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Should sending your kid to play alone at a local park land you in jail? Because that's what happened to Debra Harrell. The 46-year-old South Carolina mom repeatedly sent her 9-year-old daughter to a well-trafficked park while she went to work at McDonald's. When the parents of other children at the park found out, they called police, who arrested Harrell and charged her with unlawful conduct toward a child. The daughter has been placed in state custody.
I saw this article earlier this week. I also saw an article about the mother of an 11 year old who had charges filed against her for letting her kid wait in the car when she went into a store. I'm sure it is a really great experience for this girl to be in state custody and to know her mother was arrested. You hear nothing about the parents who leave their kids indoors all day playing X-Box or on i pads completely unsupervised.
This story is a little more involved than just "letting her kid play outside" but the way it was handled just sounds horrible. What about counseling or helping this working mother find some better childcare resources? Automatically it has to be one of those good parent v. bad parent stories.
I think the title of the piece and even this thread is misleading. It appears moms summer routine for her 9yo was to send her to the park for the duration of her shift at work.
Phased on the limited info I don't think mom should have been arrested, but I do think she should have been given access to some sort of social program and required to use it. I think this highlights a serious problem for many parents and that is what to do when school is out. Realistically, this is yet another reason to consider a year round school system or at least a social program allowing year round affordable access to supervised care for elementary school aged children.
Sorry, but if I saw a 9 yo dropped off at a park and left there for hours alone I'd call the cops too.
Then you'd be calling the cops on just about every parent back when I was a kid. Actually, we weren't dropped off, we just left the house and biked there (yikes!). We went home when we were hungry for lunch or the sun was going down. Yes, much better that kid spend their time playing on an ipad or phone at their parent's place of work for hours than play in a park, surrounded by other kids, getting fresh air and exercise.
9 is just way too young. Parents shouldn't need counseling on how to not neglect their children. I hope she knew that and did it because she didn't have any other choice. She deserves credit for being at work instead of a crack addict or ***** who locked her child out of the house. I saw the latter in my neighborhood one summer, and we neighbors eventually called the police because the poor child was just wandering the streets trying to find a house that would take her in. I'll bet this child at the park felt similarly because she was sent out to play by herself for endless hours. As children came and went, she was probably lonely when nobody else was around. Something needed to be done.
It was right to put the child into foster care until the mother can provide for her daughter properly, but she shouldn't have been arrested because it's truly arresting someone for being poor. Chances are a full time job at McDonalds earns too much money for childcare assistance in her area. A few years ago, a doctor told me that people who work full time at a local restaurant chain earned too much for medical assistance. That's just wrong when minimum wage jobs earn too much to qualify for help because they aren't livable wages. We're supposed to be trying to help people take care of themselves, and the way to do that is to provide them with services that help them work towards earning enough to do that.
Then you'd be calling the cops on just about every parent back when I was a kid. Actually, we weren't dropped off, we just left the house and biked there (yikes!). We went home when we were hungry for lunch or the sun was going down. Yes, much better that kid spend their time playing on an ipad or phone at their parent's place of work for hours than play in a park, surrounded by other kids, getting fresh air and exercise.
That's different. You were in your own neighborhood with siblings and friends. You weren't left to sit in a park where you knew nobody in hopes that someone would come along to keep you entertained briefly. You could go home when you were hungry, needed to go to the bathroom, or were tired or sick. She couldn't go bother her mother at work like you could bother your mother at home.
That's different. You were in your own neighborhood with siblings and friends. You weren't left to sit in a park where you knew nobody in hopes that someone would come along to keep you entertained briefly. You could go home when you were hungry, needed to go to the bathroom, or were tired or sick. She couldn't go bother her mother at work like you could bother your mother at home.
No! You don't understand. We ventured far from our neighborhood, often further than we had agreed with our parents. We played in creeks full of poisoned ivy and snakes. We found secret places to play. I understand what you're saying, yes, we were usually with friends (though sometimes I did venture off on my own), but even a 9 year old is much more capable than we give them credit for. And this is coming from a parent who tried not to helicopter parent, but failed many times. I might wonder about a child being left at a park often, but I'd never call the cops unless something scary was happening. IMO, we've (and I include myself) raised a generation of kids who are scared of their own shadows.
There isnt a lot of info from the article....how long the womans shift was, etc. But assume the mom worked an hour 8 shift....and no one was at home, I think dropping her off at some local park while she works and no place to go for safety (another friends parents house, etc) is entirely wrong. Again, the article makes it sounds like when she left for work, she went to the park and then who knows how long later (8 hours??) the mom showed up to take her back home. As a parent of a 9 yr old boy I would never ever think that was appropriate. Did the girl have a cell phone to contact a friend/familly member for emergencies? Just too much not known, but taking the article in the strict sense it is horrible.
I do not equate this with a family member at the house and the kid goes off to play. The kid knows there is someone home and she can come home anytime.....big difference IMO.
No! You don't understand. We ventured far from our neighborhood, often further than we had agreed with our parents. We played in creeks full of poisoned ivy and snakes. We found secret places to play. I understand what you're saying, yes, we were usually with friends (though sometimes I did venture off on my own)...
My childhood was the same as yours. I allowed my children to have the same childhood. This is different.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TXNGL
I might wonder about a child being left at a park often, but I'd never call the cops unless something scary was happening.
They didn't just see her at the park often. They found out her mother worked at McDonalds and was leaving the child there for her entire shift. I'm guessing they asked her questions after seeing her there repeatedly at different times of the day. I'd ask questions too because my concern would be the child was homeless.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TXNGL
IMO, we've (and I include myself) raised a generation of kids who are scared of their own shadows.
I didn't. I raised my children the way I was raised. But I would have never left my kid alone at a park or even at home all day long instead of providing proper childcare while I worked. My mother never would have either. Having a parent at home while kids run through the neighborhood and woods all day is much different than this.
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