Outrageous: dad arrested, convicted for making his 8-year-old son walk a mile home from school (boy, 8 years old)
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A subsequent poster informed me the child attended Kilauea Elementary school. And the child was put out on the highway at "the last mile" from home. We can still use Google Street View to judge the path ourselves.
The father accepted the plea bargin for the misdemenor charge of child endangerment on advice of his attorney. If he felt as strongly as the posters on this forum, perhaps he should have spent more money on a better attorney and gone to jury trial.
The child attended Kilauea Elementary School. He was left on the side of Kuhio Hwy.
I lived on Kauai for 3 years and about 1 in Lihue. Not many parts of the Kuhio Hwy. that would be ok for a kid walking and Traffic has gotten worse since I lived there.
Why? What's so different about today than just a couple decades ago when 8-year-olds basically roamed free?
"Roamed free"? Really? I don't know where you lived at 8, but I'm pretty old and I never "roamed free" at the age of 8. My son is 21, and I assure you he never did either.
As a second grader, I had free reign to visit approved homes on the court where I lived and to roam the green area behind my house, which was visible from the kitchen window. By middle school (age 12), once I had completed the requisite swimming lessons, I was permitted to go to the pool, which was about a mile away, to meet friends. By then, I was also allowed to ride my bike pretty much anywhere within my quiet suburban neighborhood. Prior to that, though, I was not allowed to roam.
I'm just shy of being a Baby Boomer, and I don't believe my parenting style is very different from my own parents'. When asked, they'll say they were extremely strict, but I think they were much like every other set of parents in the neighborhood, fairly easy-going. In any case, I'm certain they would never have left me on any of the rural routes that led into our neighborhood.
As for my opinion about the story out of Hawaii, I'll leave the thread with a thought I shared in P&OC,
Quote:
I have no idea what the real story is here, because there is a tremendous amount of political posturing around the issue, but I trust that the judge knows more than I do about the case. If the sentence was unfair in the eyes of the community she serves, it is up to the community to remove her from the bench.
Last edited by randomparent; 06-04-2014 at 08:03 AM..
The father accepted the plea [bargain] for the [misdemeanor] charge of child endangerment on advice of his attorney. If he felt as strongly as the posters on this forum, perhaps he should have spent more money on a better attorney and gone to jury trial.
I would have liked to have seen that too. Someone has to take a stand against the erosion of parental rights and the government meddling in places it has no business meddling. I can understand, I think, his desire to just put this behind him and move on with his life, but the more people accept such rulings for that reason, the more entrenched legally this government overreach will become.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohky0815
I dont think that magic parenting class is going to teach him anything.
I don't think he needs to be taught anything, except maybe how to "play the game" in being discreet so that he can keep himself out of legal trouble but yet do so in a way that has minimal impact on his actual parenting choices. For example, if your child is acting up in public, rather than applying the full measure of your punishment right there in front of everyone, wait until you get home or do so in an empty bathroom where there aren't any witnesses, and check for cameras and others possibly being nearby who can overhear. If you want your children to be able to play outside unsupervised vs having to be there every second, move out to the country if you can where you can probably do just that either because no one's around to know or where, just as likely, there are others around but they do the same thing.
And yes, when someone tries to meddle in your rights, respond as this woman did.
That's the thing--when children act up in nice restaurants or the like, and parents seem to be doing nothing, we scream "when I was little I'd had my butt whooped for doing that," but then when someone does that very thing, people want to call social services. You can't have it both ways, and to me this quandary explains why you often-times see parents seemingly doing nothing. You want them to do something? Then LET them do something and butt out of their parenting life. Frankly if I had magic powers every busy body who picked up their phone to make such a call would find the phone suddenly afflicted with "exploding battery syndrome" while holding it.
"Roamed free"? Really? I don't know where you lived at 8, but I'm pretty old and I never "roamed free" at the age of 8. My son is 21, and I assure you he never did either.
I am an old lady and we did roam free. The town I lived in was only 10,000 people. Kids were able to go outside alone at 4 or 5 in my neighborhood. I walked 1.5 miles to school at 7 and was allowed to go downtown to the local stores at 8 or 9. We also rode bikes all over including to a nearby park with hiking trails near the river. This was in the 50s and 60s.
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