public library
The public library is a mom's haven on those days when it's raining and you need to get the whiny brats out of the house. It's even better than Target because everything you bring home is free, even better than the McDonald's play area because your kids likely won't come home with anything, if you know what I mean.
So to hear that public libraries are also crawling with disgusting, sick things is eye-opening to me and to the parents of a 2-year-old girl in Washington state. A pedophile hanging out at the library reportedly touched the toddler inappropriately when her parents weren't looking.
You really can't take your eyes off of your toddlers for a second, not even in the little kids' room with all the puppets and Dora books, where you leave them while you run and grab the latest Jodi Picoult. We know these creeps are everywhere, libraries included, but to hear how brazen they are and how quick they can work their evil is disarming!
The thought of that piece of shit fondling that child while she was fumbling through a board book literally makes me sick. Apparently, the 32-year-old sicko was seen watching little girls in the library before he approached his victim. Someone called police, and they found the guy sitting outside the library. Reports say he admitted doing it, and after cops watched a surveillance video, they took him into custody.
My own public library is sectioned off so that the adult section is on one side and the children's section is on the other. Toddlers have their own "room" within the children's section, with the children's librarian not too far away, so it always seemed a safe place to let them play or read for a few minutes.
I thought it was a good way to start to give them some independence. I see now how wrong that probably was, that pedophiles don't always lure children into vans or wait for a quiet, secluded spot to assault. They can do it right under your nose.
You have to look away from time to time. Eventually you have to start letting them go to the bathroom by themselves and not live your life feeling like danger is lurking around every corner. That's just a terrible and unrealistic way to live and to parent.
But don't ever think we have the profile of a pedophile all figured out, either. Expect the unexpected, their sickness will always find a way.
What's your reaction to this sickening story?!