Free-range kids picked up AGAIN by police

[Anonymous]

The parents should NOT use their kids to make a statement. It should be clear to them that they do not live in an area where the community agrees with their style of parenting. So start a free-range advocacy group, write a book, or move to an area that agrees with your parenting philosophy. But for now, play by the rules. If CPS wants you to supervise your kids at public places, do it. If you don't, you have to know that the kids might be picked up again by CPS. That is simply TOO MUCH STRESS to put on these kids.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scenario: 6 yo falls off the monkey bars and breaks his arm. What will the 10 yo do?

Call for help, presumably. What do you think?

I was 11 when my 9 year old sister fell off the monkey bars and broke her leg. I called for help - a woman was running nearby and I asked her to help us. She called an ambulance, paramedics called police, police called parents, we all met at the hospital. No big deal. No one accused my parents of being negligent. It's disturbing that we've created a mentality that kids of this age can't be left alone for a moment in public places.

The guideline for children being alone without an adult in Montgomery county is 8 years old, not 6

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whether or not I agree that these kids should be able to do this type of thing, I can't imagine doing it after the first instance of CPS involvement. Seems kind of stupid and asking for trouble.

THIS!
You can argue all day about whether they should be allowed to be free range, but after the initial involvement of police and CPS, it takes extreme hubris and poor judgement to risk getting your kids taken away and put into the system. Defending your parenting philosophy is really worth your kids going into foster care?
Really?
You can abide by the rules/laws while you lobby to change them .
This is a walk to the playground, not voting rights!

What laws?

You know what else takes extreme hubris and poor judgment? Picking up a 6-year-old and a 10-year-old from the park on a sunny weekday afternoon, hauling them off to CPS, and not releasing them to their parents until late in the evening. CPS is supposed to act in the best interest of the children. Is that really what's in the best interest of the children?

there are 2 laws ... one is a child neglect law... the other is a law on what age children can cross the street without supervision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you so obsessed with this, OP? Do you even have young children?

I'm not the OP. I have a child in elementary school and a child in middle school. And I'm really angry.

No one asked you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scenario: 6 yo falls off the monkey bars and breaks his arm. What will the 10 yo do?

Call for help, presumably. What do you think?

I was 11 when my 9 year old sister fell off the monkey bars and broke her leg. I called for help - a woman was running nearby and I asked her to help us. She called an ambulance, paramedics called police, police called parents, we all met at the hospital. No big deal. No one accused my parents of being negligent. It's disturbing that we've created a mentality that kids of this age can't be left alone for a moment in public places.

The guideline for children being alone without an adult in Montgomery county is 8 years old, not 6

The guideline for an child old enough to watch littler kids is 13, and PP is saying that 11 should be old enough, and probably 10.

[Anonymous]

We did this every day in the summer in the 90s. Sucks that childhood is impossible these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you so obsessed with this, OP? Do you even have young children?

I'm not the OP. I have a child in elementary school and a child in middle school. And I'm really angry.

No one asked you.

I am another poster interested in the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

there are 2 laws ... one is a child neglect law... the other is a law on what age children can cross the street without supervision.

Can you link to those laws, please?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scenario: 6 yo falls off the monkey bars and breaks his arm. What will the 10 yo do?

Call for help, presumably. What do you think?

I was 11 when my 9 year old sister fell off the monkey bars and broke her leg. I called for help - a woman was running nearby and I asked her to help us. She called an ambulance, paramedics called police, police called parents, we all met at the hospital. No big deal. No one accused my parents of being negligent. It's disturbing that we've created a mentality that kids of this age can't be left alone for a moment in public places.

The guideline for children being alone without an adult in Montgomery county is 8 years old, not 6

The guideline for an child old enough to watch littler kids is 13, and PP is saying that 11 should be old enough, and probably 10.

It's actually 11 for a sibling, 13 to babysit other children that are not a sibling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6 is way too young to be without adult supervision.

Maybe for some kids, or even a lot of kids, but definitely not every kid.

No, for every kid. The end.

Six-year-olds used to be capable of being out without adult supervision. Six-year-olds in other countries to this day are capable of being out without adult supervision. Do middle-class people in the US just have particularly incompetent six-year-olds, these days?

Kids raise in environments like DC tend to be less competent because their parents are involved in every decision they make. Kids (like mine) who were raised in more rural environments are very different. It's not a US thing. It's a helicopter parent thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scenario: 6 yo falls off the monkey bars and breaks his arm. What will the 10 yo do?

Call for help, presumably. What do you think?

I was 11 when my 9 year old sister fell off the monkey bars and broke her leg. I called for help - a woman was running nearby and I asked her to help us. She called an ambulance, paramedics called police, police called parents, we all met at the hospital. No big deal. No one accused my parents of being negligent. It's disturbing that we've created a mentality that kids of this age can't be left alone for a moment in public places.

The guideline for children being alone without an adult in Montgomery county is 8 years old, not 6

What guideline? What does it say, specifically?

Also, a guideline is not a law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scenario: 6 yo falls off the monkey bars and breaks his arm. What will the 10 yo do?

Call for help, presumably. What do you think?

So the kid has a phone? I didn't give my child a phone until middle school. Another poor parenting choice.

"Help, please!"<---calling for help

So, in the view of these parents, and in your view, the other parents are to be the safety net for their "free range" kids if something bad happens, but if anyone dare expresses concern that something bad MIGHT happen, they are to be scorned for interfering with a radical and anti-social lifestyle choice?

Spare me.

This one time, when I was in college, I stepped off the curb and twisted my ankle. I couldn't move. Somebody stopped and offered to help. By your thinking, it was unreasonable of me to expect other people to be the safety net for my out on my own if something happens. Perhaps it was even a radical and anti-social lifestyle choice for me to walk around the streets by myself, knowing that something bad might happen?

No, because you were a college student, i.e. an adult, and adults can walk around the streets by themselves. You weren't a young child.

I do wonder about your intellect though. I mean, if you really thought that was a comparable scenario... Whoa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scenario: 6 yo falls off the monkey bars and breaks his arm. What will the 10 yo do?

Call for help, presumably. What do you think?

I was 11 when my 9 year old sister fell off the monkey bars and broke her leg. I called for help - a woman was running nearby and I asked her to help us. She called an ambulance, paramedics called police, police called parents, we all met at the hospital. No big deal. No one accused my parents of being negligent. It's disturbing that we've created a mentality that kids of this age can't be left alone for a moment in public places.

The guideline for children being alone without an adult in Montgomery county is 8 years old, not 6

What guideline? What does it say, specifically?

Also, a guideline is not a law.

There is a law. Google it... md case law. Guidelines are written for those that can't/won't understand the law.

[Anonymous]

These parents are horrible. They obviously didn't learn their lesson but they will. They seem so lazy. Would it kill them to spend time with the kids? Selfish idiots.