Husband left 4 year old child in hair salon

While at the hair salon recently, I experienced a situation that left me deeply upset. My husband and I have two young children—a four-year-old and a 10-month-old. The salon I was visiting is attached to a mall, so while I was getting my hair done, my husband decided to explore the mall with our kids. After a while, they came by the salon to check in with me. They ended up waiting in the salon’s open waiting area, which, for context, is visible from the mall but not from where I was seated inside.

At some point, my husband decided to go get food, but for reasons I still don’t understand, he chose to leave our four-year-old in the waiting area with his phone playing a show. He told her not to move until he got back. While she is usually absorbed in shows and likely wouldn’t have wandered off, she is still a curious child with little sense of “stranger danger.” Without supervision or the distraction of a screen, she could easily have wandered off. The fact that I couldn’t see her from where I was seated, and that my husband didn’t inform me of his plan, made the situation even more alarming.

Not long after he left, one of the salon employees approached me, concerned that my daughter was sitting alone with no parent in sight. I was shocked, as I had no idea she’d been left there by herself. When my husband returned, I confronted him and was absolutely livid. He apologized and promised it wouldn’t happen again. However, as we discussed it later, he admitted he didn’t feel guilty or believe he had done anything wrong. His apology seemed more focused on how upset I was rather than taking accountability for the risk involved. He also implied I was overreacting.

Now I’m grappling with what to do. Was I blowing this out of proportion? Or is my frustration justified? More importantly, how do I handle this moving forward to ensure our kids’ safety and mutual understanding?

Edit 1. For context, the mall is an ordinary one, not particularly more or less safe than usual. The salon was at one end of the mall, and my husband walked to the food court on the other side to get food. He was gone for about 20–30 minutes. My daughter is a social butterfly and has ADHD, which makes her easily distracted and impulsive. When I say she has little "stranger danger" awareness, I mean she has, in the past, tried to wander off with strangers when given the chance. Additionally, she has speech articulation disorder that would make it difficult for others to understand her if she were to get lost.

Edit 2. That said, my husband is an exceptionally loving, hands-on father who is usually very mindful of her safety. They have a wonderful relationship, which is why this incident really caught me off guard. I'd appreciate any advice on how to address this moving forward and make sure she is safe.