# Lost kid....



## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

I went to the second hand children's shop to find a pack n Play. (they didn't have one)

Apparently, Saturday is .25 sale day, and all the stuff outside on the tables is a quarter.

It was MOBBED! I almost left. But, I shoved my way inside. 90% of the families were hispanic, and the place was jammed. There were lines out the door. There must have been at least 20 little four-ish year old boys there.

So, about ten minutes later there's a mom and another woman calling a boy's name. She got frantic. I looked around, none of the boys I saw seemed lost, or to acknowledge the name being called.

A few minutes go by, and they locked the store's door. This kid is NOT in the store. But, he's not outside the store either. He was gone. They/we searched every corner of the store, under all the racks, in back with the employees, in the back of the store, and the surrounding are. They wouldn't let anybody leave.

The police come. And ask everybody if they saw a hispanic boy about four years old... (like I said there were at least 20 boys around that age)

It's going to be 116 degrees today, and it's already well over 100 degrees right now. I was there for an hour, and they never found this kid. (to my knowledge)

AN HOUR! Without having any idea where your four year old is? In this heat? There is nothing for him to safely walk to, since most of the stores have closed down in that plaza. I don't think he can get inside to cool off anywhere.

I'm just sick about this. I hope he's been found by now. I didn't hear an Amber alert on the radio.. so maybe he's been found????


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## caro113 (Aug 25, 2008)

I hope they find him soon. Hopefully he just wandered off and is at someone's house who is trying to contact his parents or something like that. That's really terrifying that he is still missing.

I know this sounds terrible, but whenever I'm at a store and see a little child wandering by himself bc his parents couldn't be bothered to watch him, I also secretly hope he goes somewhere safe for an hour or two so the parents will worry and be scared and think "maybe I should watch my child once in a while". I see it happen all to often. Once I was in a store and the parents were at one end and I saw their child all the way at the other. Eventually I heard them calling for him and he was just ignoring them. And then when they came by he just walked off, as if he really wanted to avoid them.

Anyhow, I hope he's okay. Please update when you learn anything new!

PS: Where was this located? Has an amber alert been issued?


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## Fuamami (Mar 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *caro113* 
I know this sounds terrible, but whenever I'm at a store and see a little child wandering by himself bc his parents couldn't be bothered to watch him, I also secretly hope he goes somewhere safe for an hour or two so the parents will worry and be scared and think "maybe I should watch my child once in a while".

That sure does sound terrible. Very harsh. My 4 year old wandered off once at the store. It happened so incredibly fast, I couldn't believe it. And it was terrifying.

I hope they find him. I hope he fell asleep in the racks or something. So sad.


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *caro113* 
PS: Where was this located? Has an amber alert been issued?

Nope. No amber alert. I've been listening to the radio too.

I think I'll wait a little bit and call the store to ask if they have heard anything about him. I just pray he's inside somewhere out of this heat.


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## jennydecki (Jun 8, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *caro113* 
I know this sounds terrible, but whenever I'm at a store and see a little child wandering by himself bc his parents couldn't be bothered to watch him, I also secretly hope he goes somewhere safe for an hour or two so the parents will worry and be scared and think "maybe I should watch my child once in a while".

Meh. I don't think it sounds terrible. It's not like you're hoping the child gets hurt or anything!! I mean some people need a shock to realize that what they are doing is not working. I have a 3 & 4 yo and the minute we're in a store, they're in a cart LOL - kids run off WAY too fast to give them a chance to do something hinky.

(I'm basically a Free Range Kids kinda mom, but when it comes to preschoolers and stores and groups and other people...yeah...I get a little less "free range")

OP: I really hope you hear if they find that poor boy, because I know if it was me I'd be totally worried until I heard something. Maybe call the non-emergency police dept. and ask if there has been an update.


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## lovebug (Nov 2, 2004)

I hope they found him! how sad...


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## Peppermint (Feb 12, 2003)

: I hope he is found soon.

caro113- that does sound terrible.


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## Fuamami (Mar 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jennydecki* 
Meh. I don't think it sounds terrible. It's not like you're hoping the child gets hurt or anything!! I mean some people need a shock to realize that what they are doing is not working. I have a 3 & 4 yo and the minute we're in a store, they're in a cart LOL - kids run off WAY too fast to give them a chance to do something hinky.

Or, maybe they did something they've never done before, or their child did something they've never done before. It doesn't necessarily mean that what they're doing isn't working, you know? Stuff happens.


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## borbonmamma (Jul 11, 2009)

This is horrible, I hope he's found...


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## delicious (Jun 16, 2003)

the tone of some of the posts on this thread is horrible.

i hope that little boy is found safe and is with his family right now.


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## Snuzzmom (Feb 6, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *delicious* 
the tone of some of the posts on this thread is horrible.

i hope that little boy is found safe and is with his family right now.

I agree. I swear my child has disappeared *while I was looking directly at him*. Well, okay, not really... but it sure can happen fast and I am certainly attentive.

Don't wish for parents to be scared like this... that is horrible and cruel. I sure hope if my child disappears, there are more people hoping for the best and helping me than assuming I deserve it for not watching him closely enough. You don't know what happened.

I hope they find this little boy.


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## Fujiko (Nov 11, 2006)

Maybe if you're really curious you can call the store and ask them if he was found.


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

I did call the store.

He was found. There is a dog boarding kennel about a block away from the store, but still in the plaza. He had heard the dogs barking, and went over there to see the dogs, then got lost, and walked the other direction. A man saw him walking and crying getting near the street. He and another person stopped to call the police, but the boy was afraid of the people who stopped to help him. Fortunately, they wrangled him anyway, and made him sit in one of the cars while the police arrived.

I guess he was very verbal and told the store employees every detail of his brush with homelessness.


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## St. Margaret (May 19, 2006)

Oh, thank goodness.

We stopped to just be with a little girl lost at Disneyland one time. I guess her family kept walking while she slowed to a stop trying do up her sweater zipper. I had a bad feeling seeing this little kid slowly walking trying to get it to zip up, so we stopped and watched her, then went up to her to see if she could see her family, once she looked up and got a terrified look on her face. The dad showed up five minutes later and just called her over, didn't come over to say anything to the family waiting with her. I choose to think he was just incredibly scared and flustered and grateful to find her.


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## Amylcd (Jun 16, 2005)

Quote:

I know this sounds terrible, but whenever I'm at a store and see a little child wandering by himself bc his parents couldn't be bothered to watch him, I also secretly hope he goes somewhere safe for an hour or two so the parents will worry and be scared and think "maybe I should watch my child once in a while".
Yes, that is a terrible thing to think. I hope you work on changing your views.


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## Snuzzmom (Feb 6, 2008)

Thank God!! I'm so glad he was found. That has got to be the most terrifying experience for the child AND the parents.


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## Jennifer Z (Sep 15, 2002)

I would love to know how people can be critical of child tethers AND be critical of parents when kids run off.









I have an autistic son, who I did not understand was autistic when he was a toddler. The speed at which that kid could disappear was astonishing, and he didn't respond when his name was called and wouldn't come looking for you. It is an absolutely TERRIFYING situation to be in, and dh and I are both VERY watchful and attentitive and it still happened. Sometimes he was just a few feet away but hidden by a store display, but since he wouldn't respond to his name, we couldn't call out his name and find him, and heaven help us if we guessed the wrong direction when we started looking for him.


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## Heavenly (Nov 21, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nextcommercial* 
I did call the store.

He was found. There is a dog boarding kennel about a block away from the store, but still in the plaza. He had heard the dogs barking, and went over there to see the dogs, then got lost, and walked the other direction. A man saw him walking and crying getting near the street. He and another person stopped to call the police, but the boy was afraid of the people who stopped to help him. Fortunately, they wrangled him anyway, and made him sit in one of the cars while the police arrived.

*I guess he was very verbal and told the store employees every detail of his brush with homelessness.*

Thank goodness he was found but what does the bolded portion above have to do with anything and why would the employees just divulge this information to a concerned caller over the phone? That seems a little odd to me?


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## mysticmomma (Feb 8, 2005)

I'm so glad he was found!


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## mammal_mama (Aug 27, 2006)

I'm very glad to hear the child is okay!

And I was shocked and sad to hear that someone here assumes that anytime a child is wandering around lost, this means the parents "couldn't be bothered" to watch their child.

Uhm, I guess I could be really mean and say that I hope people with this attitude get to have some sort of a "humbling" experience. But I honestly wouldn't wish that sort of exprerience on anyone.

I haven't had that experience myself, yet. But one time I was at a friend's house, and we were chatting in the kitchen, and she went to check on her toddler son who had been watching TV in the living room. And he was GONE.

Up til that day, he hadn't known how to open the front door -- but that day he figured it out, and had even shut both the door and the gate behind himself. We ran outside and when some neighbor kids said "He went that way," she ran screaming down the street.

Then a moment later, a woman approached from the opposite direction carrying him. I called my friend back, and the woman told us the whole story of how she'd seen him a few blocks away, approaching a busy intersection. So she intercepted him.

And the postal worker walked up at that moment, and recognized him and remembered what house he was from, and said he had a very attentive mother, so this must just be a one-time thing. So the woman brought him home.

And when my friend told her husband, We need to get a lock for our gate now, and told him what had happened, her husband was furious and thought she'd been negligent, and also that it was my fault for talking to her and distracting her.

But I say it was really just one of those bad things that can happen to the best of parents. And thankfully everything turned out okay, and of course my friend took precautions to make sure it didn't happen again.


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## kmeyrick (Aug 30, 2006)

I'm glad the child was found! Gently, to the OP, may I ask why it mattered that "90% of the families were Hispanic?" It didn't quite sound right putting that there.


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## Amylcd (Jun 16, 2005)

Quote:

*90% of the families were hispanic*, and the place was jammed.
Can I ask why you felt the need to include this information? It just seems like a strange thing to include when it has no relevance to the situation.


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## Peppermint (Feb 12, 2003)

I thought the 90% Hispanic part sounded funny at first too, but then realized it was to make it clear later in the story why trying to think which 4 year old Hispanic boy was gone would be hard to do.

ETA- and I am not saying all 4 year old Hispanic boys look the same







, just that, I could certainly see why many of the boys looked a fair amount alike to a stranger...


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## Amylcd (Jun 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kmeyrick* 
I'm glad the child was found! Gently, to the OP, may I ask why it mattered that "90% of the families were Hispanic?" It didn't quite sound right putting that there.


Glad I'm not the only one who found that part slightly off putting.


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## Heavenly (Nov 21, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Peppermint* 
I thought the 90% Hispanic part sounded funny at first too, but then realized it was to make it clear later in the story why trying to think which 4 year old Hispanic boy was gone would be hard to do.

ETA- and I am not saying all 4 year old Hispanic boys look the same







, just that, I could certainly see why many of the boys looked a fair amount alike to a stranger...

Do all Hispanic boys look alike though? I know all white boys don't.


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## mamameg (Feb 10, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Peppermint* 
I thought the 90% Hispanic part sounded funny at first too, but then realized it was to make it clear later in the story why trying to think which 4 year old Hispanic boy was gone would be hard to do.

ETA- and I am not saying all 4 year old Hispanic boys look the same







, just that, I could certainly see why many of the boys looked a fair amount alike to a stranger...


to be honest, that makes it sound worse, not better.


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kmeyrick* 
I'm glad the child was found! Gently, to the OP, may I ask why it mattered that "90% of the families were Hispanic?" It didn't quite sound right putting that there.

Because we were expected to remember where we last saw a four year old hispanic boy... but, all the boys there were hispanic, so nobody noticed this one boy when he went missing. No different than saying a busload of daycampers in yellow shirts.


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## mazajo (Nov 3, 2004)

Whew, I'm glad he was found too!!

A friend of mine's 2yo DD once let herself out of her house one day while my friend was cooking dinner. My friend's first response after discovering DD was not in the house or in the yard was to phone her mother 2 houses down the street to see if DD had came down there. My friend's mother told her that she had not seen her. After a brief panicky search of the neighboring yards, when my friend was headed towards the phone to call the police, her mom called her back and told her in fact she did have her DD. She had purposefully lied to her to teach her a lesson.







It's been almost ten years and I know my friend has never completely forgiven her mother for that.


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Heavenly* 
Do all Hispanic boys look alike though? I know all white boys don't.

Of course not.. but, the only thing we had to go on was "hispanic four year old boy in a black T-shirt".


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## Peppermint (Feb 12, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Heavenly* 
Do all Hispanic boys look alike though? I know all white boys don't.

Of course not, but- it is quite possible that most of these boys had brown/dark hair, dark skin tone and maybe brown eyes. I mean, my kids look "irish", people often comment how obvious it is that they are irish, and when I say that, I can bet that most people get an idea in their mind of what my kids might look like- lighter skin tone being one obvious example. Even though all ethnicities have many variances in looks, some are more "alike" than others, in that most of the people will all have dark hair eyes, or blond hair and blue eyes, etc.


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## WatermelonSnow (Feb 15, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *caro113* 
I know this sounds terrible, but whenever I'm at a store and see a little child wandering by himself bc his parents couldn't be bothered to watch him, I also secretly hope he goes somewhere safe for an hour or two so the parents will worry and be scared and think "maybe I should watch my child once in a while". I see it happen all to often. Once I was in a store and the parents were at one end and I saw their child all the way at the other. Eventually I heard them calling for him and he was just ignoring them. And then when they came by he just walked off, as if he really wanted to avoid them.


That does sound terrible. Children wander off from vigilant caretakers pretty often. Karma can be an important teaching tool.


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Heavenly* 
Thank goodness he was found but what does the bolded portion above have to do with anything and why would the employees just divulge this information to a concerned caller over the phone? That seems a little odd to me?

I thought so too.. but it's mostly a family run neighborhood store. I just called and said "I was there earlier when the little boy went missing, and I wondered if he'd been found". She offered up all the other information.


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## lovebug (Nov 2, 2004)

> Quote:
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *nextcommercial*
> ...


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## lovebug (Nov 2, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Heavenly* 
Do all Hispanic boys look alike though? I know all white boys don't.

no however... i would need hair color, eye color and other things to pick out just what white, hispanic, or other race boy they were talking about...


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## kmeyrick (Aug 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nextcommercial* 
Because we were expected to remember where we last saw a four year old hispanic boy... but, all the boys there were hispanic, so nobody noticed this one boy when he went missing. No different than saying a busload of daycampers in yellow shirts.

Well, if a four year old white boy had gone missing in an area full of white boys that age, would it still be reasonable to say?


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## 1growingsprout (Nov 14, 2005)

I think I know the location of the mentioned incident and it is a heavily hispanic neighborhood. That is probably why the police where looking for a hispanic male. Out here that is how things get reported. That particular store is a mob scene during the quarter sales. The police do not mean to offend anyone but they need to get as much detail out as quickly and as efficiently as possibly. In a diverse neighborhood, with a missing child, I think we all can agree MORE information is better than less.

I am glad the child was found safe and nearby.


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## 1growingsprout (Nov 14, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kmeyrick* 
Well, if a four year old white boy had gone missing in an area full of white boys that age, would it still be reasonable to say?

In this town YES


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## kmeyrick (Aug 30, 2006)

They should have given something more specific than race to describe the child- clothing, height, weight estimate, distinguishing marks like a scar on the forehead, that sort of thing.


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## borbonmamma (Jul 11, 2009)

I was going to comment about that, even though it's not important but...
A four year old hispanic boy??? How is a 4 year old hispanic boy supposed to look like??? My kids are hispanic and they are blonde and green/blue eyed







Oh and hispanic is not a race, hispanic is used when you have the spanish language as a mother tounge.
Huge misconception in America, "hispanics" as you call them are white...

LOL, when my twins were that age they used to ran off, try to control a 4 year old kid by yourself let alone twins








It's easy to judge...


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## Marcella_Moxley (May 6, 2009)

OP- I was at this same store today- around 10am ( Other Mothers on Bell Road right? ) Did this happen before or afterwards? I'm guessing after because things were calm as can be when I got there. Wow- I'm glad they found him, and that I didn't get stuck in the store!


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *borbonmamma* 
A four year old hispanic boy??? How is a 4 year old hispanic boy supposed to look like??? .

Around here... they have thick black hair, dark brown eyes, and dark skin.


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## Marcella_Moxley (May 6, 2009)

Yes that's how I would describe a hispanic boy. Black hair, dark black or brown eyes and tan skin.


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## Dahlea (May 15, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Amylcd* 
Can I ask why you felt the need to include this information? It just seems like a strange thing to include when it has no relevance to the situation.

Thank you, I saw this post earlier and couldn't think of a nice way to phrase this. It kind of offended me to see that as a Latina, like Hispanic people can't keep track of their kids or something?


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## savvybabygrace (Feb 15, 2007)

Wow...that is an absolutely terrifying experience. It's my worst nightmare. I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been for the mother!!
My little brother, then around 6yo, got lost in Disney World once, following a TMNinjaTurtles parade. Thankfully Disney is such a safe place - within minutes a park employee found him and had him back safe to us. But I'll never forget the terrified looks on my Mom and Dad's faces.

I would not wish that feeling on anyone...and certainly not just to teach them a lesson.


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kmeyrick* 
Well, if a four year old white boy had gone missing in an area full of white boys that age, would it still be reasonable to say?

Yes of course.


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## borbonmamma (Jul 11, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Marcella_Moxley* 
Yes that's how I would describe a hispanic boy. Black hair, dark black or brown eyes and tan skin.


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## KristaDJ (May 30, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Marcella_Moxley* 
Yes that's how I would describe a hispanic boy. Black hair, dark black or brown eyes and tan skin.

I understand why the OP said that 90% of the families were hispanic but this is a HUGE peeve of mine. I AM hispanic by definition but I am blond with blue eyes and fair skin. Did you know that people from Spain are white? They are European. Spanish people came to central and south america and had children with the Native Americans who had dark skin, hair and eyes. My great great grandfather was Cuban and his skin was black, he didn't not get black skin from Spain. It would be more correct to assume that a _Latino/a_ has dark skin, hair and eyes since they are from Latin America and have Native American roots and not just Spanish.


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## 1littlebit (Jun 1, 2008)

in a store where i am (NOVA) the ethnicity of a child would narrow down the choices quite a bit. i mean in my safeway at any given time there are 5-7 different ethinicities. medium skin tone, dark hair, dark eyes doesn't exactly narrow it down. saying he is hispanic narrows it down much more.

and the pp above me...my ex boyfriend is cuban and his family is also white.. some of them have black hair but some don't .. his little sister is nearly blonde. everyone always assumed they were white and american until they heard them talk. he was the first generation to be born in the states.


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## syn_ack89 (Oct 1, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KristaDJ* 
I understand why the OP said that 90% of the families were hispanic but this is a HUGE peeve of mine. I AM hispanic by definition but I am blond with blue eyes and fair skin. Did you know that people from Spain are white? They are European. Spanish people came to central and south america and had children with the Native Americans who had dark skin, hair and eyes. My great great grandfather was Cuban and his skin was black, he didn't not get black skin from Spain. It would be more correct to assume that a _Latino/a_ has dark skin, hair and eyes since they are from Latin America and have Native American roots and not just Spanish.

For good or bad, a lot of people use hispanic and latino/a interchangeably. To gently educate (like the above) is a good way to help people change.


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## 1littlebit (Jun 1, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *syn_ack89* 
For good or bad, a lot of people use hispanic and latino/a interchangeably. To gently educate (like the above) is a good way to help people change.

for some reason a lot of people don't make the connection between spain and other spanish speaking countries.

from Wikipedia

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget currently defines "Hispanic or Latino" as "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race".[15] This definition excludes people of Portuguese origins, such as Portuguese Americans or Brazilian Americans. However, they are included in some government agencies' definitions. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation defines Hispanic to include, "persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American, or others Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race."[16] This definition has been adopted by the Small Business Administration as well as many federal, state, and municipal agencies for the purposes of awarding government contracts to minority owned businesses. Still, other government agencies adopt definitions that exclude people from Spain, since there is a distinct ethnic difference (indigenous American or European American). Some others include people from Brazil, but not Spain or Portugal.

can i post that? if not let me know and i'll edit.


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## Anglyn (Oct 25, 2004)

If my child were missing, I would not care that his race was use as a desriptor, I think knowing if Im looking for black, brown or white skin tone can easily eliminate the other two and make the search go quicker than just, "look for a four year old boy that seems lost" that would take MUCH longer, age, height, race, hair color, clothing etc anything that makes him identifiable!


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## lovebug (Nov 2, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Dahlea* 
Thank you, I saw this post earlier and couldn't think of a nice way to phrase this. *It kind of offended me to see that as a Latina, like Hispanic people can't keep track of their kids or something*?

i did not take that from the OP at all! i guess it all how you read between the lines...

i took it as with the amout of Hispanics (insert whatever race) in the store it was hard to narrow down to just what boy it was that had gone missing...

Quote:


Originally Posted by *1littlebit* 
for some reason a lot of people don't make the connection between spain and other spanish speaking countries.

from Wikipedia

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget currently defines "Hispanic or Latino" as "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race".[15] This definition excludes people of Portuguese origins, such as Portuguese Americans or Brazilian Americans. However, they are included in some government agencies' definitions. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation defines Hispanic to include, "persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American, or others Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race."[16] This definition has been adopted by the Small Business Administration as well as many federal, state, and municipal agencies for the purposes of awarding government contracts to minority owned businesses. Still, other government agencies adopt definitions that exclude people from Spain, since there is a distinct ethnic difference (indigenous American or European American). Some others include people from Brazil, but not Spain or Portugal.

can i post that? if not let me know and i'll edit.

i totally agree! i have a friend from Spain and she calls herself a Spaniard not Hispanic, she will kindly correct you if you call her Hispanic (not as if its a bad this, just she feels she is not Hispanic) and her husband is from Mexico and he calls himself Hispanic.


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## borbonmamma (Jul 11, 2009)

LOL all of these latino/hispanic thing in the US is mixed up, just as calling all the inhabitants of the US "Americans", they're not the only Americans in the world. And how they can consider including a Brazilian American Hispanic??







And I dislike that they even have the option of Hispanic/latino in the race thing for paperwork









Funny thing, is that there's an "American" child in my twin's class and she's redheaded, all her family is. So I'm going to assume all "Americans" have red hair, it's silly.

It's weird yous Spaniard friend IS Hispanic, I mean she speaks Spanish, that's what you call a person who speaks Spanish, and Spain is part of the Spanish Speaking world.
I'm Chilean and I'm Hispanic even though my parents are Greek, my DH is Mexican and he's Hispanic, whether he likes it or not lol

But well, it depends on each individual


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## mammal_mama (Aug 27, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Anglyn* 
If my child were missing, I would not care that his race was use as a desriptor, I think knowing if Im looking for black, brown or white skin tone can easily eliminate the other two and make the search go quicker than just, "look for a four year old boy that seems lost" that would take MUCH longer, age, height, race, hair color, clothing etc anything that makes him identifiable!

Yes, this!


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## lovebug (Nov 2, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *borbonmamma* 
LOL all of these latino/hispanic thing in the US is mixed up, just as calling all the inhabitants of the US "Americans", they're not the only Americans in the world. And how they can consider including a Brazilian American Hispanic??







And I dislike that they even have the option of Hispanic/latino in the race thing for paperwork









Funny thing, is that there's an "American" child in my twin's class and she's redheaded, all her family is. So I'm going to assume all "Americans" have red hair, it's silly.

*It's weird yous Spaniard friend IS Hispanic, I mean she speaks Spanish, that's what you call a person who speaks Spanish, and Spain is part of the Spanish Speaking world.*
I'm Chilean and I'm Hispanic even though my parents are Greek, my DH is Mexican and he's Hispanic, whether he likes it or not lol

But well, it depends on each individual

Nope she does not speak Spanish... she was born in Spain and moved here when she was a baby. her whole family is of Spaniard decent. they are fluent in English and i dont think i have ever heard them talk in another language other then English







she however does not speak Spanish.


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## borbonmamma (Jul 11, 2009)

Now that changes everything


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## moondiapers (Apr 14, 2002)

nm, not in the mood to debate what someone's intentions were


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *caro113* 

I know this sounds terrible, but whenever I'm at a store and see a little child wandering by himself bc his parents couldn't be bothered to watch him, I also secretly hope he goes somewhere safe for an hour or two so the parents will worry and be scared and think "maybe I should watch my child once in a while".









OMGosh, really?!?! You see a little kid wondering around alone, and if you're able to somehow ascertain that he's alone because his parents "can't be bothered," you will him to get lost? That does sound kind of terrible to me.









When I see a kid wandering around alone, I say look for a few minutes to see if he's attached to anyone. If not, I say "Hey, buddy, do you need help finding your grown up?" and then I do my best to help him. The other way sounds like pushing a kid in a pond to see if they'll drown or learn their lesson and swim. It makes me sad.


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

OP, I'm glad they found the kid!


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## choli (Jun 20, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Peppermint* 
Of course not, but- it is quite possible that most of these boys had brown/dark hair, dark skin tone and maybe brown eyes. I mean, my kids look "irish", people often comment how obvious it is that they are irish, and when I say that, I can bet that most people get an idea in their mind of what my kids might look like- lighter skin tone being one obvious example. Even though all ethnicities have many variances in looks, some are more "alike" than others, in that most of the people will all have dark hair eyes, or blond hair and blue eyes, etc.


Really? I'm Irish, as in I am actually from Ireland, not "my grandmother was from somewhere in Ireland", and I can assure you that you can't tell whether or not someone is "Irish" by looking.


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## candipooh (Jun 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nextcommercial* 
Around here... they have thick black hair, dark brown eyes, and dark skin.


Around here too. Well 99% of them do.


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## Peppermint (Feb 12, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *choli* 
Really? I'm Irish, as in I am actually from Ireland, not "my grandmother was from somewhere in Ireland", and I can assure you that you can't tell whether or not someone is "Irish" by looking.

Ummmm, OK then. I didn't know my telling actualities from my life would turn into a "I am more Irish than you" contest







You win







I was clearly very wrong


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## stik (Dec 3, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *caro113* 
I know this sounds terrible, but whenever I'm at a store and see a little child wandering by himself bc his parents couldn't be bothered to watch him, I also secretly hope he goes somewhere safe for an hour or two so the parents will worry and be scared and think "maybe I should watch my child once in a while".

That does sound terrible, and cruel to both the child and the parents.

Children sometimes wander. Parents sometimes lose track. The kind thing to do is help.


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## Fuamami (Mar 16, 2005)

So if you're a Latina with blond hair, blue eyes, and light skin, and you are abducted, how would you like the police to describe you in your search?

Seriously, people, relax.


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## Fuamami (Mar 16, 2005)

And I'm so glad they found him!


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## mrs joe bubby (Mar 1, 2009)

I'm glad the little fellow was found. When I saw how long this thread was I was afraid it meant there had not been a good ending!


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## Dandelionkid (Mar 6, 2007)

I don't understand where all the defensiveness is coming from. Why can't we assume the best of people? The OP was just making a point that the kids all had similar characteristics, made it more terrifying and hard to find him. If I was looking over a sea of small, dark heads it would feel the same way. I think its cool to know what "hispanic" actually means but why is it a bad thing if I automatically assumed that she meant dark skin and hair? What's wrong with dark skin and hair? I honestly would like to know b/c this type of bickering, over what is and isn't hispanic, or Irish or whatever is so disheartening. I could be naive. Enlighten me.


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## eepster (Sep 20, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *caro113* 
I know this sounds terrible, but whenever I'm at a store and see a little child wandering by himself bc his parents couldn't be bothered to watch him, I also secretly hope he goes somewhere safe for an hour or two so the parents will worry and be scared and think "maybe I should watch my child once in a while".

And sometimes it just means that the mom thought that the dad was watching and the dad thought the mom was watching. That happened with my nephew and my sister and I once. When my sis and I met each other we each said "I thought _you_ had DN!" We found him quickly, but it was a very panicked moment.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Snuzzmom* 
I agree. I swear my child has disappeared *while I was looking directly at him*. Well, okay, not really... but it sure can happen fast and I am certainly attentive.

This happened with DS friday evening at Barnes and Noble. We were at the register paying for something, I was holding his hand, and he let go. I watched him run around a book display and by the time I caught up to him he was out of sight. Fortunately people pointed me in the right direction and I kind of knew where he was heading (and fortunately he knew how to get there.) but he was totally out of my line of sight. If he had taken a wrong turn himself on his way to the snack counter, and no one had seen where he headed, he would have been really lost without my ever deliberately taking my eyes off him.

That wasn't the first time either, he once went around a corner at Ikea and by the time I ran to the aisle I saw him turn down he was vanished. I did try keeping DS in the cart there, but he is a bit of a Houdini and I worry more about him falling while trying to get out of the cart (he has only run off twice, he has gotten out of carts countless times.)


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## lanamommyphd07 (Feb 14, 2007)

Scary...I mean most of us have had at least one moment in time that we lost track of a kid--could be one second or two minutes or half a day, but the terrible sick feeling is there regardless of how long...and to be a mommy and be somewhere that one gets lost, even if it's not yours....
OP--so glad you found out good news..I'm guessing the worry occupied your day..


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## QueenOfTheMeadow (Mar 25, 2005)

Closed for moderator review.


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