Out in the audience there were these 2 little boys dancing. They weren't there together and they weren't dancing with each other. Each was getting his own unabashed groove on. One was about 9, and he had a Ben Vereen meets granddaddy shuffle style, with good hip action. The other was about 4, and his was a more modern-lyrical meets mosh pit style. He'd leap and turn in mid-air, and land on all fours and bang his head to the beat of "Sing Sing Sing With a Swing." Both were adorable.
There were also 2 toddlers playing together right in front of us. One knocked the other down and made him sad, so the mother figure picked them both up. I had assumed they were both there with her, but she started looking around like, "Whose baby is this?"
No one claimed him.
The stranger / good mom took that little boy off to the left of the audience to find his family. She could've just kept walking to the parking lot and driven away with him before his real mom even noticed he was gone. Furthermore, anyone could've said he was theirs and taken off with him. He was really pleasant, not scared at all, so I doubt if he'd have even cried. He didn't seem to belong to anyone on the left, so she started working her way to the right. When the good mama got to us, the friendly baby bent down to try to take a sip out of my friend's drink. He didn't know us. He was BEAUTIFUL. All babies are beautiful, but this one had olive skin, brown-black hair, green eyes, cheeks for days, and he was really well behaved. The stranger-mama walked that baby ALL OVER the park for at least a whole song, maybe 2, before his real mom found him.
Finally Real Mom saw us. She wasn't even bothered. She just smiled and strolled over to get him, then wandered away with him. No, "THERE you are," no "Thanks for watching him," nothing. That poor other mom who walked all over with him; I bet she went to the concert to enjoy the show with her own family, not to babysit a stranger's kid. That lazy mom is so lucky there were no pedophiles at the park that day! Or if they were there, none of them made any attempts on her kid, probably because the good mom was with him.
I didn't trust this Real Mom lady's competance, so I kept watching their group off and on throughout the rest of the concert. After she got her baby back, she played with him for a bit, then the dad played with him (yes, both parents were there and neither one was watching their kid). Not very long after that, I looked back again and they didn't have him any more. They weren't worried, though, because it was blanket canoodle time. Kissy kissy. I kept my eyes peeled for him for the rest of the concert, over an hour, but I didn't see the baby. I assumed / hoped that his grandma had come to pick him up or something. Then when the concert was over, I finally spotted him. I don't know where he'd been or who was taking care of him that whole time, but I'm really glad his parents got a nice date while some strangers babysat their kid for free.
As my friend and I walked back to the parking lot we noticed the lazy parents just in front of us, drifting that direction like pollen on the breeze, carrying their vagabond baby. The parking lot was maybe 30 yards away from the seating area. They were almost all the way to the cars when the dad looked around and said, "Billy?" Both parents started looking around with gently creased brows and open mouths as if they were confused. "Wait, is there another kid with them?" I thought. Sure enough, they soon located Billy, who looked about 5, and started calling to him to come on. He'd been playing ball or frizbee with some other children and adults.
I probably sound like one of those annoying single people who think they know everything about raising kids, but I don't care. People: watch your damn kids! Number one, I don't want them hurt, and number 2, I don't want it to be my job to make sure they're not hurt. I'm not the one who got knocked up. I was and remain flabbergasted at these people. It nice to trust your neighbors, but it's not always a good idea. It's NOT nice to assume your neighbors want to raise your kids for you. They don't.
