Parents investigated for neglect after letting kids walk home alone

Heck, I remember it was between junior high and grade school that my campfire group was taken to the nearest large amusement park for a trip. We were split into groups of three or four girls. Our adult chaperones told us what time to meet back and where and turned us loose telling us to stay in our groups.

Today, that would be considered child abuse by the state even though we all knew what to watch out for and stuck together.

Oh, and no one had cell phones, either.

a reply to: IkNOwSTuff

What a great narrative! I couldn't stop reading it....love your writing style.

When I was 10, I had a .22, a German Sheppard, a chainsaw and my own 4x4 to get down our 1.5km driveway to the bus. Actually, I had all that when I was 8.

The world has changed. My son just turned 8. Could not imagine him sharpening his chainsaw and sniper squirrels.

I have done that at that age. I've also walked my little brother home from school when he first started. I'm still here. The world creates pussies now. You wonder why your kids are entitled. You wonder why they won't do for themselves in adulthood. Look no more because the answer is right under your nose.

originally posted by: shaneslaughta
Idiot parents. I lived less than 3 blocks from the school i went to when i was a kid. I couldn't walk there till i was 12.

A freaking mile? ALONE???

HANG THEM!

So you're saying that because you were raised by overprotective parents, these people should be hung? I suppose that I feel sorry for you, being conditioned from childhood to be afraid of sunbeams and shadows. Allow me to provide you with an example of what you sound like:

"How dare you let your children outside! Don't you know there's atmosphere out there?!"

Seriously, you and the CPS workers should calm down.

originally posted by: shaneslaughta
a reply to: TonyS

Yes sir. People just want to pull the old ostrich trick. Bury your head in the sand, if i cant see it its not there.
HAAAAA

How about all the girls and boys that have been raped and are to embarrassed to come forward.

In my short lifetime in my town Ive had Mexicans running a teenage prostitution ring and a martial arts instructor who liked to pay little boys with drugs and money for sexual favors.

This place i live dont have more than 12k people.

I was very cautious with my daughter as she was growing up. I got to experience the dangers first hand. I didn't need to walk to school to be raped, my babysitter who lived next door did that for me. I was 7. And because we went to court, and he lived next door, I then got to experience being stalked first hand, for about a year. It got so bad, we had to move. Yeah PTSD! It's so fun to have to look out your window constantly because you imagine someone to be there, when in reality there's nothing. Fun times. OCD is fun too. Let's all go around the house check every lock on over door 5 times, every closet to make sure no one is there 5 times, every lock on every window 5 times. Oh you heard a noise? Well dammit, now we have to start all over! Was the noise loud or soft? Loud mans we have to sleep with the light on, knife in our hand under the pillow, and a cell phone in the other hand, soft means we just tremble in fear. When something like this happens to you at such a very young age, no amount of therapy can fix it. I should know, I've been in therapy since I was 8, I'm 44 now.

I have mixed feelings on this as a 10 yrs old I rode the NYC subways alone which can be a danger in itself but I never felt fearful,but think about the fact that the world is full of monsters who prey on the young,imagine the self blame if the kids came-up missing what if I had just picked them up from school we were told and we tell our kids never to accept gifts from strangers or a ride from a seemingly kind stranger yet we scuff at the idea that a 10 and 6 yrs old is not free to walk a mile from school.
chalk it up to the times we live in.

originally posted by: Spider879
I have mixed feelings on this as a 10 yrs old I rode the NYC subways alone which can be a danger in itself but I never felt fearful,but think about the fact that the world is full of monsters who prey on the young,imagine the self blame if the kids came-up missing what if I had just picked them up from school we were told and we tell our kids never to accept gifts from strangers or a ride from a seemingly kind stranger yet we scuff at the idea that a 10 and 6 yrs old is not free to walk a mile from school.
chalk it up to the times we live in.

As a parent, those worries are absolutely endless. From vaccinations to your choice in babysitters, your taking a risk no matter what you do but something really bad may never happen. Do we stunt our children's growth out of fear of our own potential guilt? Seems selfish to me.

A 10-year-old is probably not capable of assessing danger very well and a 6-year-old certainly isn't. The article doesn't tell us what the weather was like or describe the area where they walked. Was it 10 degrees? Were they walking a mile along a freeway or through a bad area of town? I don't think the parents used very good judgment but I guess the question is whether its their right to make the judgment. I think the police were right to pick up the kids. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that the kids were not supposed to be out there and the only way to ascertain that was to speak with the parents. The article creates the impression that the parents are playing the odds. I guess the kids will either survive their childhoods or not.

originally posted by: shaneslaughta
a reply to: deadeyedick

I understand, i guess it was a bad way to go about it. I have some serious issues with explaining things to people, but its perfect in my head.

I guess what i was getting at was that if your letting your 6 year old run loose you are a flipping nut job. Even with a ten year old, they dont know everything about the world. Its just not safe no matter what you feel about your neighborhood.

That old saying snip happens. Then you gotta live with your choices.

I have to agree with you. I've never met a 10-year-old who couldn't have been conned by a sophisticated adult with a good story (ie. "You Mom just sent me to pick you up. Your Daddy was in an accident and I'm supposed to take you to the hospital."). There are predators out there. Are the odds better that a predator would not snatch the kids? Probably, but this isn't a situation in which I'd choose to play the odds. Free-range kids? The term is strangely appropriate. They're free-range until they're harvested.

originally posted by: Tangerine

originally posted by: shaneslaughta
a reply to: deadeyedick

I understand, i guess it was a bad way to go about it. I have some serious issues with explaining things to people, but its perfect in my head.

I guess what i was getting at was that if your letting your 6 year old run loose you are a flipping nut job. Even with a ten year old, they dont know everything about the world. Its just not safe no matter what you feel about your neighborhood.

That old saying snip happens. Then you gotta live with your choices.

I have to agree with you. I've never met a 10-year-old who couldn't have been conned by a sophisticated adult with a good story (ie. "You Mom just sent me to pick you up. Your Daddy was in an accident and I'm supposed to take you to the hospital."). There are predators out there. Are the odds better that a predator would not snatch the kids? Probably, but this isn't a situation in which I'd choose to play the odds. Free-range kids? The term is strangely appropriate. They're free-range until they're harvested.

And that's the difference between the parenting of our years, and today. I'd have never fallen for something so obviously bogus, we had checklist questions just in case ("What's mom/dad's middle name, place of work, car model, birthday, etc") We never had to fall back on that, but it's something few seem to think of doing in today's helicopter parent world. Blame the hyper-protective on being dunces, not the kids.

originally posted by: Nyiah

originally posted by: Tangerine

originally posted by: shaneslaughta
a reply to: deadeyedick

I understand, i guess it was a bad way to go about it. I have some serious issues with explaining things to people, but its perfect in my head.

I guess what i was getting at was that if your letting your 6 year old run loose you are a flipping nut job. Even with a ten year old, they dont know everything about the world. Its just not safe no matter what you feel about your neighborhood.

That old saying snip happens. Then you gotta live with your choices.

I have to agree with you. I've never met a 10-year-old who couldn't have been conned by a sophisticated adult with a good story (ie. "You Mom just sent me to pick you up. Your Daddy was in an accident and I'm supposed to take you to the hospital."). There are predators out there. Are the odds better that a predator would not snatch the kids? Probably, but this isn't a situation in which I'd choose to play the odds. Free-range kids? The term is strangely appropriate. They're free-range until they're harvested.

And that's the difference between the parenting of our years, and today. I'd have never fallen for something so obviously bogus, we had checklist questions just in case ("What's mom/dad's middle name, place of work, car model, birthday, etc") We never had to fall back on that, but it's something few seem to think of doing in today's helicopter parent world. Blame the hyper-protective on being dunces, not the kids.

There have been studies conducted that show just how easy it is for strangers to trick kids. The parents of the kids participated in the study and expressed absolute confidence that their children had been adequately warned and prepared and would not leave with a stranger. The children were monitored on video in an amusement park where, one-after-another, they were approached by a "friendly" stranger who had no problem at all in talking them into leaving with him. The parents were horrified.

Some predators are very adept at manipulating prey. They manage to con adults into trusting them so forgive me if I don't believe that it would be difficult to con just about any child--years ago or today.

I used to walk a half mile to my grade school all uphill. I used to walk a mile to my middle school. I also walked 2 miles to my highschool. I walked bussed and light railed 22 miles to work every day in 2013. I walked 8 miles every night at 1 to 4 am to my houee in 2014. And I walk at least 2 miles a day to and from my current job.

Scary? I was never scared. Dangerous? I was walking along crowded and very busy roadways. Sketchy? Definitely. Neglect? Nope. I just hated busses a lot as a kid.

originally posted by: shaneslaughta
Children that young don't have any concept of the true dangers that lurk around the world.

Pedophiles and rapists and murders are everywhere. Don't any of you watch the news?

I hate the nanny state but i can understand this.

uhuh and there are sharks in the ocean....stay out of the water
there are bears and snakes in the woods....stay out of the woods
there are bad drivers on the road stay off the road
boats can sink,never go in a boat
air conditioning can give you legionaries disease,do not use air con......

am i getting my point across ?

a reply to: IkNOwSTuff

Wow that took me back to my own childhood . The similarities from your story to what i went through all those years ago are scary . Perhaps some kind of young males passage of rights .

a reply to: hutch622

my 4 year old tells me every day he wants to be a big boy....definitely a boy thing

Everyone in my neighborhood would walk a mile or ride our bikes to elementary school alone. We made our own path to cut across rail road track to save 5mins on our walk. The school district wouldn't send a bus around being around 1 mile to the school. The big intersections we had crossing guards.

During the summer time we would get a swimming season pass and almost every day we would ride our bikes to city pool one mile away alone.

I'm SO NOT a helicopter parent, and I can't stand the PC hypersensitive baby your kids crowd! BUT, let's face it. This world is a different place than the one we grew up in so many years ago. I was a child in the 70's. Our neighborhood was good old fashioned suburbia straight out of The Wonder Years. Everyone played in the street. All the parents knew each other on the block, and watched out for all the kids and anything suspicious. It was more of an innocent time. We played out after dark. We roamed the woods behind us, and caught frogs up to 11 pm at night. We took our bikes and went down to the gas station many blocks from home, and hung out in the park. That was life then, and I think my parents were more trusting of us, and the world.

Now, would I allow my kids to do all this in a big city? NOPE. no way, nope no no no. They would not walk home on their own. They would not take their bikes and go off for an afternoon adventure the way I did when I was 11 years old. They would not hang out in the woods and catch frogs. TOO many crazies. Period.

That is why I moved up to a rural area in a small town. Now, I'm not saying it can't happen here, it can. But it's different here... and very very much like the way I grew up. We all know one another. We all look out for each other's kids. Would I allow my 6 yo to walk home alone from school? Nope. Maybe if they are 10, 11, 12.. but only if I'm living here, in small town America..

Even here, I would not allow my kid to go "free range" and roam the town.... but I'd sure let them hop on their bike and go to Main street and ride with the other kids for an ice cream and come directly back. Would I allow them to go sit in the park, which is 3 blocks down from me? Yessiree!

I believe in teaching our kids responsibilities and preparing them for the world. Sheltering them only weakens them and their capabilities. Children are intelligent and we must raise them to be so and encourage them to understand stranger danger. My sister literally sits and down and discusses things with her young daughters who are 10, 12, and 14. She told them the story of Jaycee Dugard. They have a VERY good understanding of how fast you can get kidnapped and the tricks that strangers pull. You have to talk to your kids.... rather than wrap them in cotton wool. I'm sorry, but if helicopter parents insist on sheltering their kids until they're teenagers, you're only doing a HUGE disservice to them. It's wise to teach your kid some street smarts.

originally posted by: shaneslaughta
a reply to: wilhelmina

thanks for another great point. Children aren't even sacred in the church.

They're not even safe in school. There's pedophiles there too. Get on the sexual offender database and you'll be in for a shock as to how many pedophiles may live in your area. The most important thing we can do is arm our children with knowledge and street smarts. Many parents don't do this.... and shy away from uncomfortable conversation about good touch and bad touch.

I walked (or rode a bike) a mile to and from school .... first grade and second grade. Then again for grades 6-12. No problem. Then again .. it was a very small town in Connecticut and that was 40 years ago. Things are different now. If I had children ages 10 and 6, and they were walking to school, I'd walk with them. It's good family time and good exercise and its safer.