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When I grew up, kids pretty much had the run of the town by the time they were 8. And if you missed the bus? Guess what -- you walked to/home from school. If you lived less than a mile from your school, bus service wasn't even offered! So guess how kids got back and forth to school? They typically rode their bikes or walked -- up to a mile.
How did we get from that to this in just a single generation? Good grief. At the risk of having a fist-shaking "get off muh lawn!" moment, sometimes I don't recognize the country I grew up in.
That's pretty insane (unless perhaps it was a dangerous road to walk - busy main road with no pavement). My daughter will be walking to school and back by herself from the get go (or going on her bike as most kids do) and the big school is a good deal further than a mile away, I think it has to be over 5km to get bussed to school.
From what I gathered, the kid was forced to walk down a highway, which really IS dangerous. If it was just a mile down regular roadways and streets with sidewalks, there really shouldn't be a problem. I think the problem was not the fact that the kid walked a mile, but that he was put in a potentially hazardous situation.
a little walk will never hurt a little boy, beside boys know what to do, I know I raised 3. trust me, they are fully capabale of walking a mile and then some.....please!!
please, no wonder children become little monsters, as parents we have to worry that we will be arrested for disciplne our children. unbelieveable.
This was not a road with sidewalks. ...this was a busy highway with no safe place for people to walk.
I just did a Google streetview of the onlyl highway through Kilauea. There's plenty of room for someone to walk clear away from traffic. Also note that the judge's decision rests not just on the route but the risk of "predators" and the "appropriateness" of the dad's actions.
As for my question "how did we get from that to this in just a single generation," I guess my answer lies in hand-wringing like this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScarletG
Would it be acceptable if the child had been hit or killed?
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? Good thing the statute of limitations on child neglect has run out or my MIL could end up in handcuffs.
He abandoned his young child on a the side of a highway to find his own way home. That is not the same as a kid walking home from school. Kids who normally walk home from school have a regular route, schoolmates, and crossing guards. That was true even back in the old days when I was a kid. And even back then, it would have been inappropriate for a parent to simply pull over and dump their 8 year old out on the side of the highway and then drive away as a form of punishment. It's not old school, it's just plain bad parenting.
"Abandoned?" Spare me the melodrama. He was told to walk home, and I presume at 8 years old he knows the way to his own home from his own school. That's not abandonment, that's telling your kid to walk home. Were our parents "abandoning" us when they shoved us out the door and told us to go play?
Where I lived, there were crossing guards within one block of the school. We were on our own the rest of the way. And we still managed to make it without fearing for our safety.
Whether you think it's "bad" parenting isn't the issue. Is this criminal?
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At the risk of having a fist-shaking "get off muh lawn!" moment, sometimes I don't recognize the country I grew up in.
