report child abuse?
Here in Canada, the month of October is Child Abuse Awareness month. Our local news station reported a yell off about abuse: people had to yell a sentence ("Stop child abuse" or some other comment appropriate to the issue) into a decibel reader to see how loudly people could yell their message.
So I got to wondering, how many of you have called the police if you even thought about calling on the police so they could make sure a child was OK or needed help.
I've done it at least three times - although for two of them I didn't know if children were involved.
The first was an argument I could hear several houses away. A man was yelling and screaming at a woman and it sounded scary even from a distance. I called the police to check the matter. I'm not sure what happened but the yelling stopped.
The second one a little closer to home. I had turned the corner and was about 10 houses from my house. A man across the street was banging on the door of a house and screaming for a woman to open the f**king door. The woman inside was screaming and crying. He went around to the side of the house and back to the front. By the time I got to my house 10 houses down he was still at it. I called the police and as I watched from my place they had arrested him and put him in cuff-links and put him in the cruiser. The other officer went inside to talk to the woman. I'm really glad I called on that one. I can't imagine how I would feel if he had gotten and and beaten her to death.
In both the above situations I was far enough away that I didn't have to worry about some crazed idiot banging on my door. The next one was really close - next door. I lived in a semi-attached home (2 full 3-floor-sized houses attached by one wall)
I think it was New Year's day and I heard the father screaming and yelling. I couldn't heart the words. I Then heard a thud along with more screaming. I knew they had a 2 year old boy. I've heard bodies fly and bang into a wall so the sounds were pretty scary to me. I could hear the little boy screaming and I went for the phone.
I can tell you I was scared because I knew the man would know it was me who called. So the police come to my house and ask a few questions. Then they go to his house and have a chat. Then they came back to my house and tell me Dad and the boy and his grandfather were playing football in the house in the house. They thanked me for calling but assured me there was nothing to worry about.
Then I felt scared. Since they moved in we had a couple of little spats so I really didn't know what to expect.
About an hour later the doorbell rings and its the neighbor. OK It wasn't what I thought I'll just let him know what it sounded like to me. Before I could say anything he said "Thank You" He told me he was glad to know that if there ever was a problem he could feel good that I would put the safety of his children first. I was relieved to say the least. It turned out to be nothing - which is a good thing. And oddly he and I developed a good neighbor relationship after that.
And then there was the woman and her child in Wal-Mart. I was in my manual chair and the child (about 10 yrs old) was pushing her mothers cart. The girl saw me coming and nicely moved her cart so I could pass. The mother yelled at her that no one would help them so she shouldn't be trying to help anyone else - words to that effect. The poor girl went from being helpful to feeling wrong. I didn't want to create a scene so I ignored the mother and as I passed between them I thanked the girl for doing something nice..
K this isn't to blow my horn but to let people know sometimes it is the little things, the reaching out to help a child who just might need to be protected, or made to feel like she is important and appreciated.
One of our Newd reorters on TV has as his tagline
Make sure to
Take some time to be important in the life of a child