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.
I’m not torn at all. Everyone involved in taking those kids needs a beat down.
L
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.
Because molesters always hang out in this kid's backyard playing hoops while waiting for his parents to be late? I'd be more worried about the neighbor who reported them. Was the neighbor so snoopy they had to sneak around to the driveway to make sure the parents weren't there or ring the bell to make sure they hadn't merely been dropped off? Very creepy. If the neighbor was so concerned, they could have asked the kid if he was ok but noooooo. Instead of seeing to the kid's safety, they were more concerned with reporting the parents. The mom needs to put her house on the market asap because the neighbor has shown his colors and will never leave the alone. Ok, fine, give the kid a key. Heck, I didn't need a key because I'd either craw through my bedroom window or use my ID card to get the front door lock open. We'd also ride our bikes all over town from dawn to dusk and no one cared. Mr. B and his friends would go down to the pool hall after school or ride their bikes to the next towns over on weekends. We both walked home from school. I walked home by myself in 3rd grade down a major city street. Florida, that has no minimum age for children to be alone
Well, there's the parents' out. There is no minimum age. The state has to prove the child wasn't able to take care of himself which he already proved he was since he never left the backyard and didn't do anything but play hoops. Geez, the kid is going into middle school if not there already.
Me too.
Tough situation but hard to get emotional when not even the city name is mentioned.
AND ...
Why not give the kid a key to the house?
What about a comet, or earthquake, or a govt. worker wanting to know how many naps, they had recently? Neighbor? Who are you? Why were you not there?
The shelter was available (a shed.) A molester can attack a child anywhere - there is no law, nor there should be one, that a child may venture outside of the bunker only with an armed bodyguard. A 1.5 hour wait is unwelcome, but that's how life works. In my youth I had to wait for someone with a key for three hours. The busybodies in FL wouldn't believe it, but I'm still around. I wasn't even bothered by the wait, because three hours on this side of the door are not much different from three hours on that side of the door. I could go to the library, for example, and sit there for a few hours reading a book. The library was within 15 minutes of walking. I could go to a movie theater which was in 20 minutes of walking. I could go around the neighborhood, meet someone I know, and find something to do together. The possibilities are endless. This current situation is depressing. No surprise that so many people reject parenting - it is a full time job, and you can go to jail if someone decides that you made a mistake.
I am not torn on this at all.
An eleven year old can handle a little time in the back yard.
Seriously an 11 year old for an hour and a half in its own backyard? You think the child needs to be overseen?
What is wrong with you?
I’m astounded at how insecure and fearful people are today and terrified at how it’s being transferred into our children.
American exceptionalism? Forget it. It’s become American pansies.
My parents would have been in jail.
Torn?
You must be an adherent. Congratulations. /s
This is government out of control, and it needs to be fought.
In. His. Own. Backyard.
He had a shed too. OMG! He was 11! That is not a baby.
Oh jeez. Give me a break. The kid was 11 years old. He wasn't sent into the wilderness by himself to survive. He was in his own backyard. If a kid can't play basketball in his own backyard for a couple of hours, what's next? He can't be left in front of the TV for too long before the authorities are called in to arrest the parents?
People ought to lighten up, mind their own business and get a life. This is one of the most preposterous stories I've every heard about the nanny state and the cowardly nosy neighbors.
We are talking an 11 year old, not a five year old. He was in little danger in his own back yard.
I have an eight year old who rides his bike about a mile to his school in good weather and walks home every day when he doesn’t. Often alone. He also walks to my parents home a block away daily.
At ten I had a weekly paper route and collected the money monthly. At 12 I had a daily 365 day a year route that had to be delivered by 6 am. I had fifty eight customers, my 13 year old brother had 75. We had the routes for four years. My father would wake us up, but we had to deliver the papers alone every day, often in the dark.
11 is long enough to self supervise in your own back yard for an hour.
You are good at that.....