Outrageous: dad arrested, convicted for making his 8-year-old son walk a mile home from school (day care, punishments)
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Why? What's so different about today than just a couple decades ago when 8-year-olds basically roamed free?
Quote:
Originally Posted by seain dublin
We didn't get here in one generation. Behavior has been gradually getting worse, and "society" more dangerous.
You have got be kidding with your last question.
Ever hear of Adam Walsh? That was 1981.
Veering away from this individual case which I think is hard for us to judge not knowing what the roads look like. The world is not more dangerous now than it was several decades ago. In fact violent crime against juveniles is at it's lowest since the early sixties. Society is not more dangerous, the news is just scarier.
In this case, it's not so much about the distance, because walking itself is not a punishment and most kids can walk a mile at least. This is about the parent showing the child that they have absolute control over them and can push them out of their safe little world on a whim.
My dad wouldn't have picked me up in the first place, because when we were kids, we had to walk to and from school if we lived a mile or less from it. No bus for us, and mom and dad were both either at work, or on their way to work, when it was time for us to get to school. And no, we didn't have crossing guards except at the driveway of the school itself. The idea of being picked up, then driven partway home, then dropped off on the side of the road and being told to finish the trip on foot would've made me giggle if it had happened to me. I'd be all "this is great - I only have to walk halfway today, yay!" And no, we didn't get in cars of strangers if they stopped and offered us rides. The genetic pool was still pretty solid, among the elementary school grades. We only got progressively stupid starting in 7th grade.
My wife grew up on a county highway with a 55mph speed limit and managed to make
it into town and back her entire childhood without getting run over. How ever
did ever manage?
You are aware that some didn't make it without getting run over though, right? I'm only being snarky because you painted with such a broad brush I couldn't resist.
I don't know this case personally. Nobody ever said walking 1 mile = jail. Whatever the details here are they go beyond a little walking. I'm also not a fan of kicking anyone out of a car, especially a child who wasn't used to walking around wherever they were.
You are aware that some didn't make it without getting run over though, right? I'm only being snarky because you painted with such a broad brush I couldn't resist.
Some kids in cars don't make it too. You can't eliminate all of the risks in life.
To me, the very notion that a father's parenting could or should be up for scrutiny by the legal system is beyond wrong. Where I come from, short of REAL abuse like whacking one's child upside the head with a baseball bat or molesting them, a parent has ABSOLUTE authority to parent however the bloody heck they feel. Any society that doesn't respect that is just plain wrong, and any legal system that would interfere in that authority needs reforming at the very least, and quite frankly I'd go so far as to say it may well even need to be replaced with another government altogether.
This one poster wisely stated that there's no way in one single generation it goes from being okay for 8 year-olds to run around free to being unsafe and negligent. I actually agree with them, totally, but to me that's not even the point. In like manner, this notion you hear "in today's world everything is different and it's not safe like it used to be"--bull feathers. Like the one person said, that's just the 24/7 news making people THINK such rubbish. Crime is DOWN, the facts bear that out.
Crime hasn't changed, what has changed is people's attitudes. It used to be that society SUPPORTED parental authority rather than being armchair quarterbacks second-guessing every parenting decision made by others and having the government acting as a parenting nanny. Even so people would STILL come to a child's aid if the child were truly being mistreated. Anymore, people want to second-guess every parenting decision made and have the government meddle in private family matters that are absolutely none of their business.
Where it regards this case and others like it, to me this is the thing--he's the father, so as the father that should be his choice. Period. Any judge who says otherwise has no business in public office or even being allowed to vote. They are flat-out criminals. This is not a Communist country where we have to run our parenting choices by a bunch of nosy busy-bodies who ought to mind their own business. Short of REAL abuse, parenting authority should be absolute and not touchable by any government in anyway whatsoever.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hedgehog_Mom
In 1980 there were 156 million cars in the US. In 2004 there were 237 million cars. [url="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908125.html"]In this case, it's not so much about the distance, because walking itself is not a punishment and most kids can walk a mile at least. This is about the parent showing the child that they have absolute control over them and can push them out of their safe little world on a whim.
To which I say--GOOD! Where I come from children should obey their parents "because I said so," period. Children SHOULD have a sense that if they cross their parents that, to quote Josey Wales, "hell is coming to breakfast." I'm absolutely serious. I'm sick of this nonsense that we're supposed to CONVINCE our children all sweet and sugary to please pretty please do as we say. PHOOEY. To a certain extent, I think it's a GOOD thing for children to fear their parents, at least in terms of fearing CROSSING them. I think that's a good thing.
Where I come from, it doesn't matter how you feel or what you think, you do not DARE cross your parents. Ever. Period. That doesn't mean your parents shouldn't care how you feel and factor your thoughts into account, I am not saying it should feel like a prison or boot camp, no, the home should be one of love and caring people who aren't acting dangerous or overly authoritative. The point is that the final decision belongs to the parents, and REGARDLESS of what you as the child think of their answer, you DO it, PERIOD, or ELSE. You may not like it, and you perhaps should be able to express how you feel IN THE RIGHT WAY, but if you DARE go against them or sass them, then yes, they should be able to come down on you like a wrecking ball on a glass window pane. Disobedience is not even an option. Don't like it? TOUGH. When you're 18 and move out, THEN you can do like you want--until then, you don't get that choice.
And that is how it SHOULD be, and the government and busy-bodies ought to stay out of their way, and those who refuse to need to be run out of town on rail.
So if this son didn't like walking home--why then I guess he should've done as he was told. It wasn't his right to disobey his father--his father said behave at school, that he said so should've been all that was required. Period. He ASKED for the sore legs he got. (Heck, I don't see what's so awful about walking a mile anyway, I've had my kids walking that far with me since they were barely 3 years old.)
Last edited by shyguylh; 06-03-2014 at 06:22 PM..
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