Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its strange the 911 call didn't mention the suspicious homeless man.

backpedaling

Nope. Homeless man was seen by cop. Not caller. Again with the conspiracy theories.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A really good reporter would have hunted down the alleged homeless man to get his side of the story.

Or the man who made the call. Does he feel he did the right thing, seeing the result of his phone call? Was that what he wanted, the kids held by the police and CPS until 10:30, without communication with their parents?

He thought the kids were younger than they actually are-I think he told the 911 operator that they were 7 and 5 or something like that. Just a guy trying to do the right thing IMO. I would be laying low if I were him.

Anonymous wrote:The guy who called said they were wandering around alone for 20 mins...so they weren't at the park. And they were meandering, not walking straight home. And they approached a strange man and asked to pet his dog...that's breaking the cardinal rule of not talking to strangers. These kids aren't equipped to be off on their own. This 911 call should be a wake up call for the parents.

They weren't supposed to stay at the park. They were supposed to walk home from the park. In order to walk home from the park, they have to leave the park and start walking -- which is actually what they were doing.

As for walking straight home -- do you know that the parents told them to walk straight home? The parents gave them over an hour to walk less than a mile, so I'm guessing that the parents didn't.

What's more, "Don't talk to strangers" is an outdated, misleading, and harmful rule.

http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/PDF10A.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ug, just looked at the mother's twitter feed. She clearly views herself as an activist/martyr wedded to a "philosophy." She should think more about her actual kids and less about her personal projects and rigid identity as a "free range parent."

Parenting can be so monotonous without a little CPS and your own blog or twitter feed.

Lenore Skenazy is all over the mom's twitter feed. Skenazy is the author who coined the term free range kids, and she also has a website by the same name. The Meitivs are featured on freerangekids.com, not surprisingly.

Look at how much time they can waste fighting over their cause. Now, if they only spent a portion of the time supervising their kids...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like the law and regulations are unclear and that there's even some contradiction, since MCPS recognizes that children may walk to and from school without an adult. Some posters think what these parents did is illegal. Many others think it is not illegal.

It would help all parents if the authorities would issue clear guidance as to whether children under a certain age may be outside without an adult, walk to and from school or a park without adult supervision, etc.

It's pretty clearly illegal. Many posters think it shouldn't be, not that it isn't. I bet we'll get plenty of clarity very soon. Though there's a lot to be said for agency discretion in these matters.

Is it? There seems to be disagreement. So you think it is illegal for children under the age of 8 to play outside without an adult present?

Yes, if it's completely unsupervised. That doesn't include on the block or on the street where the parents can see them or in the yard where the parents can check through the window every once in a while.

I live in Silver Spring, not blocks from, but yes close to downtown (in 20910), and one block from a park where there is play equipment. My kids, ages 10 and 7, sometimes walk or scooter that one block to the park and play. They are on the block, but out of my sight.

Illegal? Show me where it says that.

Most laws don't spell out every possible scenario. It's general. This is true in nearly every area of law. If you are uncertain how it might apply to your situation you could call CpS and ask.

Anonymous wrote:If the kids weren't doing anything wrong, the police should have checked in with them and let them be on their way. Since what they were doing was not illegal.

They weren't being supervised. A 6 year old is not ok in that situation. If there were two 10 year olds it would have been a bit different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ug, just looked at the mother's twitter feed. She clearly views herself as an activist/martyr wedded to a "philosophy." She should think more about her actual kids and less about her personal projects and rigid identity as a "free range parent."

Parenting can be so monotonous without a little CPS and your own blog or twitter feed.

Lenore Skenazy is all over the mom's twitter feed. Skenazy is the author who coined the term free range kids, and she also has a website by the same name. The Meitivs are featured on freerangekids.com, not surprisingly.

Anonymous wrote:Is not talking to strangers really a cardinal rule? We haven't taught our children that.

We don't teach our kids that either. Our kids are taught they can talk to strangers but they can't go anywhere with strangers. They also know (as these kids do) that it is appropriate to ask someone if you can pet their dog before just going ahead and petting it.

How does anyone learn to get through life without talking to a "stranger'?

Anonymous wrote:A really good reporter would have hunted down the alleged homeless man to get his side of the story.

Or the man who made the call. Does he feel he did the right thing, seeing the result of his phone call? Was that what he wanted, the kids held by the police and CPS until 10:30, without communication with their parents?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The guy who called said they were wandering around alone for 20 mins...so they weren't at the park. And they were meandering, not walking straight home. And they approached a strange man and asked to pet his dog...that's breaking the cardinal rule of not talking to strangers. These kids aren't equipped to be off on their own. This 911 call should be a wake up call for the parents.

He said he followed them from the moment they left the park. Maybe they took the long route, or were walking slowly, or that's how long it normally takes them to walk home.

What he did was stalking, but since his intentions were pure, it's okay.

So, its ok, parents purposely dropped off kids either during or before calling the post and an attorney to make sure this blows up, then dumps their kids off at a park, without even giving them water and says see you in a few hours (or money or cell phone or food). So, man walking his dog gets concerned about two kids dirty (you can tell from playground dirt and not being clean) and follows them out of concern to make sure a parent doesn't show up and everything is ok before calling the police. If anything, the man did the right thing. I'm glad to know people like that are out there. They probably told the kids not to come home for a few hours. Kids got bored at the park and left.

Parents had no clue where the kids were or that they were not following their rule of going to the park and walking straight home. That is neglect among many other things, including being selfish. If you don't want to supervise your kids 24/7, then why would you even have them?

A really good reporter would have hunted down the alleged homeless man to get his side of the story.

If the kids weren't doing anything wrong, the police should have checked in with them and let them be on their way. Since what they were doing was not illegal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

maybe she should stop orchestrating every moment of these kids life... she is manic

She's orchestrating every moment of these kids' lives AND she's neglecting them and un-supervising them and letting them wander around dangerous urban areas with parking garages for hours? How does that work?

lol

Anonymous wrote:I think its strange the 911 call didn't mention the suspicious homeless man.

backpedaling

Anonymous wrote:

maybe she should stop orchestrating every moment of these kids life... she is manic

She's orchestrating every moment of these kids' lives AND she's neglecting them and un-supervising them and letting them wander around dangerous urban areas with parking garages for hours? How does that work?