Sorry, the store staff and security man were out of line. You do not eject a nearly pubescent young person from a store for being too immature to be on his own, and then top it off by verbally assaulting the parent. Not without very good reason.
If the parent was out-of-control, that is when security should have been called; the prior presence of a security staffer needs to be explained. If the boy was required to remain in or near the store until his parent arrived, the parent needs to be informed why, and the reason had better be at the level of ādanger to self and othersā or āreasonable belief heād stolen somethingā.
The poor pay and difficult working conditions endemic to mall retail do not excuse this incident ā at all. This is yet another instance where ācorporate-izationā run amuck has degraded the lives of regular people to an unacceptable degree. However, that is no excuse for this punching down as matter of habit. White-shirted little pricks running mall stores DO need to suck it up from time to time.
The boy is getting too old for Legos. Letās send him a Raspberry Pi set up, and encourage him to sell his old Legos on Craigslist. Who needs first-run Legos tidbits in any event? If you canāt make it with plain old 6-peg multi-colored rectanglesā¦ screw it.
Your children are your responsibility, and no one elseās, full stop. They arenāt chickens, they arenāt free range, and even if they were, theyād still not be allowed to wander the mall.
I feel like this is a Canada thing more than a LEGO thing.
@namenotreserved
How is letting your 11 year old shop alone avoiding your responsibilities? You are responsible for them, not responsible for policing them like Big Brother. If you know your kid is capable of something and you insist on helicoptering over them ājust in caseā then you are telling your kid that you donāt trust or have faith in their abilities. If you think 11 is too young to walk around a mall alone, could you kindly tell me where youāre from so I can avoid it like the plague?
So anyone under 18 shouldnāt be outside without an adult escort? That sounds like a terrifying world to live in.
I walked to and from school every day when I was a lot younger than this kid. I even spent my allowance without adult supervision every once in a while. Gradually learning how to handle increased autonomy and independence is a crucial part of growing up.
To be fair I think itās pretty good for a guy who is based in India 
Protip: who.is is your daddy friend.
http://who.is/whois/http://candydirectnews.com
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jasneet-singh-gujral/7b/328/135
It sounds like a world where my damn lawn is peacefully unoccupied.
From the age of 11 I caught the train by myself from suburbia to my school in the middle of the city. From the age of 13 they let us roam the city at lunch. There were places that were supposedly off-limits, but when the Subway and weed-smoking back alleys are all off-limits what were we supposed to do?
Times abducted: 0
Times abused: 0
Times anything consequential happened: 0
Times robbed: Once - in school when my backpack was outside the classroom as dictated by science room rules.
Or maybe the store finally got tired of babysitting a kid for two years?
Joking with the kid doesnāt mean or change anything. This father still
sounds incredibly entitled, and Iām sure anyone who works retail would
agree.
Iām glad you posted that link though - I was happy to see that Lego isnāt
throwing their employee under the bus for enforcing a completely sensible
rule. I was a lot more worried about the manager losing their job over a
stupid complaint than a kid not getting to hang out at a store alone.
The issue will be (presuming that Canada is like the UK in this respect) at 12+ the authorities will prosecute fully for any criminal act. Below he age of 12 it becomes ambiguous as to whether the child or the parents take the rap and as a result a lot of prosecutions are dropped due to a lack of certainty that the court will take it at all seriously one way or the other.
Thatās the primary reason we see a cut-off at age 12 here at least.
And again - it certainly doesnāt justify their actions or their lack of notification regarding their own policies but it does at least help explain them.
Oh, I clearly misread something or jumped to a conclusion - in which case although Iām still happy I added some alternative context - this does seem pretty inexcusable from every angle 
I was allowed to āwanderā malls or anywhere else at a much younger age. Go to school myself, libraries, stores, whatever as long as it was btwn x hours, within x mile range by bicycle or foot and I had my wallet, coinage for phone.
It certainly did me no harm, as to whether it was beneficial, I am relatively successful, married with 2 young children, living the way thatās currently best for me and my family.
Iām also informed and experienced enough to know better than to refer to other peopleās children as chattel or place severe restrictions on movement for other people.
Which is a good thing for people who donāt know better, because Iāve always managed to be fairly effective and Iām sure if I and others like me supported your nanny state views your movements would be further restricted.
I like Lego products but since they seem content to bow down before needless hand-wringers, spurious liability concern trolls and others who live in fear by choice & choose fear for others Iām going to restrict future Lego purchases to secondhand. Thereās plenty of those and plenty of other activities, fuck those cowards.
The kid EARNED $200 by working for it, and was there to spend his hard-earned cash. As he had done, repeatedly at that store, for years.
How exactly is this āwandering the mallā?
Thanks: now we know WHO, but do we know WHAT or WHY?
According to that, he has ānative or bilingual proficiencyā in English. Hmmmā¦
It must be a good thing that Iām not a parent, then. 
The boy is getting too old for Legos.
These words, they appear to be English, but they make no sense.
My mom used to send me to the local convenience store (about 1km away) TO BUY HER CIGARETTES. When I was no older than this kid (probably between the ages of 8 and 11). She just gave me the money and a note, and I was allowed to buy some candy with the change. This would have been in the mid-late 80ās, in the suburbs of Toronto (Mississauga repraZENT). I think this store manager may have had a stroke.
I was sent on similar missions in the same time period in Minnesota. The bodega was closer, though, 500 ft. or so.
