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Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

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Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#31

Post by __turbobrew__ »

I don’t know what is up with the USA and its obsession that kids cannot have autonomy. I think many of us grew up where our parents didn’t know our location at all times. My parents used to tell me to be home by a certain time, but I used to roam the neighborhood, go get candy at the gas station, explore the forest.

Maybe it is a sign of the eroding social trust in the USA where people do not believe that others in the community are decent people as well. It kind of makes sense if you never actually go out into the community and meet others. The USA lifestyle is you drive everywhere in your big SUV, all interactions are transactional, you don’t talk to your neighbours and instead watch netflix and binge social media where you are sold the idea that everything is horrible and the world is a bad place.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#32

Post by fragmede »

a_t48 wrote: post #3
sgt wrote: post #2

Phoning the sheriff first before offering to give the kid a ride? What's wrong with people?

Please, we drill into kids heads to not get into cars with strangers.

Unless you summoned that stranger with an app on your phone, then it's totally fine.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#33

Post by WaxProlix »

ridiculous_leke wrote: post #7

> She (the Sheriff) kept mentioning how he could have been run over, or kidnapped or 'anything' could have happened, This is weird. Is the crime so bad in the town? Even the good-for-nothing cops in my (developing) country do not come up with such nonsense.

This is American policing, I've been pulled over or even detained for just walking several times. I think it's a combination of power tripping, nothing better to do with large police forces and many vehicles, and a fundamental distrust of any transport that isn't a car. And of course the legal and moral framework that allows for random abuses of rights and an overall acceptance of a papers-please force.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#34

Post by smeej »

plagiarist wrote: post #25

> A few days later, DFCS presented Patterson with a "safety plan" for her to sign. It would require her to delegate a "safety person" to be a "knowing participant and guardian" and watch over the children whenever she leaves home. The plan would also require Patterson to download an app onto her son's phone allowing for his location to be monitored. Monitored by whom? This is insane.

It's wild to me that the fact that he has his own phone isn't considered security enough. Surely by 10 or 11 years old, the kid knows how to call for help if he needs it.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#35

Post by dylan604 »

silent_cal wrote: post #14
ridiculous_leke wrote: post #7

> She (the Sheriff) kept mentioning how he could have been run over, or kidnapped or 'anything' could have happened, This is weird. Is the crime so bad in the town? Even the good-for-nothing cops in my (developing) country do not come up with such nonsense.

Many cops in the US have a massive superiority complex

Yeah, but wouldn't the sheriff making the comment be own goaling the situation. Wouldn't her scenarios imply that she's shite at her job so that crimes like these are prevalent?

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#36

Post by detourdog »

samatman wrote: post #23
eitally wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but. For all of the happy survivor stories like yours (and mine), the reality is that the rate of child accidental deaths has steadily decreases over the past few decades as parents (and society) became more protective. That isn't to say I agree with over-parenting and eliminating independence -- I don't -- but there needs to be rationality applied as well as personal values.

I expect we would discover that almost all of that is improvements in car safety though.

And farm rules.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#37

Post by jmyeet »

So what we see here are the very real ramifications of a media-driven crime hysteria. The deputy noted that the child could be "kidnapped". You will see claims like "800,000 children are kidnapped every year". The media loves to drum up fear. The vast majority of these cases are custody disputes. Actual cases of children being kidnapped by strangers? Fewer than 100 per year, probably a lot fewer [1].

This is a small rural town. That makes it less likely just because there are fewer strangers. Not that there aren't dangers from known people and family members but that's a risk regardless. It really has nothing to do with walking a mile down a road. This isn't a major road either. The article notes it has a 25mph speed limit.

Compre that to firearm-related deaths, which are in the thousands [2]

One side note for any non-American: you may expect there to be sidewalks on roads. For most roads in the US, this is not the case. There might be a shoulder. There might not. There often won't even be a curb. So you're walking on uneven ground. So you could get hit by a car but this isn't a high speed road.

Common sense should rule here. Like don't the police have better things to do? And the DA? Or DCFS?

[1]: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/child-abductions-str...

[2]: https://www.kff.org/mental-health/issue-brief/the-impact-of-...

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#38

Post by eertami »

eitally wrote: post #20
3pt14159 wrote: post #8

When I was five years old I would walk along a path and take a bridge across a river to visit my friend to play board games. By the time I was nine I was bicycling forty-five minutes to school on a 80 km/h road. The level of paranoia that's infected people around keeping kids near their parents is insane.

Yes, but. For all of the happy survivor stories like yours (and mine), the reality is that the rate of child accidental deaths has steadily decreases over the past few decades as parents (and society) became more protective. That isn't to say I agree with over-parenting and eliminating independence -- I don't -- but there needs to be rationality applied as well as personal values.

In Central European cities kids will walk unsupervised to school from age 5, even today in 2024. Parents are even actively discouraged from taking children to school. If what you suggest is true, then statistically we should see Swiss children dying at a higher rate than American children?

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#39

Post by mchanson »

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #31

I don’t know what is up with the USA and its obsession that kids cannot have autonomy. I think many of us grew up where our parents didn’t know our location at all times. My parents used to tell me to be home by a certain time, but I used to roam the neighborhood, go get candy at the gas station, explore the forest. Maybe it is a sign of the eroding social trust in the USA where people do not believe that others in t…

It's not equally distributed. In Boston, MA area kids have as much autonomy as their parents wish to give them AFAIK. It's not uncommon to see 10 year olds in my town nearby they are doing all sorts of biz around town on their own.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#40

Post by quantified »

eitally wrote: post #20
3pt14159 wrote: post #8

When I was five years old I would walk along a path and take a bridge across a river to visit my friend to play board games. By the time I was nine I was bicycling forty-five minutes to school on a 80 km/h road. The level of paranoia that's infected people around keeping kids near their parents is insane.

Yes, but. For all of the happy survivor stories like yours (and mine), the reality is that the rate of child accidental deaths has steadily decreases over the past few decades as parents (and society) became more protective. That isn't to say I agree with over-parenting and eliminating independence -- I don't -- but there needs to be rationality applied as well as personal values.

Rationality says let the kid out. I was wandering around Chicago from age 10. Stuff happened, I survived. Kids can decide to wuss out on their own.
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