Reply to Is there a law in MD about kids being outside without a parent?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think you are in the wrong regardless of the law. It’s dark out, your kids should not be out on the street by themselves. It blows my mind that you saw a man you don’t know walk by several times and you didn’t think to go out. [/quote]

I was outside after dark all the time growing up. These kids were right in front of their own home. People walk by with dogs all the time in most neighborhoods.

Quit the hysteria. OP did nothing wrong.
[/quote]

+1 [/quote]

I agree.

When someone walks a dog, they usually go one way and then come back that way.  Seeing a person walking a dog back and forth across the street from my house would not concern me.

Kids play outside after dark in our neighborhood all the time.  The girls do exactly what OP described her daughters doing, the younger and tweens make bracelets and the older teen girls just hang out.  The boys of all ages are usually in a driveway or the end of the cul-de-sac shooting hoops.

Our neighborhood is also very well lit like OP described.  The kids are out alone but they are not unattended by any means.  Parents are constantly checking on them and calling different ones to come in for dinner.

I'm not in MD, but where my kids go to school in VA, they don't get out until late (elementary is ~3, middle is ~3:30, and high school is ~4:15).  My teens in high school don't get off the bus until 4:55 when it's already pretty much dark.  My middle school kid doesn't get home until 4:05, so after a quick snack and doing homework, it's dark by the time she's finished.  If they didn't get to go outside after dark, they'd not get any good play/exercise until the weekends if it's a night where they don't have a sports practice.

I see nothing wrong with what OP did.  The only thing I see wrong with what the passerby did was his aggressiveness and yelling.  Neither were called for in that situation.

Was he older, OP?  I only ask because now that my mom is older, she has become overly cautious and wears rose colored glasses when she remembers her parenting of the past.  She's very "I would NEVER let my daughter walk alone..." as I sit next to her remembering all of the times she let me and places I'd walk to.  She also likes to claim that we never played outside without her supervision but I remember plenty of times when we'd be playing outside and she'd be napping on the couch when I went in for a drink.   :lol:   Heck, one time I even filled up our kiddie pool for myself and friends while she slept on the couch 15 feet from the screen door.       [/quote]

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