Reply to Free-range kids picked up AGAIN by police

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]
To be honest, I don't really know that I think it is a great idea for a 10 year old to supervise a 6 year old at a park on his/her own. Last summer, I had a 9 year old kid come up to me, a random stranger, and tell me that she thought her 5 year old brother had broken his leg, they lived 12 blocks away, and she didn't know what to do. I helped her deal with the situation (stayed with her brother while she went to get their mom and called 911). But I wouldn't say the 9 year old really seemed on top of the situation.

Sounds like she was on top of it--she knew she needed help and she asked a grown up for help. [/quote]

While it wasn't the end of the world and of course I will always help a child who is injured, I was late getting my dad to his chemo appointment as a result of the incident, and would have much preferred that the 5-year-old child's own parent be responsible for him.  [/quote]

Also, what if the child had asked for help from a perfectly nice looking adult who ended up being a predator or a kidnapper?  This child lucked out by choosing a responsible and helpful parent, but let's face it, not everyone out there has good intent.

Things were not so perfect back in the seventies. I lived through them, but I knew and knew of lots of kids who had bad things happen to them because adults were not keeping close track of what was going on. That is exactly why I was a much more involved parent than many of the parents in the seventies were. Too much can go wrong when parents are so far out of the picture.

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Odds are that they won't be kidnapped. The vast majority of kidnaps are due to divorce/custody issues. Fear mongering!![/quote]

Maybe not, but that doesn't help the parent of the kid who is kidnapped.

In addition, unsupervised kids can be exposed to a lot of things they wouldn't be if an adult were around. Lots of inappropriate stuff went on in the seventies when there were no adults anywhere around. I was a free range kid before that was a term, and I secretly envied the kids who had their moms with them at the park or walking to school. I knew my mom loved me, but I thought those other kids must be somehow better than me that their moms cared so much about them.

Independence is something that kids can grow into over time. It doesn't have to happen all at once: it needs to be gradual and age appropriate. Kids need to learn to take care of themselves, but while they are kids they still need their parents.

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