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From the article:
Regina wasn't harmed the day police picked her up in the park, or apparently any day this summer. The girl who made the A-B Honor Roll at her elementary school came outside with her mother when an AP reporter stopped by. She smiled and nodded, hugging her tiny dog Roscoe, when asked if she's happy to be home.
When I was a kid, we could stay out until dark unsupervised. I rode my bike all over town.
Our faces were not staring at an iPhone screen and our ears not plugged with headphones so we were aware of our surroundings. You know who the "creepers" are.
Last edited by Spaten_Drinker; 07-29-2014 at 09:01 AM..
When I was a kid, we could stay out until dark unsupervised. I rode my bike all over town.
Me too. We also built forts, played red-rover, and sometimes (gasp) even went to the park by ourselves. I'm 45, so it wasn't like this was in the stone ages.
The article also says that since this happened, many kids are not showing up at the park, so they are staying home alone playing video games I guess. And we wonder why we have obesity and school shooters these days.
This is heart wrenching in so many ways. How can anyone condone leaving such a young child unsupervised AND alone outside in a public space for 5-8 hours (assuming this is the length of a typical McD's shift?). If they were with an older sibling, it would be different. If they were with some friends (and at least one was responsible and older), it would be different. If the mother and or father were available at home in times of need (versus being stuck at work), it would be different. If the mother didn't have a bizarre track record with the law it would be different.
I question the whole lousy situation. Why didn't she have any friends or family watch her daughter? It was for an entire summer, why did she not seek out low-cost care alternatives or assistance? If she deemed her child to be able to fend for herself, why didn't her daughter run to her mom when strangers approached with questions about being alone in the park? Of course I also relate to the high cost of daycare and babysitting as well as I feel bad that this single mom does unskilled and likely very low-wage labor.
The article is also written from a rather obvious unobjective point of view... case in point: 9 year olds are not on "honor roll," that's not even worth mentioning in my opinion - they are very young children, 3rd or 4th graders, honor roll is a ridiculous notion at that age. It would have been better to have read "her daughter is a great student in school with very low absentee record - stated the Principal and Teachers at her school." Then the glossing over of the mother's prior run-ins with the law and apparent lack of judgement as exemplified by her track record is inexcusable. I wonder how much investigative journalism was actually done on this story and for that matter, why this even became national headlines? Is it to promote this idea of full year schooling? It is to support the notion that we all should view school as "free daycare" for most working families/parents?... This part of our culture sucks for sure as I don't feel that we should rely upon such a government service to take responsibility for our children. We should work to change our own lives, and the structures/expectations for our own families, and take appropriate responsibility. Summer predictably comes around every year without exception, the mother knew this, and arrangements should have been made so she could work while her child was watched.
When I was a kid we played outside all day long too, rode our bikes all over town without helmets, climbed trees, swam in rivers, rode in the backs of pick-up trucks, etc. and lived to tell about it.
My parents frequently left me and my brother home alone when we were young, we did not need a babysitter at the age of nine.
Im sure this thread will soon be loaded with posts from all the Helicopter Parents who couldn't dream of leaving their little Snowflakes to play outside by themselves.
Gosh, when I was 9 my mother put me on a cross town bus to go to the Boys Club and I played in the local park for hours, without her. The Park is called Golden Gate and the town was San Francisco.
Never got killed or nuthin'.
And to the Helicopter parents: there were bad people and perverts back in the day.
When I was a kid we played outside all day long too, rode our bikes all over town without helmets, climbed trees, swam in rivers, rode in the backs of pick-up trucks, etc. and lived to tell about it.
My parents frequently left me and my brother home alone when we were young, we did not need a babysitter at the age of nine.
You AND your Brother or YOU AND your Friend(s)... and at or around your home, not left at a park. I also question if it was ever for 5-8 hours at a time when you were 9 and alone. That's pretty darned extreme.
Although I was also left on my own for long periods of time, I was always with someone else (or on my way to be with someone else), I always knew at least one of my parents (or a friend's parent was nearby in potential times of need), and when I say long periods of time, I'm not talking about 8 hours... I always had a place to go for food/drink/break, if not my own home, then a friend's.
It's like everyone in this thread is trying to make a point that it's ok today to leave a 9 year old girl alone for an entire day (not checking on them, or having them check in, etc). It isn't ok in most every culture of the world today (1st or 3rd world)! In most parts of the world it is discouraged to be a young single adult female traveling alone due to safety issues! This is a clear case of a serious lack of sound judgement.
Last edited by belovenow; 07-29-2014 at 09:15 AM..
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