Posted on 06/09/2015 5:03:05 PM PDT by Kaslin
There was a time not too long ago that parents could let their kids walk to school alone, take a solo bike ride around the neighborhood, and, once reasonably old enough, stay home alone. Those days are gone, and gone with a vengeance. This type of parenting, which was once considered the norm, is now getting kids taken away from their guardians, and parents locked up and treated as negligent criminals.
The latest story comes out of Florida, where an 11-year-old boy, whose parents were delayed in traffic, hung out in his own backyard for an hour and a half waiting for them. I’ll let the mother who wrote to Lenore Skenazy over at her website, Free RangeKids.com, explain what happened next (emphasis from Skenazy):
My children are not free range children. The younger one has always had a baby sitter. The older one who just turned 11 a couple of weeks ago always had a baby sitter as well. This school year that changed. The eleven year old comes home and is met by his dad who lets him in the house. In the event dad isn’t here on time, his instructions are to wait in the backyard until I come home about 20 minutes later.
On this particular day, a little more than a month ago, both dad and I were both running late due bad traffic and rain. We were about and hour and a half late. When we arrived the police had been anonymously called and we were arrested for child neglect.
We still do not have our children, we are fighting for our own freedom and due to the nature of my employment I am no longer employed. My son was in his own yard playing basketball, not in the street or at the park. The authorities claim he had no access to water or shelter. We have an open shed in the back yard and 2 working sinks and 2 hoses. They said he had no food. He ate his snacks already. He had no bathroom, but the responding officer found our yard good enough to relieve himself in while our son sat in a police car alone. In his own yard, in a state, Florida, that has no minimum age for children to be alone. If you have any advice for what I should do I will accept it.
And then for her update:
Our sons were returned to us on Tuesday/Wednesday in the children’s court/DCF with adjudication withheld. However the criminal prosecutor is not dropping the charges as of today. We have to appear in the criminal court on June 11th to put in our plea. I would love to speak to someone however due to my job (which is still on the line) I don’t know if it will make it better or worse. I am a state and county employee with the school system and I was made to sign a paper stating I would not speak with teachers parents or students regarding the matter.
This is disturbing on so many levels. These children were taken away from their parents for a month. Criminal charges were filed against them, the mother may end up losing her job, and on top of all that, she can’t even speak about it.
Similar incidents are happening all over the country, and as Matt Walsh over at The Blaze points out, the problem is just as bad if not worse in public schools, where parental rights are virtually nonexistent.
This is the epitome of the nanny state and the worst part about it is that it’s not even to correct a problem in society—there has never been a safer time to be a child in America.
As Skenazy noted in her story about the article, “If this doesn’t convince lawmakers that they had better start revising the child neglect laws — and convince politicians that supporting Free-Range legislation would be a great, vote-getting platform — I’m not sure what will.”
i am torn about this. Why don’t they have a neighbor available to watch him if the parents are late? What if there was horrible weather that day? Some molester just waiting for his prey? We are not talking 10 minutes. We are talking an hour and a half.
Liberal mania ...
Should have given the kid a key.
Was there shelter available in the back yard? We know it was raining. Were the children standing out in the rain for an hour and a half, or was there adequate cover?
This was not a latchkey kid — no key. NOT the same as our latchkey youth. NOT at all.
I’m not torn at all. Everyone involved in taking those kids needs a beat down.
L
Why did the plan not include “Have a key” (even if it’s hidden in a combination lock vault).
That said, yes the government was clumsy bum about it. A citation might have made much more sense.
In line with our current Democrat culture, perhaps the government workers could find a nice pair of homosexual men to care for this boy.
I was born and raised in Germany and when my parents went to the movie or to a dance on Saturday evening we stayed home by our self. There was no such thing as a baby sitter
Yup - something is wrong with this story. No city was identified as far as I could find. The kids were taken by the State for a month and placed where? More lousy reporting. If everything is true as written, the parents need a good lawyer to sue them all.
My niece and nephew both have keys and I can’t tell you how many times I or my wife have gotten the call that they need one of us to come let them in to their own house.
But I agree the boy should have a key to his house for just such an occasion. Or a spare key hidden in the shed.
Perhaps the busybody neighbor that reported the kid could have offered to have the kid wait with them or wait or their porch or just keep an I on him till the parents got home and then talk to them about being a haven for the kid in such times.
But no, today people don’t want to get involved except as to be anonymous callers to report negligent parents.
What is the P.C. group doing to our children, raising sissies???????????????????????/
I’m not torn at all. The state having this kind of power is far and away more dangerous than the infinitesimally small chance of harm befalling a kid forced to wait in his backyard for 90 minutes. Also, I will venture that this kid’s month in the care of the state has exposed him to more danger than ever before in his life.
As a grad ... don’t send any ninnies who can’t survive in their own yard for an hour and a half to my school.
Should the kids have a key, sure, but as a kid I forgot mine sometimes. It happens.
The greatest danger to children today may very well be the boogie monster random predator fears. Yes, children should be taught to deal properly with strangers, but the vast vast majority of predators are in the family/friends day circle.
At 11 I walked home, by myself, every day. And if I forgot my key I did my homework on the back porch and played catch ... alone.
At ten my older sister had the house key.
She was 12.
We got separated when I broke my collar bone playing football. Full tackle no pads. She kept playing.
I broke into the house (no damage) through a basement window, crawled through and fell into a couch.
Called my Dad who was really pissed off that he had to come home from work to take me to the hospital.
He did ask how I got into the house.
“That’s my Boy!!”
Here’s a key.
And the cop relieved himself in their back yard?
When I was 11 years old it wasn’t unusual for my sisters and I do be alone at home for a few hours. We had chores we had to do before our parents got home.
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