There's been an accident.  We can't find him--he was here a second ago. Your child was hurt.  All sentences that will make your heart skip a beat and face go cold.  Recently I had the experience when our neighbor pointed at a car and said, "See that guy right there?  He's here everyday watching your kids."

So my husband Dave goes over to the man parked in the car on our side yard and asks, "Can I help you with something?" and the guy says, "No, I'm just making phone calls" and points to his cell.  Dave takes out paper and pen, walks to the rear of his pathfinder, and makes it obvious that he's writing down his license plate.  The man drives away and we call the police.  They were here in no time (sidenote:  this is a total shocker and I'm convinced it's because Dave called and not my female voice).  Anyway, the police ask us if we want them to talk to him.... ummm... YEAH, that's why we called you.

Before the officer leaves he mentions that it's odd he'd stop here to make calls because he lived really close to our house.  Awesome.

Within a few minutes, the officer returns to our yard.  (Wow.. the guy really does live close by).  The officer said that the guy asked the officer to please come back and explain that he has two daughters himself and he wasn't watching the kids.  After he passes our house, there's a sizable hill and cell phone reception gets lousy.  So he stops here almost daily to make calls before going home.

Now, I'm an inquisitive person by nature.  If you're almost home, why not make calls when you get home? (Maybe it's an affair.. who knows).  Also, he was parked alongside the privacy fence on our side yard where my kids' play set is.  So, I'm not sure he'd be able to see kids anyway.  However, my boys do ride their bikes and scooters back and forth along the street that the guy was parked on.  If he was watching them, it's a perfect spot because I'd never see him.

The good news is that the guy has not been back.  So, he's either moved on to some other kids in the neighborhood OR he really was just making cell phone calls and decided to pick another spot. 

Either way; I'm glad he's gone and I never want to hear anyone tell me, "that guy's watching your kids everyday" again.