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Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

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Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#141

Post by abcd_f »

tolerance wrote: post #75
comrade1234 wrote: post #29

Here in Switzerland children start walking to school at around 5-years. Parents aren't allowed to bring them to school. If a parent escorts their children to school they'll be told not to. If they keep doing it they'll get a letter from the school and probably a police visit. And if they continue (I never heard of it getting to this stage) they may be fined. It's funny in the morning. One child walks to another child…

> Parents aren't allowed to bring them to school. If a parent escorts their children to school they'll be told not to. If they keep doing it they'll get a letter from the school and probably a police visit. And if they continue (I never heard of it getting to this stage) they may be fined. Can't help but think that this is just swinging things in the opposite direction.

The GP dramatically exaggerated the state of affairs or perhaps it's how things are in their specific village/canton.

In French cantons you can bring your kids to school, you can drive them there and there are spots for stopping and all respective signage. But there is indeed a lot of very young kids walking to school.

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#142

Post by null_shift »

softwaredoug wrote: post #42
neaden wrote: post #2

This is one of those frustrating things. You're just not allowed to not be scared with kids. If you aren't scared of letting your kid walk to a pond, you get punished for it. If you're not scared of the kidnappers, you have to be scared of the police. None of it is rational, it's different how many of us were raised, yet if you try to opt out the law gets involved.

Stranger kidnappings are basically unheard of. It's never been a safer time for kids in terms of crime like that.

Genuinely curious…is it rare because there are less kidnappers, or because parents are more vigilant and there is less opportunity for them to commit the crime?

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#143

Post by xboxnolifes »

goda90 wrote: post #125
softwaredoug wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stranger kidnappings are basically unheard of. It's never been a safer time for kids in terms of crime like that.

They're heard of because it's so rare that media loves to broadcast them far and wide for the views. Like it's good to get people watching out for the kidnapped child as quickly as possible, but the media sensation causes paranoia in unaffected viewers.

A lot of the ones that do get broadcasted still end up being a relative too, but you wouldn't know unless you look into it after it get resolved and stops being talked about.

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#144

Post by joshheitzman »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #23

I don’t think this should be a criminal charge but 5 seems a bit young to walk that far while crossing streets. At 7 I would be more comfortable

Not at all. We all did it when I was child that age in the 80s.

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#145

Post by joenot443 »

comrade1234 wrote: post #105
profsummergig wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a high trust homogenous society without lots of different groups with all kinds of grievances about the past, present and the future. And it's probably rural, where everyone knows each other. When I read the headline, I sided with the mother. But a five-year old having to cross four roads in total to and from (with vehicles going up 25 mph legally, and who knows how fast illegally) is a bit much.

I'm in Zurich which is far from rural. Not really very homogenous either - it's 50% non-Swiss.

I would imagine they're referring to cultural and behavioral homogeneity, not necessarily national or distinctly ethnic homogeneity.

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#146

Post by alephnerd »

softwaredoug wrote: post #113
CamelCaseName wrote: post #19

In China, I would see kids who must have been 7 years old running around the streets or on public transit without adult supervision. It seems like a much healthier way to live than in constant fear.

In the US, if you are in a residential neighborhood with a lot of kids, its also fairly typical for them to be out finding their playmates. I would say if you're in a neighborhood where there's just like 1-2 kids, it may not be that typical. The kids parents might do more scheduled playdates. Unfortunately in the US there are people that get annoyed about kids playing. And they are also the same kind of person that e…

This. Those of my friends with kids moved to neighborhoods and suburbs where other households of a similar age existed.

You see this in SF, with singles primarily living in the Marina, Russian Hill, or Rincon Hill and then upgrading to Mission Bay once they have kids.

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#148

Post by voakbasda »

GJim wrote: post #123
Polizeiposaune wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the neighbor who called it in thought that if they approached the child themselves, they might be seen as a potential child molester.

If you automatically assume somebody approaching a child is a kidde fiddler (!) then your society has problems.

Welcome to ‘murica

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#149

Post by giancarlostoro »

neaden wrote: post #2

This is one of those frustrating things. You're just not allowed to not be scared with kids. If you aren't scared of letting your kid walk to a pond, you get punished for it. If you're not scared of the kidnappers, you have to be scared of the police. None of it is rational, it's different how many of us were raised, yet if you try to opt out the law gets involved.

Here in Florida there's no just letting my 4 year old wander to a nearby lake, it might be the last time I ever see her. There's an assumption that alligators are in every lake, and next to my house I have two lakes visible the moment I come out of my front door.

If it's not the alligators, it's the careless older kids in e-scooters or e-bikes, if you're rolling your eyes, just note that one of those careless kids drove into my neighbors four year old, who went flying back because some kid was not paying attention, he was also by chance wearing a helmet because he wanted to ride his bike so he did not hurt his head, but he definitely had a bruise on his lower back.

Do I think there needs to be laws around this? No, though, should a child suffer because they have negligent parents? Also no. It hurts me more to think that having these laws is the only way to get some people to pay attention as parents.

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#150

Post by giancarlostoro »

softwaredoug wrote: post #42
neaden wrote: post #2

This is one of those frustrating things. You're just not allowed to not be scared with kids. If you aren't scared of letting your kid walk to a pond, you get punished for it. If you're not scared of the kidnappers, you have to be scared of the police. None of it is rational, it's different how many of us were raised, yet if you try to opt out the law gets involved.

Stranger kidnappings are basically unheard of. It's never been a safer time for kids in terms of crime like that.

They're more common among relatives than total strangers.

About a year or so ago I saw on Nextdoor a neighbor posted about that some girl who always walked home from school whom he waves to when he sees her. One day she was walking slower than normal, and she ran to him scared, they didn't actually know each other, on the Ring footage you can see that a car that was following her drove off. Who knows if all these cameras are helping to prevent so many incidents, but the world is still as evil as ever. Just because its rare doesn't mean that you as a parent want to win the misfortune lottery.

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