I was heading into work a little late (for me) today. There is no direct route to the office so I have a lot of turns on side streets that meander down to the main artery to the office. Anyway, right after one of the turns onto a fairly busy side road, I saw a little toddler, barely old enough to walk from what I could tell, in the middle of the road by herself walking to the other side. I immediately slammed on the brakes and angled my truck so I'm blocking the lane and go scoop her up. She was so young she couldn't even talk and tell me where her mom was or her home. As such, I guessed where I thought she had wondered over from and crossed the street (yes she had crossed the street) to what I hoped was her house. I was nearly to the front steps when her mother came charging out of a side yard looking for her baby. If I had looked down, if she had been behind a parked car and stepped out, it would have been horribly tragic.

All I could think of was "Why don't you have a fence? You have a nice house that is already partially fenced in" I'm not sure who was more scared, the mom or me for what could have been if I hadn't have been paying attention?

I hope the tyke’s mother was grateful for your help.

Thanks for saving that little girl!

A) Excellent point, to bring up with various HOAs/cities which prohibit fenced front yards.

(I get it. Around Miami the “fenced front yard” neighborhoods are not the nice ones, unless they’re Latin, who like having elaborate front fences)

B) Yeah. Didn’t think of this. No idea why it never crossed my mind why the “white picket house” was supposed to have a white picket fence in the front yard.

C) It will definitely be going up/already be up as we are looking for a larger house.

(If “Peanut” turns out anything like I was, it would take a full prison yard, devoid of objects and trees, to hold him, but I should be able to slow him down, until he learns how to spring board off tree branches etc)

(My father thought we couldn’t escape the back yard on the farm, as he put the pickets on the inside.

There were two apple trees which he thought were too far from the fence to be used to get over it. A slightly older cousin taught us how to spring off the branches to clear the fence, so we could go fishing with him.)

I hope the mother learns that you never let a small child get out of your sight when they're awake, especially outside.

need more responsible parents. dealing with a 4 yr old now who fell out of a 7th floor window.

smh

Many years ago I was a Reserve Police Officer . I was on patrol and driving through " the hood " one evening . There was a group of people standing in the front yard of a residence , mostly with their backs to the street . They were busy laughing and talking and didn't pay any attention to the toddler that was standing in the street next to a car that was parked on the curb . Of course they all turned and looked at the Police car . I pointed to the street and mouthed " the baby " .. They fell all over themselves running out to the street to get the kid . It was kind of comical to watch .

I’m a Gen X’er so I laugh at the thought of a fence being a requirement.

Thankfully you were at the right place at the right time.

God’s hand was on your shoulder today…
Thank you.