What would you do if

Post Reply New Topic

You go to a faraway country, let's call it Desperado, for a vacation. Your four year old son/brother/nephew runs away. Deperado police call and say they found him, but you cant pick him up for three days and he's held in a secret place.

After three days they call again and this time they tell you where the location is and you can come pick him up.
So you show up, and the police station is a few feet away from an alligator farm, you see your four year old sleeping in a prison cell, and the cop says he's been in the cell the whole time.

You hear water splash as alligators jump in the water, and you can see green tails in the distance.

The cop says your four year old kid was cared for by nannies, and he was fed and not hurt, so he thinks you have no reason to be angry.

The alligators in the nearby farm growl and rumble, and the little gators squeak.

When you ask why the little one was locked up, cop shruggs and says it's a tradition to keep kids in prison cells for three days if picked up by police, although he wasnt forced to do it and had the option to just have you come pick him up.

You see the gators swimming in the water.

However, in Desperado, tourists are allowed to kill anyone they want without getting punished because the country's survival depends on tourists, and because they dont really give a damn.

And did I mention the police station is very close to an alligator farm?
Knowing you can get away with it, you would

The kid had food and nannies so was not hungry nor bored. Furthermore it was save because no alligator would get in the prison cage and the kid had no means to go out and wander there by itself.

I would be angry for the tradition of keeping kid in prison instead of letting parent pick him up right away but I wouldn't blame the policeman. Traditionalists are brainwashed so them following their tradition isn't their fault. It wouldn't be moral nor reasonable to punish him - it wouldn't change the situation. It would only be revenge.

Just take the kid and get away from that weird place as soon as possible.

^That after the 3 days.

However I wouldn't wait whole 3 days!
Right after the first call I would do what I could to find the kid. Knowing that a Police Department called me that my kid is kept in a secret place and they won't tell me where it is I would visit all Police departments nearby, getting more and more angry and eventually they would tell me about the tradition.
Then I would tell them their tradition is not my problem and they have no right to separate a foreign the kid from it's caregiver. I don't care what they do with their own kids but they have no right to "play kidnappers" with my.
At that point, if my argument didn't help I would possibly snap and start a physical fight, but nothing too serious.
All this to get the kid back before 3 days passes.
Such young kid shouldn't be separated from who they know because their brain is still underdeveloped and it cannot comprehend what's going on.

The situation would be different however if the kid was older, like 9 years +. I might actually consider the tradition a good idea in such case. Spending 3 days in prison would be a good lesson for an older kid that run away from it's caregiver.

Did this really happen?

I would never go to a faraway place with my own child, and wouldn't have with my little brother when he was a child, or with my nieces or nephews. I'm too aware of danger and wouldn't put someone I loved in danger in the first place.

I'm sorry, but promoting violence is against the rules. Despite this being a what if scenario, it's too graphic.
Topic locked.