wherein Liz is mistaken for a bad mother
May. 26th, 2010 07:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingAs I walked home from work this evening, I passed a small girl on a bicycle and her mother who was walking behind her -- or, more accurately, I passed the mother and then the girl and I played leapfrog for a couple blocks.
Near the end of the second block, the mother stopped to talk to someone and the girl, naturally, stopped at the intersection. I crossed it just as a car pulled up on the sidestreet that had a stop sign.
As I reached the other side, a woman's voice said, loudly, "Hey! You! Is that your daughter?"
Since I have no children, it didn't occur to me that I was being addressed.
The woman called again. "Hey! You shouldn't walk ahead of her like that. It isn't safe!"
At this point I turned, wondering what was going on, and discovered a woman leaning out the driver's seat window of the car on the sidestreet to give me a disapproving look.
Apparently the girl's mother was far enough back from the sidestreet, and sufficiently obscured by the shade of trees, that since I had been next to the girl before she stopped her bike, the driver assumed I was the girl's mother.
"She's not mine," I said, and pointed across the street. "Her mother's back there."
"You need to pay attention to her -- it's dangerous not to," the driver said firmly.
"Not my kid! Her mother's back there, talking to someone," I repeated. And I turned around and continued home.
...
On the one hand, it's reassuring to know that people are civic-minded enough to keep an eye out for children in potentially unsafe situations, but on the other hand, it was an extremely odd experience to be scolded for bad parenting when I don't have any kids.
...
I keep forgetting that I'm technically old enough to have a ten-year-old kid, if I had, for goodness only knows what reason, gotten pregnant right out of high school.
Near the end of the second block, the mother stopped to talk to someone and the girl, naturally, stopped at the intersection. I crossed it just as a car pulled up on the sidestreet that had a stop sign.
As I reached the other side, a woman's voice said, loudly, "Hey! You! Is that your daughter?"
Since I have no children, it didn't occur to me that I was being addressed.
The woman called again. "Hey! You shouldn't walk ahead of her like that. It isn't safe!"
At this point I turned, wondering what was going on, and discovered a woman leaning out the driver's seat window of the car on the sidestreet to give me a disapproving look.
Apparently the girl's mother was far enough back from the sidestreet, and sufficiently obscured by the shade of trees, that since I had been next to the girl before she stopped her bike, the driver assumed I was the girl's mother.
"She's not mine," I said, and pointed across the street. "Her mother's back there."
"You need to pay attention to her -- it's dangerous not to," the driver said firmly.
"Not my kid! Her mother's back there, talking to someone," I repeated. And I turned around and continued home.
...
On the one hand, it's reassuring to know that people are civic-minded enough to keep an eye out for children in potentially unsafe situations, but on the other hand, it was an extremely odd experience to be scolded for bad parenting when I don't have any kids.
...
I keep forgetting that I'm technically old enough to have a ten-year-old kid, if I had, for goodness only knows what reason, gotten pregnant right out of high school.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-27 06:58 am (UTC)It's just that the girl was not mine, so the driver's assumption that I was neglecting her failed to hold water. *wry*