It’s not uncommon. Here’s just a few stories I was able to pull up, though my google-fu isn’t what it used to be and theres a lot of noise from all the headlines made for the first one.
The Washington Post reported last week that last month, a 10-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister were walking one mile home from a park in Silver Spring. Someone called the cops, who picked them up about halfway and took them the rest of the way home. Their parents, Alexander and Danielle Meitiv, faced no criminal charges, but a few hours later Montgomery County Children’s Protective Services (CPS) showed up. According to the Meitivs, a CPS worker required Alexander to sign a safety plan promising not to leave his children unsupervised until the following Monday, when CPS would follow up. If he refused, the worker said his children would be removed. CPS has since interviewed both children at school and returned to the Meitivs’ house. - grist.com, USA Today, The Washington Post
8 and 10-Year-0ld Escorted Home by Firefighters After Neighbors Report Unsupervised Kids - reason.com
Mom Sues Cops Who Arrested Her for Leaving 14-Year-Old Daughter Home Alone - reason.com
a cop came knocking after someone reported two of Hershberger’s children, ages five and almost seven, walking a few blocks from her home in Reading—a Boston suburb—and picking up litter. - reason.com
A Mom Let Her 7-Year-Old Play in the Park. Arizona Arrested Her and Banned Her From Working With Kids. - reason.com
The fact that it happens at all is far too much. The US has become a country of essentially helicopter parents. I blame this largely on suburbs. They are built for cars and there’s not really a good way for children to travel alone. This has caused a situation where parents are involved in whatever the child is doing anytime they aren’t at school. This leads to ethe expectation that a parent will always be a with their child, so this not being the case becomes suspicious.
I’m exaggerating slightly to be funny. That said, I’m the type of parent that sends my kids out to play unsupervised, and that’s really not as common as it was when I was a kid. I’ve dealt with:
When my daughter was 6, she did a loop around our block alone. About a quarter of a mile, most of it visible from the front or back yard. A neighbor came to tell me she saw my daughter walking alone, and I told her I knew. She insisted that my daughter was too young, and it was too cold for her to be out alone (I think around 40 degrees? My daughter was wearing a coat, anyway). I said she’d be fine. This lady then went and convinced my daughter to walk home with her. She brought her up to the door and I was completely blown away that this woman basically took it upon herself to decide what my kid can and cannot do.
A different neighbor posted a picture of my son on Facebook, at 8 years old, asking where the parents were because he was too old to be out playing alone.
One of my daughter’s friends isn’t allowed out of the house without a parent (now 9 years old) so my daughter always goes to her house. It’s weird.
That’s not a lot. It’s not even that serious. But it’s fucking weird that we’ve arrived here, as a society.
Some commenter mentioned people on Lemmy being scared of everything. Yeah, I combine my experiences with those stories of people being arrested for neglect or abuse because they let their kid out of their sight for a minute and it terrifies me. This is a nation of nosy busybodies, convinced by around-the-clock news that there’s a pedophile kidnapper lurking in every neighborhood waiting for the chance to strike.
How unfortunate. My friends and I basically roamed the streets until the street lights came on when I was that age. I still see little kids walking down to the park a block from my house, or riding their bikes around the neighborhood. But I’m not in a big metro city any more. It’s probably much different in the hearts of major metropolitan cities.
I think that’s more about being lazy. You have to make sure the bus actually comes because every once in a while, it doesn’t, but most people don’t want to stand to wait to make sure the bus came.
When I was a kid living at home, there was a father who would walk with his two daughters to the bus stop and wait with them there until they got on the bus.
One day a woman came along in her car, slipped into a diabetic coma, and veered towards them.
The father managed to throw one daughter to safety before he and his other daughter were hit.
He survived, but he was left with a limp. You’d still see him walking his surviving daughter to the bus stop in the morning.
What has led you to believe that we call the cops in the United States when we see 10 year old kids out having fun? What a strange belief.
It’s not uncommon. Here’s just a few stories I was able to pull up, though my google-fu isn’t what it used to be and theres a lot of noise from all the headlines made for the first one.
The Washington Post reported last week that last month, a 10-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister were walking one mile home from a park in Silver Spring. Someone called the cops, who picked them up about halfway and took them the rest of the way home. Their parents, Alexander and Danielle Meitiv, faced no criminal charges, but a few hours later Montgomery County Children’s Protective Services (CPS) showed up. According to the Meitivs, a CPS worker required Alexander to sign a safety plan promising not to leave his children unsupervised until the following Monday, when CPS would follow up. If he refused, the worker said his children would be removed. CPS has since interviewed both children at school and returned to the Meitivs’ house. - grist.com, USA Today, The Washington Post
8 and 10-Year-0ld Escorted Home by Firefighters After Neighbors Report Unsupervised Kids - reason.com
Mom Sues Cops Who Arrested Her for Leaving 14-Year-Old Daughter Home Alone - reason.com
a cop came knocking after someone reported two of Hershberger’s children, ages five and almost seven, walking a few blocks from her home in Reading—a Boston suburb—and picking up litter. - reason.com
A Mom Let Her 7-Year-Old Play in the Park. Arizona Arrested Her and Banned Her From Working With Kids. - reason.com
Stop man, just stop, he’s already dead
These stories make the news because they’re so outlandish. This is far from common behavior.
The fact that it happens at all is far too much. The US has become a country of essentially helicopter parents. I blame this largely on suburbs. They are built for cars and there’s not really a good way for children to travel alone. This has caused a situation where parents are involved in whatever the child is doing anytime they aren’t at school. This leads to ethe expectation that a parent will always be a with their child, so this not being the case becomes suspicious.
For further reading, see Lenore Skenazy’s blog Free-Range Kids.
I’m exaggerating slightly to be funny. That said, I’m the type of parent that sends my kids out to play unsupervised, and that’s really not as common as it was when I was a kid. I’ve dealt with:
When my daughter was 6, she did a loop around our block alone. About a quarter of a mile, most of it visible from the front or back yard. A neighbor came to tell me she saw my daughter walking alone, and I told her I knew. She insisted that my daughter was too young, and it was too cold for her to be out alone (I think around 40 degrees? My daughter was wearing a coat, anyway). I said she’d be fine. This lady then went and convinced my daughter to walk home with her. She brought her up to the door and I was completely blown away that this woman basically took it upon herself to decide what my kid can and cannot do.
A different neighbor posted a picture of my son on Facebook, at 8 years old, asking where the parents were because he was too old to be out playing alone.
One of my daughter’s friends isn’t allowed out of the house without a parent (now 9 years old) so my daughter always goes to her house. It’s weird.
That’s not a lot. It’s not even that serious. But it’s fucking weird that we’ve arrived here, as a society.
Some commenter mentioned people on Lemmy being scared of everything. Yeah, I combine my experiences with those stories of people being arrested for neglect or abuse because they let their kid out of their sight for a minute and it terrifies me. This is a nation of nosy busybodies, convinced by around-the-clock news that there’s a pedophile kidnapper lurking in every neighborhood waiting for the chance to strike.
How unfortunate. My friends and I basically roamed the streets until the street lights came on when I was that age. I still see little kids walking down to the park a block from my house, or riding their bikes around the neighborhood. But I’m not in a big metro city any more. It’s probably much different in the hearts of major metropolitan cities.
That’s freaking crazy, wowser.
The suburbs, where children being outside is a capital punishment according to retirees
This is Lemmy. These people are terrified
I think if these were girls, a lot of Karen types would freak out about them being alone
Yous are fuckin terrified of your own shadows
Never seen such an entire nation of quivering shitebags
😂
Ar ye jest mad we gotchure lucky charms?
I don’t think they’re allowed to sell those in Scotland, they’re classed as candy, not cereal
Lol so yes then
It’s not like we drive our kids to the bus stop and then sit in the car until they get on the bus.
People very much do that here. I see it literally all the time.
I think that’s more about being lazy. You have to make sure the bus actually comes because every once in a while, it doesn’t, but most people don’t want to stand to wait to make sure the bus came.
Back in my day, if the bus didn’t come eventually we’d just walk back home.
And if it doesn’t, you still need to get them to school on time. Hence the ready car.
When I was a kid living at home, there was a father who would walk with his two daughters to the bus stop and wait with them there until they got on the bus.
One day a woman came along in her car, slipped into a diabetic coma, and veered towards them.
The father managed to throw one daughter to safety before he and his other daughter were hit.
He survived, but he was left with a limp. You’d still see him walking his surviving daughter to the bus stop in the morning.