I dunno. Part of me thinks the more we do for kids the more they are unable to do for themselves. As a nanny I would keep an eye on all of my charges always, As a parent I'd be happier to let my kid roam a little more. its a hard balance in our current time and society

Oh, stop! All of you who said I remember playing in canyons and walking to school alone and being outside dawn to dusk... ..

Thst was when you were in elementary school and you were playing with other kids. Not alone at 4 yrs old. I, too, was a child of the 70s. We walked to school about 20 to 30 minutes, but with a whole group of children, like 10 in the neighborhood. And there were 2 crossing guards along this route to assist crossing the major streets. We played outside but with a group, and we were in 2nd grade and older.not 4 and 5 year olds racing across streets, etc.

And we were schooled in not taking rides from strangers, that if we were every nervous about someone following us we were to run up to a house and knock... as 90 to 95% of houses had an at home patent there. Our children walking by empty houses all the time as most parents are both working. My friend's family even had a safe word.

It's so funny because when I speak to the kids I grew up with in the seventies, we all laugh & joke over all the stuff we used to do + how no way in heck would we allow our own children to do that.

I remember playing in canyons and empty playgrounds.

It was nice to get away from home and spend some alone time reading, playing and skating on the blacktop.

If I were allowed to do so today, my parents would be jailed. Or I could possibly be living in a foster home.

I'm 49, I walked 8 miles five days a week to school and from the school by myself in 70's. I know all the neighbors and their kids!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am forty-six years old & my parents would be in the Federal Penitentiary for life if someone had spotted some of the things they let me do in the '70's.

I used to ride my bike on school grounds on weekends, I played on the playground equipment too like the jungle gym.

In the summertime, I often rode my bike outside after dark.

I am 44, and in my quiet Fairfax co. suburb, I wasn't allowed to play outside by myself until I was 7 and neither were the neighbor kids.

I'm 30. It didn't matter where we lived (and we hit rural, suburbs and urban between when I was 4 and 12), we played outside as a group or we stayed in. The only place we were allowed out by ourselves was my grandmother's property in rural Michigan; once we were old enough to understand that we weren't to be in the woods during hunting season and that we weren't to try walking on the marsh until it had been frozen solid for at least 2 weeks, we were allowed to be out from sunrise to sunset.

Anonymous wrote:I am forty-six years old & my parents would be in the Federal Penitentiary for life if someone had spotted some of the things they let me do in the '70's.

I used to ride my bike on school grounds on weekends, I played on the playground equipment too like the jungle gym.

In the summertime, I often rode my bike outside after dark.

I am 44, and in my quiet Fairfax co. suburb, I wasn't allowed to play outside by myself until I was 7 and neither were the neighbor kids.

I am forty-six years old & my parents would be in the Federal Penitentiary for life if someone had spotted some of the things they let me do in the '70's.

I used to ride my bike on school grounds on weekends, I played on the playground equipment too like the jungle gym.

In the summertime, I often rode my bike outside after dark.

I think there is far more to the story than the article is saying. Usually they would give a warning and service plan before removing. A 4 year old should not be playing alone outside.

Did you read the article? He isn't in foster care. She's facing charges, yes, but he wasn't taken away from her permanently.

It's not as if he was playing in the backyard unattended -- he was 120 feet away. That's nearly as wide as a football field, for reference.

The two who called the cops on her had an excellent point -- what would she have done if someone kidnapped her child? She's was probably wandering around the house doing other things and occasionally checking outside the window. He's 4! Hire a teenager to sit out there and play with him.

People are so obsessed with the extreme helicopter parenting that they do a 180 to the other extreme: free range parenting. There can be a happy medium!

Why would a nanny report a messy house to CPS? Unless there is vermin, hoarding or something else that endangers the child, CPS wouldn't do a thing.

I don't know a single nanny who would be in a position to know when the parent allows the child to play alone outside of their yard. The neighbor reported, not the nanny. Depending on the state, a childcare professional (which includes a nanny) is a mandatory informer, so anything suspected must be reported; in other states where the nanny can't get in trouble for keeping her mouth shut, sure, she can only report if she has reasonable suspicions of abuse and/or neglect, major or minor.

However, I agree that this is extreme. The child was 4, so old enough to know enough to yell if someone tried to grab him, the playground was 120 feet from the house and it was in a gated community. This is a major overreaction, but the law is written to protect kids who aren't in gated communities, don't know to yell if someone tries to grab them (or freeze up and don't do anything), and aren't old enough to self-advocate.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/30571051/mom-facing-charges-after-allowing-4-year-old-to-play-outside-alone

I am posting this in the Nanny forum since I am a regular on here and sometimes when nannies complain about a messy house or something else, a lot of times the responses are to tell CPS.

Many state that you can report a family without them losing their children into foster care. They state that CPS will probably talk to the parents and ask them to simply make the requested changes.

I have always been anti calling CPS, unless there is serious abuse or neglect going on. I think it is important not to abuse our resources because they need to continue being available to those that really need them.

Anyway, remember any time you call CPS, even with the best intentions for the kids...There will always be that risk that the child(ren) may be put into foster care. Always.

So please consider this when and if you do report a family.

I think CPS overreacted in this case. While not a smart thing on the mother's part, a chastising would have done. Not putting a four yr. old in foster care, away from him mother.