As for your claims that you never ever allow your child to leave your field of vision while in public, I say rubbish. You may honestly believe your child doesn’t leave your field of vision, but he/she does and claiming otherwise is ignoring reality. There are simply too many reasons for one to use their eyes and look away. Whether its watching traffic, simply being tired and staring off into space or just something catching the corner of your eye and diverting attention nobody alive can focus entirely on one thing all of the time. Not even Funk (super) Daddy.

I’m sure you’re a wonderful parent, but you, like every other parent alive, aren’t a perfect parent; there is simply no such thing.

Though I am glad that video wasn’t of someone snatching the kid and leaving the phone.

Smart thieves know the mantra my grandmum passed on as she doddled me on her knee:   

“Never steal anything that eats.”

When you are a parent, your child is more important than living a selfish lifestyle. 

Really, which is going to harm a kid more? a few minutes of a video or a parent driven to madness by not having a moment to themselves, ever.

Yes, I did have toys as a child.  Toys.  Not very expensive sophisticated electronic devices.

And music today is crap, amirite? Well, gotta go. That lawn won’t keep the damn kids off itself.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the guy whole stole the phone isn’t still a complete sociopathic jerk.

And like I said above, I rarely forget how lucky I am, I live in the country now, work in a large building/warehouse literally 75 feet from home, not near the road which isn’t paved, SO works here too and we split work and kid-rearing between us when we can’t do all at once together. Huge garden, chickens, pretty peaceful though parts of me really prefer big city. I have to drive, which I never did before, and a bag of chips is a 20 minute drive.

I know most people don’t have it that good & keep it mind quite a bit.

Edit – I’m lucky as hell though, I rarely have to go anywhere with both all by myself.

And I have witnessed a parent leave their six-year old in the library while they went to get a hair cut two blocks away. Not ok! The kid couldn’t tell us her address or name and didn’t know where her mother was. We had to call the police. That’s the worst I’ve seen so far, but parents leave their young children to go look for things themselves and we have kids crying for their parents when they’re no where to be found. Yes I understand you might need to use the bathroom, but you need to let your kids know where you are in case something happens (which with kids, we know something is always happening).

Like someone else says below, it seems that a kid is a status symbol, but once parents have them they talk about what an inconvenience they are and don’t know what to do with them. I’m happy to say that I didn’t grow up with parents like that and it makes me sad for those kids who are growing up as an inconvenience to middle-class families who planned their birth and can afford to take care of them.

That’s where I’m coming from. Have fun with your iPads people!

But believe me, there will come a day when your toddler darts out into traffic, or you HAVE to take a phone call (yes, really, perhaps it’s the doctor giving you the results of your biopsy….you take it, no matter where you are), or you’re just too tired to juggle everything in your mind and your attention wanders for a moment.  Yes, your baby is the most wonderful baby who has ever existed and you live to hear that child’s breath rasping sweetly….but every day they are becoming more and more themselves, which is to say, not you.  There will come a day when the lack-of-boundary between you starts to become just the barest of boundaries — which is joyous too, because they crave the feeling of independence and it is amazing to watch that develop — and yes, there will come a day when you have gone 5 minutes, and then 10 minutes, and then even an hour without seeing your child.

For all you know, this is the youngest of 4 children, and the mother was racing after one of the older ones.

Your attention *will* split.  Just because it hasn’t yet doesn’t mean that day isn’t coming.

*cough* newbie *cough*

As for how likely if someone did try it, in that video, which was a crowded, bustling place, if the kid were quiet he had a good chance, if he just wheeled away the stroller in a hurry he had a good chance, and even if the kid protested, if it wasn’t “You’re not my mommy/daddy” at high volume, few people would pay attention to a protesting child, cause they do that a lot. He doesn’t need to get to a getaway vehicle, just around 1-2 corners, to a subway or any other mode. I’ve lived in several big cities, getting gone is easy in the short term.

Was the baby or the thief watching the show?

and I’m not trolling, its a speech impediment that only comes out over the internet

I just like the mental image of this guy having to answer “what are you in for?” with “stealing from a baby.” Kind of like that part of “Alice’s Restaurant” where Arlo Guthrie alienates all the rapists and murderers by explaining he got busted for littering.