Nine-year-old brothers left home alone for 120 days: How did they survive?

Christian Science Monitor at yahoo.com ^ | January 23, 2015 | Patrik Jonsson

[grundle]

A real-life “Home Alone” story of twin 9-year-old brothers in New Hampshire who managed to basically take care of themselves for a third of a year is in part a case of child endangerment, but also, upon closer inspection, a stunning tale of childhood ingenuity.

Few would agree with decisions made by the boys’ uncle, who told police he’d stop by every few days while the parents were on a trip in Africa. The parents, Jerusalem and Catherine Monday, left the United States in July, expecting to return in August. But they were delayed in Nigeria for another three months.

For their part, the boys transitioned from summer vacation into the school routine: They came home from school every day, ate snacks, watched TV until their failure to pay the cable bill got it shut off, did homework, got ready for bed, hopefully brushed their teeth, went to sleep, got up the next morning, got dressed, got on the school bus – all on their own. Neighbors say they regularly saw the boys and didn’t have any concerns about them.

[Thank You Rush]

“”I was a latch-key kid myself. Although it would have been nice to have my mom around sometimes, I enjoyed it.””

I was always home when our daughter came home from school. For the most part, her friends were latch-key kids and she would have been glad to trade places with them. They loved to stay at our house until someone was home at their place. She thought it would be great to get home without a parent around.

[Thank You Rush]

“”Automatic draft on the electric bill?””

There you go.....problem solved.. Maybe they arranged other monthly bills the same way.

[Thank You Rush]

“”I just have not met many decent Somalis””

Nigerians...

I worked for a company years ago in CA that trained students as flight engineers on B-727. We had some Nigerian students; some great guys and really only one who was a schemer. Worst foreign students? FRENCH! Rude and obnoxious!

But they all - no matter the country (except U.S.) - could have used daily bathing. They had to be warned when they were in the classroom setting to make sure they took care of their personal hygiene before they began their simulator training! No one wanted to be confined with them in such a small space otherwise.

[Bigg Red]

I sometimes think we expect too little from children and protect them too much.

(((
No flaming from this quarter. I agree. Part of the reason we have some blithering idiots among the Millennials. And the parents raising children born in this century seem to be even worse.

[Bigg Red]

They loved to stay at our house until someone was home at their place. She thought it would be great to get home without a parent around.

(((
Kids are great at seeing the green pasture on the other side of the fence.

[VideoDoctor]

“”””They are apparently African...””””

Which explains why the parents haven’t been arrested for child neglect. Were they white parents the state would bring the hammer down.

If we read between the lines I believe what the system would be saying, if your premise is correct, whites should know better,, blacks have been repressed for so long we must overlook their limited intellect and therefore we must give them a pass.

LIBERAL ideology on display.

[BBell]

"Bathing Daily Is Such A White Thing"

Quote from some actress.

[Lazamataz]

By the age of nine, I had committed my first burglary, my first several dozen thefts, my first firearm-related crime, and had achieved the designation “Person In Need of Supervision”.

So I’m with you. We can be pretty badass by nine.

[Larry Lucido]

Grand Theft Auto Junior Edition doesn’t count.

[Lazamataz]

They didn’t have GTA back in my day.

I *WAS* GTA back in my day.

All the girlies loved the Bad Boy. :)

[Dacus943]

“We can be pretty badass by nine”

Pffft, nine dude??!!

I bit my own cord in half, tied a square knot in it, and slapped the doctor!

[Lazamataz]

I kicked the ass of every single sperm, becoming the winner who fertilized the egg. MATCH THAT!

[Tucker39]

When I was in the auction business an elderly gentleman from Shrewsbury, PA attended regularly. He knew I was a pilot and loved to tell me about his plane ride with Lindberg when Lindy was a young barnstormer; a while before Spirit of St. Louis.

[2CAVTrooper]

I agree that kids are way over protected nowadays.

Just look at how many school districts do not have playgrounds, nor do they allow kids to play tag, etc because they may get hurt.

[2CAVTrooper]

My son isn’t quite four yet, and he insists on helping us cook, do laundry, etc.

He even enjoys zip lining.

[Windflier]

blacks .... we must overlook their limited intellect

You're painting with an awfully wide brush there.

I can think of several blacks off the top of my head who have sterling I.Q.s. I can also think of a few stand-out examples of sheer stupidity among blacks.

I can do the same exercise for whites, hispanics, orientals, etc.

[5th MEB]

That only applies to the village IDIOTS (can you hear me now, your thighnes).
My brother was 9 and I was 8. My mom would drop us off at Peavine Campground in the Angeles National Forest with 2 weeks of canned goods and tell us to stay out of trouble, get a Ranger if some real emergency happened (such as broken bones) and have a good time.
We had our fishing poles and enough salt and pepper to last a long time.
Every 2 weeks she would come up to bring more canned goods and check up on us; spend the day, then back to Fontana and work for the next 2 weeks, single mother and needed the job.
This was back in the 50’s and never had any problems we couldn't handle by ourselves; did it until we were in our teens and could start getting work of our own.
Still remember the time we went overboard with the cooking and ran out of canned meat; blue jay caught with a fishing line snare don't taste very good but it will get you by until the next visit.
Now days I am sure the AUTHORITIES would call that child abuse, me and my brother just called it FREEDOM.
We got to know every Ranger in the Angeles and Valleyermo Districts over the years, and back then they never seemed to have a problem with it.
My brother and me still talk about those good old days and, damn that was a long time ago.

[Dacus943]

"I kicked the ass of every single sperm, becoming the winner who fertilized the egg. MATCH THAT!"

Sperm, Egg?

The only the weak need that old *hit...

[snowtigger]

I read a book about three kids who were left alone in the Alaska wilderness after their mother died.They survived for three weeks before rescue came. The oldest was FIVE!! He had a brother four and a little sister 22 months.

If anyone is interested, the name of the book is"Shadows Along the Koyukuk" by Sidney Huntington. He was the older brother. As far as I know, it is long out of print. BTW; I met Sidney when I ran a flood recovery project on the Koyukuk River about 20 years ago.

Children who are not babied are capable of far more than we give them credit for. We do them a great disservice by coddling them.

[gleeaikin]

When I was 12 and up my mother would be driven to town to do a week’s marketing and laundry, often for 4 or 5 hours. I would be left at home with the 2 and 4 year old brothers, and a list of 7 or 8 chores. I didn’t always get all the chores done, and mom always found something wrong with what I had done. I still hate house cleaning.
On the other hand, when 12 she also allowed me to take my 2 and 4 year old brothers on an hour bus and subway trip to the Museum of Natural History. Still love that and am on the GGG and Catastrophism ping lists of FR.