Today, I was at a picnic in a large park and a child disappeared.  Thankfully, the child was found rather quickly and unharmed, but the police were still notified in the first few moments of panic.  Having 2 kids, this is one of the MANY fears that keep me up at night.  A few months back, in this same park, I had 2 altercations with a crazy fisherman and one incident with a weirdo old lady (needless to say I haven’t been back since).  The crazy fisherman was screaming obscenities at me and plotting my death for feeding the ducks next to a clearly (yet newly) posted sign that asked the public not to feed the ducks.  Now, I must admit that in this case I was wrong (mark your calendars folks,  you might not see that one again for some time).  However, CheezWaster and I have fed the ducks in this park for nearly 2 years now and frankly, I don’t see the harm in feeding the ducks and in fact, the main reason for this sign going up was to combat duck shit.  So - I should have to give up fun with my son, who by the way now thinks that all bread is intended for duck feeding, because the general public is too lazy to step over some duck shit?  I think not (not to mention there is no fine info posted on the sign, so I’ll take my chances!).  And the weird old lady, that was a bit more frightening.  I was in the play area of this park when my son befriended a sightly older boy.  He was chatting up this old lady who I assumed was his grandmother.  Well, a few minutes later I chat up his babysitter (who I assumed was his mother).  In conversation, I come to find out this old woman is, in fact, not his grandmother but a stranger.  Now 1) the babysitter proceeds to ream the kid a new one.  Tone of voice - uncalled for.  actual comments - very serious and necessary. 2) this old lady mentioned in conversation how she liked to come to the park and feed the ducks with the kids.  I proceed to observe her troll over to any kid who was willing to pay her some attention.  Now, I never actually saw her leave the play area with any children, but boy did this scare the crap out of me.  I see how many parents are distracted in the park, mostly due to their own fault, but nonetheless. A quick phone call, a commiserating chat with another mother - In mere seconds and the blink of an eye, anything can happen. So to make a long post longer and not to sound too pessimistic but rather realistic - I urge you to 1) be aware of your surroundings and the people in them 2) never take your eyes off your kids and 3) be prepared for the worst.