Lost child in NY asks the wrong person for help

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is almost 9 and very mature. However, I will not let her walk alone until she is 13. Things are not how they were when we were growing up. Kids don't run around playing outside for hours with the neighborhood kids and no supervision. For better or worse, times are different and so she will have to wait until I am 100% sure that she knows EXACTLY what to do if she is in trouble or a bad situation.

I cannot imagine the pain and horror those parents are facing now. Awful. I hope the abductor gets the death penalty.

Hate to tell you this but times are different, crimes has actually DROPPED significantly. The other big change is cable and a 24 hour news cycle so we here about grisly local crime more. This wasn't the case before cable. I doubt many of us would know of this case outside of NY.

My kids are 2 and 4. I probably won't let them walk to school anytime soon.

Ack.. hear not here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is almost 9 and very mature. However, I will not let her walk alone until she is 13. Things are not how they were when we were growing up. Kids don't run around playing outside for hours with the neighborhood kids and no supervision. For better or worse, times are different and so she will have to wait until I am 100% sure that she knows EXACTLY what to do if she is in trouble or a bad situation.

I cannot imagine the pain and horror those parents are facing now. Awful. I hope the abductor gets the death penalty.

Hate to tell you this but times are different, crimes has actually DROPPED significantly. The other big change is cable and a 24 hour news cycle so we here about grisly local crime more. This wasn't the case before cable. I doubt many of us would know of this case outside of NY.

My kids are 2 and 4. I probably won't let them walk to school anytime soon.

I couldn't agree more. The news cycle make it seem much worse than it is. Remember, Adam Walsh was kidnapped and murdered in 1981. I was still walking home at age 9 in 1983, still able to hang out in the mall alone at 10 in 1984.
My kids are 4 and 2, and I can picture them walking to the neighborhood pool, which is 7 blocks away, when they are 9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Most offenders -- kidnappers, sex offenders -- do not look like what a child perceives what a stranger looks like. They don't look like the boogie man. They're friendly,'' said Fitzgerald. "They trick or lure children, saying they need help or assistance."

Some safety experts point out that children should be taught that a person in a uniform is not necessarily a safe person and certainly not the only person they can reach out to for help. Police officers may not be around when a child is lost or needs help. (c)

As someone assaulted by a man with a badge (store security), please warn your children about this.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Chicago and I walked to school alone everyday starting in 1st grade, I think in the larger cities you just do that. Plus, times *have* changed. It's just not considered as safe to let kids walk alone as it was back then, even though, statistically, there are just as many if not less crimes of kidnapping that take place.

Some of you should read Free Range Kids - http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/

Or the book she wrote http://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Kids-Children-Freedom-Without/dp/0470471948/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236265856&sr=8-1

This is the mom who put her very young son on the subway in NYC with a map and let him go off all alone. She explains why she did it and why we all should do it. Maybe she has a point.

[Anonymous]

When I was four, I was standing between my parents at a store window in a big city we were visiting. They must have gotten distracted. Next thing I knew, I was being led away by an old woman! I don't recall how far she took me, just that a policeman was ultimately there, and she was on the ground screaming, and my parents arrived too. All sorts of weird things happen out there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is almost 9 and very mature. However, I will not let her walk alone until she is 13. Things are not how they were when we were growing up. Kids don't run around playing outside for hours with the neighborhood kids and no supervision. For better or worse, times are different and so she will have to wait until I am 100% sure that she knows EXACTLY what to do if she is in trouble or a bad situation.

I cannot imagine the pain and horror those parents are facing now. Awful. I hope the abductor gets the death penalty.

You realize the reason things are different is because folks like you won't let your kids outdoors, right?

The world is far less dangerous than it was decades ago. And it wasn't particularly dangerous then. We have just turned out culture into one of fearmongering. Read up on "Free Range Kids" and learn about all the real harm you are doing to your kids by attempting to protect them from imagined harms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is almost 9 and very mature. However, I will not let her walk alone until she is 13. Things are not how they were when we were growing up. Kids don't run around playing outside for hours with the neighborhood kids and no supervision. For better or worse, times are different and so she will have to wait until I am 100% sure that she knows EXACTLY what to do if she is in trouble or a bad situation.

I cannot imagine the pain and horror those parents are facing now. Awful. I hope the abductor gets the death penalty.

You realize the reason things are different is because folks like you won't let your kids outdoors, right?

The world is far less dangerous than it was decades ago. And it wasn't particularly dangerous then. We have just turned out culture into one of fearmongering. Read up on "Free Range Kids" and learn about all the real harm you are doing to your kids by attempting to protect them from imagined harms.

Current technology un veiled the perp:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/07/15/2011-07-15_i_just_cant_stand_to_see_something_like_this_happening_in_our_community_how_his_.html?page=2

13 is not a magic number. For all you know she could be in a situation where a guy is preying on her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Chicago and I walked to school alone everyday starting in 1st grade, I think in the larger cities you just do that. Plus, times *have* changed. It's just not considered as safe to let kids walk alone as it was back then, even though, statistically, there are just as many if not less crimes of kidnapping that take place.

Some of you should read Free Range Kids - http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/

Or the book she wrote http://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Kids-Children-Freedom-Without/dp/0470471948/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236265856&sr=8-1

This is the mom who put her very young son on the subway in NYC with a map and let him go off all alone. She explains why she did it and why we all should do it. Maybe she has a point.

While I like some concepts in free range kids, and I'm not an overprotective parent, I find her to be a bit condescending when she seems to scoff at every single safety measure (reminds me of some posters I've seen on DCUM. Granted, I just looked at her blog, and not her book yet). I don't think having our kids wear sunscreen during the summer, a bike helmet while riding their bikes, and using proper carseats until the appropriate age is being overprotective. I also don't think that it is "cool" to do things like allowing a 4 year old to wander around a library by themselves.

[Anonymous]

the boy was trusting because the man he approached was an orthodox jew.
I've seen some news articles about this. How it is taken for granted that your tribesman would never do that.
Those attitudes are inherited by the children

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is almost 9 and very mature. However, I will not let her walk alone until she is 13. Things are not how they were when we were growing up. Kids don't run around playing outside for hours with the neighborhood kids and no supervision. For better or worse, times are different and so she will have to wait until I am 100% sure that she knows EXACTLY what to do if she is in trouble or a bad situation.

I cannot imagine the pain and horror those parents are facing now. Awful. I hope the abductor gets the death penalty.

You realize the reason things are different is because folks like you won't let your kids outdoors, right?

The world is far less dangerous than it was decades ago. And it wasn't particularly dangerous then. We have just turned out culture into one of fearmongering. Read up on "Free Range Kids" and learn about all the real harm you are doing to your kids by attempting to protect them from imagined harms.

Really? You just sound ridiculous. I'm in the security sector and I can tell you that crimes against children have increased by astonishing numbers. It was dangerous then and it's more dangerous now - these are not imagined harms, they are harms you have yet the information to imagine. I see it and I can tell you that basing your decision to allow your child to free range solely on your perception of your child's maturity level and ability to ALWAYS make the right decision in a situation without you does not take into account the nature of so many, many people out there just looking for a nice looking kid - alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Really? You just sound ridiculous. I'm in the security sector and I can tell you that crimes against children have increased by astonishing numbers. It was dangerous then and it's more dangerous now - these are not imagined harms, they are harms you have yet the information to imagine..

sorry to cut you short like this.
What I have heard is that this is not new, the reporting of these crimes has increased, that does not mean that the crimes have increased.

[Anonymous]

Thanks 16:59! I questioned that poster too. The internet has allowed pervs to arrange get togethers, swap pics, etc. encouraging these people to think that what they are doing is "normal". Do you have numbers or a source that you can direct me too? One of my co-workers told me that he believes that there were always pervs out there...it's just that we're more aware of them now. I'd like to be able to show him concrete evidence that crimes against children have increased.

Did any of you see that Dateline (I think) where there was a US doctor that was having sex with 5/6 year olds in Singapore? Sickening.