and that is dense tropical jungle in the foreground...our playground.
Posted on 01/15/2015 5:02:57 AM PST by ConservativeInPA
It was a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. But what the parents saw as a moment of independence for their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, they say authorities viewed much differently.
Danielle and Alexander Meitiv say they are being investigated for neglect for the Dec. 20 trek — in a case they say reflects a clash of ideas about how safe the world is and whether parents are free to make their own choices about raising their children.
“We wouldn’t have let them do it if we didn’t think they were ready for it,” Danielle said.
She said her son and daughter have previously paired up for walks around the block, to a nearby 7-Eleven and to a library about three-quarters of a mile away. “They have proven they are responsible,” she said. “They’ve developed these skills.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
With the advent of the cell phone, kids often don’t know the number of the person without their cell phone. I advise parents to put all the important numbers on a laminated card in case the kid is relieved of their cell phone and needs to call a parent.
You aren’t kidding!
I am SOOOOO pissed getting behind some of these buses when I have to pick up my son (private school, right next to the publics). I could not believe this year when I realized they are stopping EVERY SINGLE DRIVEWAY (some just 50’ apart) even for middle-schoolers!
There is bus 853 which takes a straight path from the school all the way into our neighborhood to turn around and go all the way straight back - same road the whole way. Guess what? Besides the fact they let off the children (elementary) every other drive or road, it is ONLY ON ONE SIDE. So, mysteriously, 853 BYPASSES dropping off ANY of them on the way OUT from school, but only drops them off late in the run long after it turned in our neighborhood! Insane!
Never mind all the parents who wait there and hobknob together. Half of them insist on driving the kiddies all of ONE BLOCK to the stop and back (these people down the street from us). They wait in cars even on good days until the bus is there or arrives. It is absolutely pathetic.
What about the “obesity epidemic”? What about “saving gasoline”?
Insane! Absurd!
When I was kid in the summer, I would walk off on adventures every day and not come home until dusk. I lived in half farm/woods, half suburbs, and I tended to avoid people. I got in trouble for it at first, but I wore my parents out, and had pretty much free rein. My parents probably could have kept me home if they feed my junk food and let me watch tv.
By age 8 if not before, my cousins and I routinely went more than a 1/2 mi to our local convenience store (WaWa). Ran all over the neighborhood trying to catch the ice cream man.
Never mind the HUGE trips on bikes I would take on the wonderful trail system our “town” has, through woods and onto neighborhood streets (the trails are by far the best thing about Kolumbia, MD). We would go MILES and I LOVED it. (No damn helmets, either.) I had maps of the trail system for venturing out if we wanted to go beyond the usual. If we were late, we knew how to hit the roads so we could get home as fast as possible. Oh my God! We road on the sidewalks! Unless time was really of the essence. then we could get hit by cars on those winding roads!
The horror!
As someone who grew up in the NYC suburbs, I am not familiar with Silver Spring. However, I used Google Earth to do a little scouting, and it is not a bad area. It is a typical suburban town, red brick federal and tudor style homes. I believe I drove through the town a couple of years ago when my daughter attended an event at American University. My impression was it was a pretty upscale place. Starbucks style places everywhere.
Free range kids? Are they raising them to be sold to the wicked witch for dinner?
Never mind the bike rides I mentioned. Another favorite pastime I had then was WALKING THE CREEKS. I would sometimes go alone but mostly with friends or cousins. We would find some point to start, sometimes close to the houses, sometimes well into woods, and take off shoes and carry them with us walking through the creeks, exploring for rocks and (fossils!) and creatures, fishing for minnows with nets and everything. We could sometimes wade a mile or so in those creeks. I got to know quite a few, never mind knew the one in my neighborhood like my hand (which was really surrounded by woods, except where close to the big highway - the entrance from there to our ‘hood was the best spot to sit and try to catch creatures, and walk through all the pipe underpasses).
Maybe their run-in with the law will teach them something about their proclivities (if that really is true - believe it or not, some actually do not fall in with liberal think).
and that is dense tropical jungle in the foreground...our playground.
The Zoo was about 9 miles away and we made a few trips to it too. My folks probably would have also had a fit if they thought I was farther than the 3 miles to the park...
We knew to watch where we were going, mind the traffic, etc., and ended up a bit more independent (not to mention healthy) than today's' squishes.
The biggest problem with Silver Spring (please people, do not pluralize it) is that it is basically the edge of DC and thus, a big city. With major roadways and traffic all over.
However, yes, it is a well-off place.
I am awaiting word on whether I can get a job there this week. Right next to the Metro station.
I would NEVER let my children or grandchildren do that today. Too may criminals and perverts out there just waiting for a kid alone.
Sad world........
I pretty much had free run of my neighborhood (roughly 1 mile in any direction) from first grade onwards. Part of that stemmed from the fact that nearly everyone knew my parents, and we had tons of relatives living there. If I were up to no good, the odds that someone who knew my parents would see me and blow the whistle were quite high.
Our nephews aren’t allowed to play in their own yard. They came for a visit this summer but whined so much they were shipped off to the cousins early. They didn’t know how to ride a bike so we’d aired up the tires on all the bikes so they could learn but nooooo they didn’t want to go outside. We had all sorts of swim toys but noooo, that would also involve going outside. Couldn’t go caching, or to the park, or hiking, or fishing, or putt-putt or camping or anything that had to do with leaving the couch. They couldn’t go to the attached garage to play with the new kittens. Help me in the garden? No way. They refused to help hubby grill and he had to beg them to roast marshmallows on the porch. If parents and society are so hyper about letting kids their kids be kids, what is life going to be like when today’s kids are parents?
In 50 - 100 years we’re going to live underground and never go outside for any reason.
In 4th grade, I was jumped and my nose broken while walking home alone from school. The kid was disciplined and I was walking to school the next day. Today, the special little snowflake would be patted on the head.
Kids in large gangs are safe—by themselves—not so much. Kids in large gangs with weapons would be safe.
Excellent.
TV back then was one or two channels so it wasn’t such a draw. Riding bikes all over town was much more fun.
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