Posted on 04/14/2015 11:22:57 AM PDT by drewh
Two suburban Washington, D.C., parents are under scrutiny again for letting their 6- and 10-year-old children play in a park and walk home alone in a case that has stirred debate about "free-range" parenting and government powers.
For the second time in four months, police picked up the children of Danielle and Alexander Meitiv on Sunday as they were walking home alone from a park that's nearly a mile from their house. This time, instead of bringing the children home, police took them directly to Child Protective Services.
"It's beyond ridiculous," Danielle Meitiv said Monday. "The world is safer today, and yet we imprison our children inside and wonder why they're obese and have no focus."
The Meitivs, who live 6 miles from Washington in Silver Spring, Maryland, believe in "free-range" parenting, which includes allowing their children to play and walk alone in the neighborhood to teach them self-reliance and responsibility.
Danielle Meitiv said she and her husband began worrying when the kids weren't home by 6:30, but that Child Protective Services didn't call them until 8 p.m. to say the children were in their custody.
Police had picked them up on the walk home after another concerned citizen called.
The Meitivs were able to take their children home around 10:30 p.m.
"This morning my daughter wanted to go play in the yard and I couldn't let her out because I was making breakfast," Danielle Meitiv said. "Are they prisoners? She's 6 and she's not allowed to play in the yard?"
The case has drawn international media coverage, and Danielle Meitiv said the couple has heard from people all over the world. The majority have been supportive, Meitiv said, but some have expressed outrage at the couple's parenting style.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
I’d be moving out communist controlled Merryland.
Me too. When I was eleven I had to walk a mile alone to catch a bus which took me to another town over 10 miles away. No problems, no danger and, yes, I felt very confident and secure with the whole process.
Same here. At 7 me and friends used to head off on our bikes for hours exploring Alexandria, VA. At 9 I walked over a mile to and from school by myself. Was home alone until 6:00 PM weeknights. And my dad was a fed law enforcement officer at the time.
When I was 10 I used to take our “jon” boat (a flat bottom aluminum 12’ boat w/ 6HP 2 stroke motor) up the creek we lived on with our dog, Sam. And I usually had a BB gun with me. I could be miles away from home, walking in the woods at any point along the creek ... the only indication I would give about where I would be is “up” or “down” the creek.
I am pretty sure this is Felony ‘child endangerment’ nowadays ...
My grandmother always thought the gypsies were going to take us if we stayed out after dark.
My mother would tell her if the gypsies did take us they would gladly bring us back.
Here is how ‘crazy’ and unbalanced this whole thing is.
Had the kids been riding bicycles, nothing would have happened.
Same here. My dad’s philosophy was “no drugs, no cops, no trouble”, and come in when it’s lunch or dinner time. That’s why I’ve been street savvy from a small age. Heck, I even ditched the school bus because I was getting into fights all the time. Taking public transportation alone since i was 12 and you see the real world.
My childhood was very similar to yours.
This couple has been targeted for termination.
I was a free range kid until I turned 15. Then I wondered off, and never went back. It beat sitting at home watching cartoons.
I bet these Free Range Kids are NOT OVERWEIGHT!
Hey, here’s a nice legal defense:
The park is less than a mile away from their house, and this is somehow a problem yet, according to the Montgomery County website:
“Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) provides bus service for elementary school students living more than 1 mile of walking distance from school”
So the kids are safe to walk a mile to school but not a mile to their house?
Maybe this could be used to show there was no probable cause to detain the kids and therefore this is a civil liberty violation.
But that would be racist...
My brother and his best friend once road their bikes 15 miles to see the friend’s cousins. They were about 12 or 13 at the time. Didn’t tell my mother till my brother was maybe 30 or so. Even then, Mom had a fit.
If these social services took a trip to Japan, they’d have a coronary with all the loose kids running around.
My friends and I would ride our bikes to Six Flags and the Wet and Wild on our bikes 2-3 times a week every summer. We had season passes that we bought with our lawnmowing money. 30 mile round trip.
Concerned Citizen = Busybody who is paranoid that her kids would enjoy being ‘free range’.
When I was about twelve or so I recall hitchhiking up and down Mt. Diablo with my friend just to pass the time. My parents and hers were socializing at the top of the mountain and had no clue what we were doing.
Looking back, that could have been problematic. I should confess to my mother one of these days, but she’d probably have a heart attack.
I remember my curfew: Dark.
If there was a hint of light in the sky, I was still in the woods with my friends.
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