Reply to MoCo Mom Arrested for Leaving Kids Alone at Rehoboth Beach

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In general I don't see the issue. However, it sounds like these particular children were not mature enough to understand to stay inside and not be chasing their dogs in the street. Therefore, they were not mature enough to be home alone. Leaving a young child who doesn't understand safety concerns home alone is neglect. [/quote]

Yes, but the problem is you often don't know that they aren't mature enough until something like this happens.  I worked with CPS in a state where leaving kids home is a judgment call and the effective rule ended up being - if nothing happened, the kid was mature enough and it was fine but if something happened, the kid wasn't mature enough and the parents were in trouble.[/quote]

This is true, but most parents have an idea if their kids are good rule followers or not. If you aren't sure, don't chance it.

I would be more inclined to suspect that the mom did not explicitly tell them they need to stay inside, not let the dogs out, etc.[/quote]

Yes, I think the mom probably didn't give the kids adequate instructions before she left.

I would have let the dogs out myself before I ran the errand, let them do their business and then I would have crated them and told the kids not to let them out of their crates while I was gone.  I would have also told them not to answer or open the doors and to call me on my cell phone if they ran into any trouble.  I would have written my cell phone number on a piece of paper and left it on the counter (even though they both had it memorized by that point).

My own kids LOVE our dogs and I know that if one of the dogs got out they would run after them without a moment's thought.  Or if a strange dog managed to get into the rental property yard or deck and there was a dog fight I know that my kids at that age would have tried to intervene out of instinct.  Kids love their pets.

Mom should have either crated the dogs or put the dogs in a room before she left the house.  Kids should have been told to stay in the house and not open the door.

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