Anonymous wrote:I think it is odd that people would criticize the 911 caller, who was just trying to look out for the kids, regardless of whether he overestimated or underestimated their ages and abilities. It is really up to the police to determine whether anything inappropriate or neglectful was going on once they got there. If a random citizen is in doubt, they should contact the authorities and let the authorities deal with it from there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an immigrant and have lived in the US for over 10 years.

I have to say where I live this kind of lifestyle is a very lonely place for children. Everyone is locked up behind a safe fence, drove safely in family cars.

Every social interaction has to be arranged and chaperoned by adults. Even in subdivisions and neighborhoods neighbors can't just get together and play because it requires a scheduling and arrangements by their parents.

I grew up when children just went outside and roamed around and played together, rode bike for miles or hiked. It was a much more fun and stimulating environment.

That is not at all true in my neighborhood or in the one I grew up in. And yet, we still don't let 6yos walk across busy streets by themselves or walk a mile from home without someone appropriately older supervising them. Somehow, my kids still play, spontaneously, outside and with other kids with neighbors. This false dichotomy is silly.

But do they just go outside and roam around and play together, ride bikes for miles, or hike? That's the question.

Anonymous wrote:The 911 caller says the kids walked behind a CPA office building. Listen to the tape, pp. And he leads off by saying he observed the kids wandering around. That's why he called...because it didn't look like the kids knew where they were going.

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Anonymous wrote:That kid doesn't look ten. My 11 year old is 5 feet tall.

A 6-year-old girl in the 97th percentile for height is about 49 inches tall. So is a 10-year-old girl in the 3rd percentile for height. If you saw a 97% six-year-old and a 3% ten-year-old standing next to each other, do you think you'd be able to figure out which girl was which? I sure hope you would.

Anonymous wrote:That kid doesn't look ten. My 11 year old is 5 feet tall.

Anonymous wrote:"I grew up when children just went outside and roamed around and played together, rode bike for miles or hiked. It was a much more fun and stimulating environment."

...and frat parties in the 1950s were quite civilized. So was spring break in Florida. But that's not the case anymore, right? So we take certain precautions...like wait until your kid is mature enough before dropping them off a mile away from home. And when you here a 911 tape of a man saying your little kids approached him and were wandering around parking lots and going behind office buildings, that's your wake up call that your kids really aren't ready for prime time...

Anonymous wrote:That kid doesn't look ten. My 11 year old is 5 feet tall.

Anonymous wrote:"I grew up when children just went outside and roamed around and played together, rode bike for miles or hiked. It was a much more fun and stimulating environment."

...and frat parties in the 1950s were quite civilized. So was spring break in Florida. But that's not the case anymore, right? So we take certain precautions...like wait until your kid is mature enough before dropping them off a mile away from home. And when you here a 911 tape of a man saying your little kids approached him and were wandering around parking lots and going behind office buildings, that's your wake up call that your kids really aren't ready for prime time...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's also not forget that the 911 called thought the boy was 7....because he's really tiny.

Which makes me think that the 911 caller was not exactly a keen observer. Small ten-year-olds don't look like seven-year-olds; they look like small ten-year-olds.