YOUR CHILDREN YOUR REAL NAMES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
Around the age of 4 they should also be able to recite their:
* address
* phone number
* full name
* and know how to call 911
5 comments:
Shoot, my ALMOST 3 yr old knows her first & last name, mom's name and dad's name. I'm not sure what is more scary, the fact that he didn't know the answer to these questions or that the parents felt a sick 14 yr old should take care of a 3 yr old, too.
Ok, I think you're being a little hard on the little boy. Now, he ABSOLUTELY shouldn't have been where he was. That was absolutely dangerous. However, my daughter is 3. She's learning to count, and her letters. I would be shocked if she could remember our address, much less our phone number. Those are long strings of numbers. My daughter does great in prechool, so she's not slow by any means. Also, while she knows our names... if she was in a scary situation, she might not remember it, and she might possibly say the same thing. Around age 5, I could probably see them knowing these things, but 3 is a big young.
sheesh! What a mess. Our son knows his full name (it is a mouthful so whether anyone could ever decipher the last name is anyone's guess), our first names and I've tried to teach him his address, but we're not quite there yet with that, phone number, or 911. He could however tell you how to get to my house or my mother's house from anywhere in town! turn here, and turn this way here...
Sarah, I said by age 4...not age 3....
Good Lord, how terrifying! I can't believe he made it to the school safely but I'm glad he did.
I really can't believe that 14-year-old fell asleep on the couch, hopefully the family will reconsider who is watching their child(ren) from now on!
Melba
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