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Neither do you, and I was just giving an example. I meant this adult did not seem to be threatening this child. For a child to be mature enough to go out alone, he has to be able to handle situations like this. I will trust the judgement of the locals in this story more than a bunch of people on a message board.
How should we know that's true? It might as well not be the case.
^^People are making all sorts of assumptions from a very brief article. That was mine, and I did say "did not SEEM to be". I'll acknowledge-we don't know a lot. Knowing how this stuff works on CD, in a few days, there will be a few more links posted. But everything we have to this point is filtered by the TV reporting.
Sometimes, police, courts, CPS and others do need to tell you how to "raise your child". I used to teach in a Birth to Three program for handicapped children. Weekly home visits and parent involvement was an important part of the program. During my time as a teacher I had several parents tell me that they allowed their child to walk to the corner store to buy candy or soda, or pick up milk or bread for the family by themselves.(often with a note because they couldn't talk very well) or with a slightly older sibling. Since, my students went to a different school when they had their third birthday the parents were talking about toddlers, with special needs, walking to a store totally unsupervised or walking with an older sibling, perhaps only 4, 5 or 6 years old.
One parent in particular thought that I was just a "crazy, white woman teacher" for telling her that it was not safe to let her two year old (my student) do that with his five year old brother. I remember her standing by her front door at one end of the block and pointing to the other end of the block and saying "Of course, it is perfectly safe. I can see them the whole way." This was on an extremely busy downtown street in a large city.
So, there were at least some parents who thought that preschoolers could handle walking by themselves to shop in a store. I doubt if too many people agree with that.
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I bet that I will now have a bunch of posters, come back and say "I went to the store by myself when I was only two years old and it was perfectly safe. I don't know why people are babying their children and not letting them do things on their own today. bla bla bla."
Quote:
Originally Posted by strawflower
I'm not sure what this post has to do with the OP. The boy in question isn't a special needs toddler going shopping for his parents, he's a 7 year old boy going to a park.
I posted my comments because another poster was saying that cops & courts should NOT be telling parents how to raise their children. My comments were that some parents do not always make rational decisions regarding the safety of their young children in their neighborhood. And perhaps the parent of the seven year old was one of those parents.
Of course, maybe you believe that special needs toddlers are fully capable of walking a block to a neighborhood store and buying candy & other things totally independently (as their parents believed were perfectly acceptable expectations for their young children). I personally felt that those parents needed assistance in determining what was safe behavior for their young children (my two year old special education students) before an accident occurred or someone called the police or CPS.
Of course, some of the readers here probably just think that I was being a "busybody".
Quote:
Originally Posted by blktoptrvl
The police need to get out of the business of being In loco parentis, and get on with the business of finding and capturing real criminals.
Then we wouldn't have all this problem with cops and courts trying to tell you how to live your life or raise your child.
See above.
Last edited by germaine2626; 08-02-2014 at 07:28 PM..
I would not let my 7 year old walk to the park alone. My oldest just turned 11 and I just recently started letting him go alone. I don't know anyone around here who would let their 7 year old walk to the park alone, and we live in a seemingly safe, middle/upper middle class suburb. That said, arresting the mother makes the problem worse, not better.
^^People are making all sorts of assumptions from a very brief article. That was mine, and I did say "did not SEEM to be". I'll acknowledge-we don't know a lot. Knowing how this stuff works on CD, in a few days, there will be a few more links posted. But everything we have to this point is filtered by the TV reporting.
This is what we know. An adult initiated a conversation with a child she didn't know. Adults shouldn't do that if a child isn't in distress. Adults don't need help or information from children. Since they are adults, they can find lost dogs or figure out driving directions on their own when lost without talking to children. And most importantly, they shouldn't be asking questions about the whereabouts of a child's parents. Pedophiles do that. It's just downright creepy for a stranger to ask those questions of a child. That's why most parents warn their children about adults who probe into the whereabouts of parents.
Most adults I know keep their distance from children they don't know because they don't want their intentions to be misinterpreted. Yet this women had no problem interjecting herself into this child's life. What we don't know is this woman's intentions. They might not have been pure. She could have been a child abductor who called the police to cover her tracks after the child ran away. We'll never know if that was the case. As a result, it's a darn good thing the kid ran away from her.
I looked up the park on google maps and it does look like the boy had to cross a busy 6 lane street to get from the pool where he was spotted to the park. If he crossed near the pool there would not be a crosswalk. However, he may have walked down the road to reach one. That is not clear. That said, I think the arrest is over the top. Maybe some kind of intervention and education for the mother is warranted but the possibility of 5 years in jail is just wrong.
Newspaper articles say that he walks to school, and the park is on the way to his school. If you look at the map, his elementary school. That means he crosses that 6 lane street to walk to school.
Notably, the park is a half mile from his house and his school is 2 miles from his house. If he can cross a 6 lane road and walk two miles to school, he most certainly can go to a park a half mile away. As a matter of fact, he goes to the park often. It's not like this was his first time.
The reality is he wasn't in danger. Nothing bad happened to him until the police and they arrested his mother. The police citing sex offenders living in the neighborhood doesn't make any sense because sex offenders are not permitted to live within a certain distance from schools, parks, pools and other places children frequent. It's not even relevant because sex offenders are everywhere, and this child proved that he knows to run from strange people.
The Rutheford Institute has stepped up to fight this legal battle in an attempt to retain all parents' rights in determining what is appropriate for their children.
Newspaper articles say that he walks to school, and the park is on the way to his school. If you look at the map, his elementary school. That means he crosses that 6 lane street to walk to school.
Notably, the park is a half mile from his house and his school is 2 miles from his house. If he can cross a 6 lane road and walk two miles to school, he most certainly can go to a park a half mile away. As a matter of fact, he goes to the park often. It's not like this was his first time.
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I don't think that's ok either.
What difference does it make if it was the first time or the 100th time?
All parents are different. Just as you have the right determine when your children are ready and when you think it's appropriate for them, this mother should have the same right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kibbiekat
What difference does it make if it was the first time or the 100th time?
Experience matters. He's very familiar with the route and the safety involved in taking the route.
All parents are different. Just as you have the right determine when your children are ready and when you think it's appropriate for them, this mother should have the same right.
Experience matters. He's very familiar with the route and the safety involved in taking the route.
Experience makes no difference if he comes upon actual danger on his way. He may know he has to be careful crossing the street, but someone could run the red light whether it's his first time or his 100th time. A kidnapper could grab him whether it's his 1st time or his 100th time. A stray dog could bite him whether it's his first time or his 100th time. How well is a 7 year old really going to be able to understand the potential hazards, and avoid them?
Yes, I agree the mother should have the same right to determine that. But she could be wrong.
Again, I don't think she should have been arrested. I think the officer should have given her a warning and pointed her to the registered sex offender map. ETA and I don't think the woman should have called the police in the first place. If I saw an unattended young child, I would probably keep my mouth shut, but would keep my eye on him if I could.
Last edited by Kibbiekat; 08-03-2014 at 07:58 AM..
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