Just something I wanted to share anonymously in regards to the "reporting strangers" post today.

I was reading the 'reporting strangers' post today, it was one of those posts that really hit. It hit me in an unfortunately familiar way.

I wrote in at least 4 years ago about an incident I witnessed where I saw a mother and father being unnecessarily nasty to their daughter on a train and I was unsure whether I should or if I even could report it (some of you may remember it).

I received a fair bit of backlash on my post.
I was called nosey, judgmental, told I just wanted the Facebook validation amongst other things.
All those comments really made me doubt myself and I didn't end up reporting it.

I was told that my concern can't have been genuine or that the child in question can't have been in real danger because I didn't do anything in the moment - I saw several similar comments today.

I was also told that I saw a very small snippet of their lives, maybe they were just at the end of their ropes or having a really bad day - saw a lot of comments along those lines today too.

First thing I want to say is this - seeing something like this is really confronting. Not everyone deals with confronting situations well, in my situation I genuinely just didn't know what to do, I felt really helpless actually and if I'm honest, a little frozen out of panic/shock.

Second thing I want to say - having a bad day or not coping? Valid point.
However, if a parent's bad days or ability to cope get to the point they can't maintain composure in public and they become physically or verbally aggressive towards children in their care; they need help, that's not the time to look the other way.

By sheer chance, I happen to know what happened to the little girl in my story.
She would have been 3 or 4 at the time I wrote in, about 2 years later I found out that this girl had been removed from her parents indefinitely after years of horrific abuse that flew under the radar until she started school.
Had I reported it when I saw what happened on that train, I may have put that family on the radar 12 to 18 months earlier. Not trusting my gut on this one is something I'll regret for the rest of my life

Not only just me though, I wonder how many other people knew or suspected what was going on with those people but didn't speak up because they weren't sure if it warranted reporting or whether or not it was their place to get involved?
Same thing with the dad in today's post, who knows how many people have already turned a blind eye?

If you see something like this that you just can't brush off, speak to someone! Kids are vulnerable and we as a society really need to be more vigilant and willing to act.
Although I am truly glad to see so many more comments in support of reporting the incident in today's post than I got in my post all those years ago!

Anyway, I hope people can take something away from this post.