News, Mom Arrested for Leaving Daughter at Park While She Was Working (stepfather, 11 yr old)
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That still doesn't mean that even a kid wants to be outdoors for hours and hours in the south in the summer.
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I certainly wouldn't want to but all the news reports that she "begged" to be allowed to go. Of course if she got too hot she could always walk the 5min and resume sitting at McDs.
I certainly wouldn't want to but all the news reports that she "begged" to be allowed to go. Of course if she got too hot she could always walk the 5min and resume sitting at McDs.
Of course she begged to be let go. She's a scared NINE YEAR OLD. You act like she's 16! A nine year old could be getting abused at home and would still beg to go back. It's a natural instinct.
Where does it say she was scared, much less abused? For heavens sake, acknowledge that many parents don't have a wealth of choices during the summer months. For all we know, the mother's shift just changed from nights to days right before all this happened, and caught her off guard.
Regardless of whether we think it is fine and dandy for 9 y/o girls to be off adventuring, learning independence, etc., it is not fine and dandy with the other adults at the park or they wouldn't have called the police. And apparently, it is not fine with the legal system as the mother ended up in jail.
I suspect there may have been trouble at the park, else why would anyone notice one more 9 y/o roaming around?
What might have happened, though I have no idea whether this is what actually happened here or not of course, the little girl got involved in some sort of problem. Perhaps she fell off the slide. Or got into it with another child. Or whatever. "Where are your parents?" would have resulted in the police being called as there was no parent available to help resolve the matter.
The police went to McDonald's and a verbal altercation ensued. She ended up in jail.
Not saying this did happen, but this seems the likely scenario.
Regardless of whether we think it is fine and dandy for 9 y/o girls to be off adventuring, learning independence, etc., it is not fine and dandy with the other adults at the park or they wouldn't have called the police. And apparently, it is not fine with the legal system as the mother ended up in jail.
I suspect there may have been trouble at the park, else why would anyone notice one more 9 y/o roaming around?
What might have happened, though I have no idea whether this is what actually happened here or not of course, the little girl got involved in some sort of problem. Perhaps she fell off the slide. Or got into it with another child. Or whatever. "Where are your parents?" would have resulted in the police being called as there was no parent available to help resolve the matter.
The police went to McDonald's and a verbal altercation ensued. She ended up in jail.
Not saying this did happen, but this seems the likely scenario.
We'll have to wait and see.
You may be right. We can only go by the news accounts as we read them. I didn't see anything about a verbal altercation though (doesn't mean it didn't happen, I just never saw that).
I still think that parents should take their cues from the children when it comes to increasing independence. If any of my own asked to do something, I weighed my answer by how well they had handled things in the past. If they had done well, then the answer was yes, even if I personally wasn't comfortable with it.
I think we do more harm by focusing on what ifs, and what kids can't do, than on what they can.
It also points out that 24% of abductions are from strangers, not the 3% someone else wrote.
You are misinterpreting the data.
Quote:
Approximately 800,000 children younger than 18 were reported missing.
More than 200,000 children were abducted by family members.
More than 58,000 children were abducted by nonfamily members.
An estimated 115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. These “stereotypical” kidnappings involved someone the child did not know or was an acquaintance. The child was held
overnight, transported 50 miles or more, killed, ransomed or held with the intent to keep the child permanently.
Plenty of 9 year olds and up roaming free round here so I don't need to imagine what it would be like - its fine.
A conscious nine year old should be able to tell the doctors their parent's contact details and if they are unconscious then the doctors will surely treat the child anyway (I don't know how it operates there but anyone unconscious is going to get treatment here without worrying about paperwork) and figure out how to contact afterwards if there's no ID or other contact information (they'd look on a phone for an I.C.E number)
It's fine until it isn't. And it should be obvious to you, Natsku, but we're in the US, and you're in Finland, thus, you can't make generalizations about the safety of children in the US based on your experience living in Finland. Unfortunately, children in the US are not as safe. The crime rate here is considerably higher, for one thing. The obesity rate is higher, rate of uninsured citizens is higher, etc, etc. . . I find it amazing that so many people make excuses for not supervising their children by claiming "the child is old enough." A major responsibility of being a parent is supervising your children. A 9 year old at a park is not being supervised. A park, cell phone, or other inanimate object does not constitute human supervision.
Yep, and let's remember 30-40 other kids at the park, many with cell phones as well.
I would have zero problem with my 10yr old in this exact scenario. We have recently been in South Carolina and in the square in downtown Charleston there are dozens of unattended children (where are the cops in this instance?) swimming in the city fountain. My kids had a great time with them.
And who are these other kids with cell phones going to call?
Quote:
Originally Posted by hml1976
That isn't what happened here. The mother met the child for lunch at the restaurant and had her check in throughout the day. The Atlantic ran an excellent piece on the incident.
There is nothing in your link or anything else I have read about this incident that says the bold. From your link: **On her third day at the park, an adult asked the girl where her mother was. At work, the daughter replied. The shocked adult called the cops. Authorities declared the girl "abandoned" and proceeded to arrest the mother.**
Apparently the child didn't even say her mom was at the McDonald's, which gets closer with every telling. Most nine year olds would say the same. It wouldn't occur to them to say where the mom's work is.
Unless you live in a particularly dangerous area chances are that the crime rate where you live is lower than when you were a child.
So what? The auto accident rate is probably lower too. Does that mean you shouldn't wear a seat belt and drive carefully? Maybe the crime rate is down because kids are more supervised? Maybe for some other reason. Who knows?
Quote:
Originally Posted by nana053
Not all of them, but most are. Kids walk to the park in our subdivision or bike without parents being around. It is the 4, 5 and 6 year olds who have parents around at our park. Some 7 or 8 year olds probably do, but even then many are unsupervised. The kids in our neighborhood bike and play in the neighborhood too without parents being outside except for supervising the youngest ones.
Are these kids left totally w/o supervision all day? Are there parents, or some responsible adult at home, at least most of the time?
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