Free-range kids picked up AGAIN by police

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The parents are stupid. What's easier, watching your kids at a park, or having to deal with the police? They should be ashamed of themselves for their lousy parenting. I feel sorry for the kids. The older kid is having to act like a parent and the younger one is being parented by a child.

It's called teaching kids responsibility. All this handholding of kids has led to helpless young adults who can't do anything without their parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My reading is this is CPS's faulty mostly. The cop's hands were tied. They got a call from a complainant, so they have to respond. Then, since it's a child welfare call, he has to report it to CPS. Then, he has to wait on CPS to tell him waht to do. All the hours of delay seem to be because CPS was trying to figure out what to do.

It all happened late on Sunday. Nobody in the office.

Which means CPS isn't designed to do their job well. I doubt children are only abused and in need of help M-F 9-5. Sounds like the CPS on-call person wasn't answering their phone.

All of a sudden these kids who are so independent and can take care of themselves are all freaked out about sitting in a car.

Most kids that are sitting in the car are pretty thankful. Not the Range Rover kids with the "special request food".

I'm an adult, and I'd be freaked out about sitting for 2+ hours in a police car. But maybe that's a normal occurrence for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My reading is this is CPS's faulty mostly. The cop's hands were tied. They got a call from a complainant, so they have to respond. Then, since it's a child welfare call, he has to report it to CPS. Then, he has to wait on CPS to tell him waht to do. All the hours of delay seem to be because CPS was trying to figure out what to do.

It all happened late on Sunday. Nobody in the office.

Which means CPS isn't designed to do their job well. I doubt children are only abused and in need of help M-F 9-5. Sounds like the CPS on-call person wasn't answering their phone.

All of a sudden these kids who are so independent and can take care of themselves are all freaked out about sitting in a car.

Most kids that are sitting in the car are pretty thankful. Not the Range Rover kids with the "special request food".

I'm an adult, and I'd be freaked out about sitting for 2+ hours in a police car. But maybe that's a normal occurrence for you.

No, but if the officer was nice my kids would be cool with it. They've met police before (meet the dog type of thing).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents are stupid. What's easier, watching your kids at a park, or having to deal with the police? They should be ashamed of themselves for their lousy parenting. I feel sorry for the kids. The older kid is having to act like a parent and the younger one is being parented by a child.

It's called teaching kids responsibility. All this handholding of kids has led to helpless young adults who can't do anything without their parents.

Sure. Kids can't grow up to be responsible unless they're by themselves all the time.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious- where was this exactly? "Silver Spring" covers a very wide area...

[Anonymous]

On the border with Takoma Park not far from EW highway.

[Anonymous]

You can teach kids responsibility in a variety of ways. Putting children in unsupervised public spaces does not teach responsibility.

Personally, I had to volunteer at a summer camp 40 hours a week starting at the age of 12. I thought younger children arts and crafts and cleaned up afterwards. I was always supervised by an adult and my DC will be too. I have had no problems with independent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the border with Takoma Park not far from EW highway.

No, by downtown silver spring. Nowhere near takoma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know what? As stated several times in this thread, it is crazy that these parents are so arrogant that they think their community's standards as enforced by CPS and the police and the neighbor who called, simply don't apply to them.

I was a free range kid and honestly, it wasn't always peachy. We played in construction sites, with rusty nails, occasionally did other nasty things kids do.

Has our society gone too far in mandating constant parental supervision? Yes. Do I get to unilaterally decide that the rules don't apply to me. No, I don't. If these parents were poor, the kids would have been in foster care weeks ago.

Also, I have a friend of a friend who lives in the neighborhood. Walking to the park alone isn't the only possibly unsafe thing that these kids did alone.

I was a 70's kid too and I have plenty of memories of doing things that were very dangerous. Just because parents in the past allowed 6 year molds to roam around unsupervised, doesn't mean it was a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Sorry if this was already answered, but these kids didn't think to ask to contact their parents? Did they ask but the cop not allowed to contact them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My reading is this is CPS's faulty mostly. The cop's hands were tied. They got a call from a complainant, so they have to respond. Then, since it's a child welfare call, he has to report it to CPS. Then, he has to wait on CPS to tell him waht to do. All the hours of delay seem to be because CPS was trying to figure out what to do.

It all happened late on Sunday. Nobody in the office.

Which means CPS isn't designed to do their job well. I doubt children are only abused and in need of help M-F 9-5. Sounds like the CPS on-call person wasn't answering their phone.

All of a sudden these kids who are so independent and can take care of themselves are all freaked out about sitting in a car.

Most kids that are sitting in the car are pretty thankful. Not the Range Rover kids with the "special request food".

I'm an adult, and I'd be freaked out about sitting for 2+ hours in a police car. But maybe that's a normal occurrence for you.

There is medication for that. Go on a ride along, it might be good CBT for this fear you have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous



Sorry if this was already answered, but these kids didn't think to ask to contact their parents? Did they ask but the cop not allowed to contact them?

These kids are not old enough to ask a question like that...I am surprised they were able to continue to breath without a parent around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry if this was already answered, but these kids didn't think to ask to contact their parents? Did they ask but the cop not allowed to contact them?

No. The police officer can not call the parents, they are mandatory reporter and must call CPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To all the posters that say "I walked x miles and crossed x streets alone when I was age X and survived, so it's ok for kids today to do it." Consider this:

The kids that didn't survive aren't here to present the other view.

Think about that every time you get on plane/train and especially when you put your kid in a car which is dangerous!

Yep. That's why we use car seats. Kids used to not do that either.

Kids in car seats die too.

Wow you must be an idiot. So do you reject car seats too?

I reject the idea that a kid in a car seat is safer than a kid walking to a neighborhood park made for kids.

You've entirely missed the point here. Entirely.

The point: People who claim that because they did something and survived, therefore it is fine for the next generation to do it, are completely overlooking the fact that the kids from their generation who didn't survive aren't here to make the counter argument.

But you're missing a larger point. There is nothing lost of any real value in using a car seat. There is no trade off in adopting this additional safety measure, so of course everyone should have their children in car seats. That is not the case with walking to the park. By walking to the park alone, the children learn to navigate though the world alone, make decisions and judgements, enjoy freedom, gain confidence in themselves, etc. These are real, valuable lessons that children today are increasingly without the opportunity to learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents are stupid. What's easier, watching your kids at a park, or having to deal with the police? They should be ashamed of themselves for their lousy parenting. I feel sorry for the kids. The older kid is having to act like a parent and the younger one is being parented by a child.

It's called teaching kids responsibility. All this handholding of kids has led to helpless young adults who can't do anything without their parents.

My brother is 29, parent of the millenial generation and 12 years younger than me so basically my parents dealt with him way differently than me. They were helicopter parents with him. I was a typical 80s free roaming kids. My brother has been in arrested development, can't figure out how to wash his clothes, make a decent meal, open a checking account, budget, basic in depending living essentials. It's incredible and sad. All this handholding does have consequences,