Absolutely not. There are too many predators around to leave a child wandering alone. I've taken a child and gone looking for his parents until I found them before and I'd do it again. I found a lost little boy wandering in Walmart last year and took him to find his parents. They were only a few aisles away, but they couldn't see him. He came with me so willingly that it wouldn't have taken much for a predator to lure him away.

I would want to help. I always notice if a kid is walking around by him or herself. I generally try to work out if a parent or guardian is nearby and there always seems to be someone there, just not obvious on first glance.

absolutely i would help a child.. to many weirdos out there that i would be an idiot to just let the child wander around.

I keep my eye on the child until I see an adult 'collect' them - an adult whom the child seems to recognise. I have approached children before who seem to be alone, if they are in a moderate to high risk environment (young child on busy city sidewalk, for example.) They weren't all wary of me as a stranger, but then I probably look like all the grandmas they have ever seen and met. Mostly i see them in malls; these environments aren't any safer than outdoor areas as far as predtors go. Fortunately, none of them have needed rescuing or the police called because they were really alone.

I would definitly help. Too many weirdos out there.

I stop and talk with the child, ask if they know where their mom and dad is, if the dont I tell them I will help them find them, I take them to someone in the store and have tem call over the innercom, and I stay with the child until they find the parents. IF it is outside, I put the child on my shoulders if they will let me or at least to a higher level, so that maybe their parents will see them,I call the police if I cant find the parents, so far I have found all of the frantic parents.

That exact thing happened to me the last time I was at the mall. There was a girl, about 7, running around with that panicked look that told me she was lost. I started to go offer my help but I decided that might be misunderstood. My wife was in a dressing room so I couldn't ask her to help. I finally approached the teenager behind the sales counter and asked her to call security. She just stared at me like an idiot. I finally left and found a security guard and together we found the little girl's mom. Oh, and you're right, nobody else noticed the little girl or offered to help.

I would have to stop and ask if you had lost your parents. Once I had seen you I would have to do something to insure yur safety, whether that would be to help you find your parents, take you to a policemen or just keep an eye on you until until you were reunited with someone you obviously knew. It is just way too dangerous to be a child alone among strangers. A couple of years ago, while I was putting my groceries in my car, I noticed a little boy alone in the car next to mine. He couldn't have been more than 4 years old and was dressed only in his underpants, the car windows were down and he struck up a conversation. Showing me his toy truck, telling me about his puppy, etc. After 10 or 15 minutes no one had shown up, so I stayed beside my car and continued to talk to him. I couldn't bring myself to leave. FORTY FIVE minutes later his mom came out of the store. He told her about the new "friend" he had just made and she smiled and said that he makes friends very easily. I smiled back and said, "You know, during the 45 minutes that you left your child alone in the car, I could have very easily talked him into getting into mine and drove away with him and done any number of unspeakable things to him. You would have probably never seen him again. I would advise that you think of that next time you want to 'run into the store for a couple of things' and leave him alone and defenseless". I was so angry I was shaking but I said this very calmly making sure to enunciate every single word. She was no longer smiling when I left.

id notice and would stop and ask you if you were ok and try and get you back to your parents.:)

I would act every single time - either contact the nearest police or security and I would hang around until the parents were with the child. This has happened in the past and it was so scary it was really late at night but I couldnt bring myself to leave the child!

i would ask where there parents are that is too scary to go through, people out there can just get you.

If you look obviously lost and without adult supervision yes, I would bend down and ask you a couple of questions to ascertain the situation and then contact an authority in the area (hopefully there is an intercom system) or, in the worst case, I would call the police. I would only do the latter after attempting to assist you in finding your caregiver within the immediate area.

Anytime I see a child that seems to be unattended, I try to help. I'll watch for a moment to see if an adult catches up to the child, and if it's clear they are alone, I'll approach them and see what is going on. Once, I was driving down a very busy four laned street near a freeway on ramp. I spotted two children, who looked like they were less then six or so years old, walking down the street by themselves. I looked around and there were no adults in sight, so I did a u turn and pulled into the shopping center where I'd seen them headed. I went into the closest store, which was a liquor store and asked the clerk if they'd seen the kids come in. Sure enough, the two kids were a couple isles over. We asked what they were doing and they said simply that they came to buy candy and their parents were at home. The clerk called the police and I waited with them, trying to find out as much info as we could. Turns out they were only four and five year old cousins. When the cops came, they said they had had a phone call from someone who spotted them walking earlier, nearly a mile away. Thankfully, the officer said he would drive them around until they recognized their street. And just yesterday I spotted a young child in the pool area of our apartments alone. A balloon had gone over the fence and somehow this little girl who was about six years old was able to get in. She was alone and laying on her stomach, reaching into the deep end trying to get the balloon when I spotted her. If I hadn't intervened because she wasn't my kid or my problem, she could have very easily fell in head first. Her mom was in their apartment at the other end of our complex and there were only a few children outside. No adults. :( I think any adult that sees a child in danger has an obligation to do all that they can to help. It's just sad that now days people are often afraid of stepping in for fear of getting into trouble with the parents.

I worked at Wal-mart and it is such a habit to talk to kids that are alone,that I know I would react.BUT I bet alot of people would not react.

I'd help you, watch you to see if there is anyone around you know, and ask you if you lost your parent. I'd ask you if you see them around anywhere, what they look like. Then I'd say we need to find your parents so we will go to the loud speaker person, security, or police, and have them find your parents. The best thing to do would be to tell you what I'm going to do so you don't get more scared.