It takes a village

Being a mother makes me 100 times more paranoid than I already am. If you know me at all..you know that is scary. I am a scaredy cat and proud of it. Events like that little girl being killed in her apartment complex recently make me think that it is good that I think everyone is out to get me. What a sad world we live in.
Recently we went to Wheeler Farm on a weekend afternoon. I forgot to put sunscreen on Olive so we spent most of the time running from tree to tree to stay in the shade. After an hour or so of this we decided to find a grassy area in the shade and let Olive play. There was a group not to far from us barbecuing. There were two ladies and three or so kids, all under the age of 5ish. One lady (the mom, I'm guessing) was attempting to clean one of the girls up. The other little boy was kicking a soccer ball around. The littlest girl wondered off. I watched the mom to see if she was aware that the little girl was no longer close by. She seemed aware, but not worried. Me being the worrier I am... was. I asked James if he thought I should follow her. We decided it was none of our business. Maybe the little girl had family or friends on the other side of the bridge. After all..the mom wasn't worried, why should we be. As I sat there I wrestled internally with the American culture.
It is not my place or business to make sure that the little girl didn't get in the pig pen, fall in the river, or heaven forbid get taken by some crazy. I didn't want the mother to think that I was judging her, or trying to do her job for her. But...isn't it all our jobs to watch out for each other? How would I feel if something did happen to her, and I knew that I had watched her wonder off and did nothing? Being a mom is hard. I think its hard and I only have one little girl who can't even walk to keep track of. I can't imagine having three running all over the place.
We finally got up to go find her. We decided to be casual about it, but just make sure she wasn't hurt until her mom could come find her. As we started across the bridge another mother was bringing her back. At first we thought they were part of the group, but turns out it was just another concerned citizen.
As a new mom I hate when just anyone gives me parenting advise, especially if it is when I can tell they think I am doing something wrong. I know that it is very easy to feel inadequate as a mother. We are all just doing the best we can. Couldn't we all use a little bit of help? Shouldn't we all look out for each other, especially for those innocent kids?
That's my soap box for the day.