Could/should I have said/done more?

Newquay..... you did the right thing.Not knowing the full facts about his care ( or lack of it) I don't think there was anything else to be done, and he ended up sat with other children eating a sandwich.?

Perhaps we should all have something else we could be doing lol???

Some people don't live others being so judgy and tend to want facts.

like

I would always rather be thought of as a nosy old bat than somebody who looks the other way.

saak is making a reasonable point. We know too little of the whys and wherefores of the child's crying, the relationship to him of the in whose charge he was, etc, etc.

Children do sometimes cry for not very much and sometimes being ignored for a few minutes is exactly what they need.

the person

Exactly Rosearerec, why didn't I think of putting it like that ! Lol ?

I think the 'stranger danger' thing has made adults wary of approaching upset children, but if older women can't do this then nobody can.

Looks the other way on what? Nothing was wrong here other than a child of possibly 3ish having a bit of a cry which is very normal. To castigate a childminder is whats wrong.

Which is not to say that the OP did anything wrong.

Maybe nobody did anything wrong.

So better to ere on the cautious side & be wrong ,than to ignore & be right

Jumping to conclusions and stating that the child must be very unhappy in his care is wrong.

Not at all stillalive , not one bit. I've stated, quite clearly, why I thought the OP was right to check on why the child was so upset. For all we know, he may or may not have hurt himself in the play area. But as his guardian didn't appear to be anywhere nearby, or even when she was located, was apparently unconcerned, the OP was, in my opinion concerned for the child's welfare. Again, in my opinion, that was an understandable concern and very probably borne out of years of good parenting and concern for child welfare in general. And the general concensus, thus far, would seem to support that. Nothing "passive aggressive" about that.

What did the OP do? She surmised and did nothing because the child was ok but still had to write some post and state that the carer was inadequate without any facts whatsoever.

I personally don't surmise nor do I judge about such things.

You are surmising & judging but in the opposite way.

Your judging here!

Ridiculous. To say the child is miserable in someones care is very judgemental, how do you know OP.

You are surmising that all was ok (which it may well have been )without actually being there yourself , therefore being judgemental . the OP was just telling us about a situation .

This little chap was crying on his own for quite a long time. Well done OP for consoling him.

That was reasonable but quite explainable. The judgy bit came in after when she stated that the child was sitting on a table eating with his peers. She then went on to say that he was "enduring this care" and can't say anything about it. Very very over the top and judgy.

Sadly it transpired that several people, mainly women witnessed Jamie Bulger, distressed, crying, on the two mile walk to where he was murdered. One woman challenged the older boys and was told by John Venables that he was their little brother and they were taking him home. I wonder how they felt after learning of the tragic outcome.

Consoling a crying and upset child is obviously the right thing to do but I don't think it's right to jump to conclusions.

The woman wasn't 'located'. According to the OP, she arrived where the child was and walked him away. There's an assumption she was a paid help. She could easily have been a friend or relative.

There were four children and two adult women so I doubt she was looking after all four of them

Four children eating sandwiches together were probably enjoying themselves without adult interference.

I can't see anything 'heartbreaking' Sorry.

Plenty of genuine heartbreaking stuff going on at the moment.

Exactly what I said judy, there have been so many incidents where people have not wanted to "interfere ", only to find later that a child really has suffered. I'd much rather be the nosy old bat who "judges" but is aware of what's going on and is observant, than someone who presumes that everything is fine and walks on.

Nothing at all wrong with being observant so in answer to the OP's last sentence......'No!'