Parents Under Investigation for Raising an Independent Seven-Year-Old

[TBoneTX 45,250]

Interesting.  Comments?

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Parents Under Investigation for Raising an Independent Seven-Year-Old

 

[...] This brings us to the story of the Widner family in Canton, Georgia.

 

Reason notes that the Widners homeschool their three kids.  Back in August of 2018, the kids were on the swim team at the local YMCA.  One day after practice, the kids were walking home when the youngest, seven-year-old Jackson, stopped at the local grocery store because it handed out free cookies.  Fair enough.  Jackson's presence as an unaccompanied minor raised some eyebrows and he was detained until the police could respond.  Jackson refused to tell the cops anything since he had been taught not to talk to strangers.  The police were able to deduce that he had been at the YMCA.  They also told the boy that he was guilty of a serious infraction.  Jackson took the opportunity to inform the police that he would go home if they just left him alone.  Instead, the officers brought Jackson home and gave his father, Glenn, a stern talking-to.  Glenn was told, "You just can't raise kids like that anymore—it isn't safe."  Glenn disagreed and had the stats to back up his assertion.  But the stats were not enough to keep the cops from calling CPS.  [...]

 

https://pjmedia.com/lincolnbrown/2024/04/03/parents-under-investigation-for-independent-7-year-old-n4927861

[yuna628 9,671]

So, I'm of two minds about this.

 

 I was also a child that was frequently left unattended. Not out of any wanting their child to be independent or anything, but because there were periods of neglect in my life. I was left alone in cars and the house for hours. My siblings report a similar experience. Thankfully no one got into trouble, but we all had situations where we very much wished we had guidance and safety our parents hopefully could have provided. I have often told stories where tiny me balanced on a step stool over a gas stove around age 5 or 6 completely unattended. I would be left unattended outside my city home nearly every day and to be fair many city kids would have long walks off the bus.. and sometimes things would happen to them. My sister tells the story of being left in a car for hours, with no parents in sight and needing to go to the bathroom badly - so she ventured out and was helped by a kind but very concerned stranger. These days the cops would be called, and I don't blame them.

 

I would never do that to my children. When I spent a good deal of time watching over my nieces/nephew I went with them everywhere and paid close attention to what they were doing. I'd never in my right mind dream of letting a 7 year old wander wherever he wanted because I remember being put into such a situation. I do recall my nephew's mother letting his father watch him around that age (I say 'let him' because he's not very reliable in that regard) and before you knew it he managed to wander through the streets to a bodega for food. Mom and Dad panicked of course when they couldn't find him. He was okay, grandpa found him safe and sound, but a little scared.

 

My point here is the article frames these parents as just fine, and maybe they are, but we are no judge of that. These kids are all supposedly homeschooled, which means there's some parent that *should* be watching them at all times... but yet, aren't. Why? We don't know, but gone are the days where I think kids are safe to wander. I don't really think there was a time when kids were safe to wander. My dad will laud the times when he routinely skipped school and spent hours doing whatever he pleased and that included getting into 'trouble' as if it was some golden era of safety. I don't think he was necessarily safe, and if anything he was the one making others not safe. Having kids is a big responsibility and imo many problems we have today is because generations of parents have really screwed up that responsibility. Some parents overcompensate by being complete disaster case helicopters (I meant to post an article about helicopter parents, cellphones and school systems) and others just seem like they don't care.

 

[TBoneTX 45,250]

13 hours ago, yuna628 said:

I was also a child that was frequently left unattended.

Sorry, Y ma'am.   

13 hours ago, yuna628 said:

Some parents overcompensate by being complete disaster case helicopters

Ohhhhhh yes.

13 hours ago, yuna628 said:

and others just seem like they don't care

Ohhhhhh yes.

13 hours ago, yuna628 said:

I meant to post an article about helicopter parents, cellphones and school systems

Gracias for posting that great article, Y ma'am.

[TBoneTX 45,250]

13 hours ago, yuna628 said:

they don't care

The following (also for comment) seems to be an example of precisely this:

==========

Arkansas mom arrested after 7-year-old son found walking 8 miles to school, reports say

 

An Arkansas mother was arrested after allegedly telling deputies "it was not her problem" that her 7-year-old son had to walk nearly 8 miles in the pitch dark after missing the school bus.

The 33-year-old woman was charged with second-degree domestic battery and first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor under 10 years old, according to Craighead County jail records.

The boy was found near a farm shop around 8 a.m. on Tuesday by a responding Craighead County deputy, KAIT reported.  The boy told the deputy that he would get in trouble if he did not go to school, so he decided to walk after missing the bus, the Jonesboro, Arkansas-based TV station said.  [...]

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/arkansas-mom-arrested-7-old-221156865.html

[Boiler 45,444]

When I was 7 I went to school by myself, either by bus or train, 6.7 miles according to Google Maps.

 

I find this sort of thing weird.

 

And yes a lot further north and in the winter it was dark.

[TBoneTX 45,250]

29 minutes ago, Boiler said:

When I was 7 I went to school by myself

What was the city or town environment -- small, safe, almost everyone knew everyone else?

[Boiler 45,444]

Outskirts of London to a Town outside. 

[yuna628 9,671]

8 hours ago, Boiler said:

When I was 7 I went to school by myself, either by bus or train, 6.7 miles according to Google Maps.

 

I find this sort of thing weird.

 

And yes a lot further north and in the winter it was dark.

I think a lot of people in the UK are accustomed to go to school, either by walking or on public transport. But there is a big difference between a child finding their way in many locations in the UK as completely normal vs places in the US. There is a different cultural mindset as well. In general, places in the UK feel safer to me, even if such a feeling may be overrepresented or not 100% accurate. If there was a different public perception in the UK of safety vs harm risk things may be different. My husband would not choose to let his kids do the same things he was accustomed to as a kid even in the UK (he was assaulted and robbed in the UK as a child). You would agree that in many areas of the US there is a higher chance for a kid to be assaulted, harmed, taken, shot, stabbed, or robbed. The 7 year old in the story was told not to talk to strangers but could not distinguish from strangers trying to help him (which is not his fault and is why a child that young doesn't have that kind of discernment), but was not taught to not run off from his siblings nor his siblings taught to keep an eye on him. The homeschooling parents also seem to have the inability to watch him.

 

We can likely agree that when we were kids there were things we did that were thought of as safe, or not thought of at all, that likely are risky now. And every day there are kids who are walking through dangerous areas of their neighborhoods from school to get home - does that make it right though?