Local home-good and grocery stores used to be considered safe spaces, but in recent years, they’ve become a prime location for sex traffickers to target children. From Target to IKEA, “stranger danger” alerts have been popping up at retailers across the country.
So it’s no surprise that Alyssa Hacker was a bit concerned when she saw an older man inching closer to her son in a Fort Smith, Arkansas, Target this weekend. But in an endearing turn of events, the mother witnessed an unlikely exchange that restored her faith in humanity like never before.
“This momma just cried in the middle of Target,” she confessed in her viral Facebook post.
“We were at Target waiting on Grammi and we found some dinosaurs,” Alyssa continued. “Owen grabbed all three and we were trying to pick out which one he wanted when Owen abruptly yelled ‘HI’ at this older man walking past us.”
The gentleman’s ears perked up at the sound of the little one emphatically beckoning his attention.
“Hey sweet boy,” he responded, as he happily turned around to play dinosaurs with the toddler.