Free-range parents cited but not charged

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. How many of these people who were allowed to walk a mile ALONE at the age of 5 would let their kids do the same?

I certainly wouldn't. I am afraid that somebody would call the police, and then CPS would get involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who's talking about a 6 year old? Have you read some of these posts?

I have not seen a single post about children "barely past toddlerhood" roaming the streets by themselves.

Please point me to such a post if I missed it.

The reason we are talking about 6yos is that the younger sibling in the CPS case is 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. How many of these people who were allowed to walk a mile ALONE at the age of 5 would let their kids do the same?

I certainly wouldn't. I am afraid that somebody would call the police, and then CPS would get involved.

So other than that you'd be comfortable with a 5 year old walking a mile alone?

[Anonymous]

I heard them on NPR and i totally chnaged my opinion on this family. before, I thought they were just wackadoodles who want their kids out with some weird card b/c they have some weird agenda, but after the NPR interview, I found them to be thougtful caring parents. The interviewer kept pushing the kidnapping angle - aka "your kids could get taken by a stranger" and the parents said that every statistic they have seen has shown that stranger kidnapping is almost non-existent... They made the point that most strangers are nice people - and the kids are allowed to talk to strangers. I thought it was very interesting - almost more empowering than the culture of fear that is so prevalent. That said, my kids are sure as hell not walking on such roads for so far alone....

[Anonymous]

The NPR interview I cited above,
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http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/02/18/384050825/kids-solo-playtime-unleashes-free-range-parenting-debate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. How many of these people who were allowed to walk a mile ALONE at the age of 5 would let their kids do the same?

I certainly wouldn't. I am afraid that somebody would call the police, and then CPS would get involved.

So other than that you'd be comfortable with a 5 year old walking a mile alone?

It would depend on where the mile was, of course (for example, residential streets would be fine; an 8-lane highway with a 60 mph speed limit and no sidewalks or pedestrian signals would not be fine). And when (for example, broad daylight would be fine; the middle of the night would not be fine). It would also depend on the five-year-old (for example, a cautious five-year-old would be fine; a five-year-old with impulse control difficulties would not be fine).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. How many of these people who were allowed to walk a mile ALONE at the age of 5 would let their kids do the same?

I certainly wouldn't. I am afraid that somebody would call the police, and then CPS would get involved.

So other than that you'd be comfortable with a 5 year old walking a mile alone?

It would depend on where the mile was, of course (for example, residential streets would be fine; an 8-lane highway with a 60 mph speed limit and no sidewalks or pedestrian signals would not be fine). And when (for example, broad daylight would be fine; the middle of the night would not be fine). It would also depend on the five-year-old (for example, a cautious five-year-old would be fine; a five-year-old with impulse control difficulties would not be fine).

Five year old is too young for any of that. An eight year old, maybe, but five?? At that age kids lack problem the solving skills and maturity to walk a mile away from home by themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. How many of these people who were allowed to walk a mile ALONE at the age of 5 would let their kids do the same?

I certainly wouldn't. I am afraid that somebody would call the police, and then CPS would get involved.

So other than that you'd be comfortable with a 5 year old walking a mile alone?

It would depend on where the mile was, of course (for example, residential streets would be fine; an 8-lane highway with a 60 mph speed limit and no sidewalks or pedestrian signals would not be fine). And when (for example, broad daylight would be fine; the middle of the night would not be fine). It would also depend on the five-year-old (for example, a cautious five-year-old would be fine; a five-year-old with impulse control difficulties would not be fine).

Five year old is too young for any of that. An eight year old, maybe, but five?? At that age kids lack the problem solving skills and maturity to walk a mile away from home by themselves.

Really? Five-year-olds in the US used to do it routinely. (I, personally, used to do it routinely.) Five-year-olds in other countries still do. Are five-year-olds in the US these days different from five-year-olds in the past or five-year-olds in other countries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. How many of these people who were allowed to walk a mile ALONE at the age of 5 would let their kids do the same?

I certainly wouldn't. I am afraid that somebody would call the police, and then CPS would get involved.

So other than that you'd be comfortable with a 5 year old walking a mile alone?

It would depend on where the mile was, of course (for example, residential streets would be fine; an 8-lane highway with a 60 mph speed limit and no sidewalks or pedestrian signals would not be fine). And when (for example, broad daylight would be fine; the middle of the night would not be fine). It would also depend on the five-year-old (for example, a cautious five-year-old would be fine; a five-year-old with impulse control difficulties would not be fine).

In first grade, at 6, my DS walked .8 mile to his school and home again. It was all residential streets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. How many of these people who were allowed to walk a mile ALONE at the age of 5 would let their kids do the same?

I certainly wouldn't. I am afraid that somebody would call the police, and then CPS would get involved.

So other than that you'd be comfortable with a 5 year old walking a mile alone?

It would depend on where the mile was, of course (for example, residential streets would be fine; an 8-lane highway with a 60 mph speed limit and no sidewalks or pedestrian signals would not be fine). And when (for example, broad daylight would be fine; the middle of the night would not be fine). It would also depend on the five-year-old (for example, a cautious five-year-old would be fine; a five-year-old with impulse control difficulties would not be fine).

Five year old is too young for any of that. An eight year old, maybe, but five?? At that age kids lack the problem solving skills and maturity to walk a mile away from home by themselves.[/quot

Really? Five-year-olds in the US used to do it routinely. (I, personally, used to do it routinely.) Five-year-olds in other countries still do. Are five-year-olds in the US these days different from five-year-olds in the past or five-year-olds in other countries?

I'm thinking of the five year olds I know personally, several of whom I watch on a regular basis when they play with my kids in our house/yard and they really do need supervision and make goofy/bad choices quite a bit, despite being good kids in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm thinking of the five year olds I know personally, several of whom I watch on a regular basis when they play with my kids in our house/yard and they really do need supervision and make goofy/bad choices quite a bit, despite being good kids in general.

OK, so maybe those five-year-olds can't. Or maybe they could, if they were allowed to, but they're not allowed to. But a blanket statement that five-year-olds are unable to do this does not make sense, since five-year-olds actually do do this.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't let my particular newly 6 year old walk a mile anywhere alone, but that's because he is impulsive and distractable. Another kid my be just fine on his own. I'd probably let my almost 9 year old walk to the park alone if I felt confident that he could cross the street safely and he knew how to get help if he needed it. What's happened to these parents should be alarming to all of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm thinking of the five year olds I know personally, several of whom I watch on a regular basis when they play with my kids in our house/yard and they really do need supervision and make goofy/bad choices quite a bit, despite being good kids in general.

OK, so maybe those five-year-olds can't. Or maybe they could, if they were allowed to, but they're not allowed to. But a blanket statement that five-year-olds are unable to do this does not make sense, since five-year-olds actually do do this.

+1

I myself did this, in 1966, on suburban streets. All of my friends and family did, as well.

We are all high-functioning, resourceful, hard-working adults now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm thinking of the five year olds I know personally, several of whom I watch on a regular basis when they play with my kids in our house/yard and they really do need supervision and make goofy/bad choices quite a bit, despite being good kids in general.

OK, so maybe those five-year-olds can't. Or maybe they could, if they were allowed to, but they're not allowed to. But a blanket statement that five-year-olds are unable to do this does not make sense, since five-year-olds actually do do this.

+1

I myself did this, in 1966, on suburban streets. All of my friends and family did, as well.

We are all high-functioning, resourceful, hard-working adults now.

But would you let your 5 year old do it now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. How many of these people who were allowed to walk a mile ALONE at the age of 5 would let their kids do the same?

I certainly wouldn't. I am afraid that somebody would call the police, and then CPS would get involved.

So other than that you'd be comfortable with a 5 year old walking a mile alone?

It would depend on where the mile was, of course (for example, residential streets would be fine; an 8-lane highway with a 60 mph speed limit and no sidewalks or pedestrian signals would not be fine). And when (for example, broad daylight would be fine; the middle of the night would not be fine). It would also depend on the five-year-old (for example, a cautious five-year-old would be fine; a five-year-old with impulse control difficulties would not be fine).

Five year old is too young for any of that. An eight year old, maybe, but five?? At that age kids lack the problem solving skills and maturity to walk a mile away from home by themselves.

Really? Five-year-olds in the US used to do it routinely. (I, personally, used to do it routinely.) Five-year-olds in other countries still do. Are five-year-olds in the US these days different from five-year-olds in the past or five-year-olds in other countries?

People used to routinely let their kids ride in the glass hatchback of the station wagon
People now a days have wised up.