The sad little boy across the road...

I got home from having dinner on Monday night and the little kid across the road (5 years old???) was standing out the front of his house's front door howling out loud with tears and crying and all manner of pleas to his Mum and Dad to let him in. I went to my front verandah (sheepishly peeping out with one eye from inside the door) to see what all the hullabaloo was about. It was 9.30 at night. It was dark. I'm not a parent but I've got a pretty good idea that a kid can push you to do things and make you stir-crazy. BUT, if the parents were punishing/disciplining the child for ill-behaviour (and actually I couldn't even be certain that that was what the actual motivation was of theirs for what I was witnessing) then isn't keeping a child locked out of the house in the dark while he pleads to be let in, something that falls into the mental abuse category??? I would be so interested to hear from Mums and Dads about what their opinions are of this. This went on for half an hour before they let the boy into the house. I don't know how long it had been going on for BEFORE I got home.

Fast forward 3 days later to Thursday afternoon, around midday. Same deal as above. This time it's a bloody HOT day, the sun is out in full force and there is NO SHADE in their front yard. All of a sudden the Mum and Dad come out to the front yard, IGNORING the boy, hop into their mustard yellow Porsche-looking car (probably isn't a Porsche because I have no idea about cars) and whilst he's standing in his front yard wailing with tears, they just DRIVE OFF AND LEAVE HIM THERE ON THE FOOTPATH. I'm getting bothered right now just reliving all of this because it consumed a good few hours of my afternoon and I'm not saying that in a way that makes me sound precious like my day was interrupted, but in a way where I was emotionally drawn into being really concerned for this little boy and whether or not he was OK. And concerned about what the hell his parents were doing. And where they were going. And for how long they were going.

So I go out to my balcony and in a caring way yell out to him "Little boy? Are you OK?" He was a little stunned I think that a stranger was taking notice and trying to communicate to him. I said, continuing on in a soft, inquisitive voice, "Was that your Mummy and Daddy that just drove away?" "Ye-es," he said, nodding. I said, "Where are they going?" and he responded with words that I found impossible to understand because he was sobbing simultaneously and it was a windy day so that always hampers the ole' hearing ability. I asked, "Is there anyone at home with you?" No, he motioned. Not knowing whether I should physically get myself involved - I didn't think that that would actually be a good idea - but wanting to keep an eye on this boy, I said, "Maybe go back inside the house and wait for Mummy and Daddy to come home." Just as I said that, the mustard yellow car comes cruising back down the street so I retreated back inside my house and kept view from a distance. I couldn't understand the exact language that was being spoken... some kind of African dialect however, so I can't vouch for what was said exactly, only what I saw. But the boy was basically motioning that he wanted to hop into the car with his parents but there was no body language from his parents that this was going to happen. Instead, I saw the parents throw a set of (presumably) house keys at the boy from inside the car, which landed on the ground. They didn't pass the keys to the boy, they threw them at him and he ran to the ground to pick them up. The parents then drove off again, leaving the child once again, standing solitary on the sidewalk, crying. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I re-emerged onto my verandah and tried to calm him, but trying to figure out at the same time what I should do. If there really was no adult figure in the house, was that just OK that he'd been left there on his own? Should I go over there and put him back inside his house? Should I go over and get him to come and sit in my front yard? I didn't want to involve myself in any altercations or confrontations with his parents, but my heart was breaking at how I saw him being treated. Just as I was having this moral quandary, seeking advice from my quieter-souled-boyfriend as to what to do, the mustard yellow car returned once again, this time without the Mother in the car. Perhaps she'd been dropped off somewhere? Not sure, but she did actually walk back down the street about 5 minutes later. That was bizarre in itself. At this time, the parents went back inside the house, closed the front door and the boy continued to be locked out.

What would you have done??? I'm interested to hear people's responses before I go any further...

Thankssssssssss!