This is shit, America is crazy and that cop should be fired for behaving like that. This story which immediately follows the depressing one is a MUCH better read:
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I sometimes listen to that DJ on KISW. They were pretty unimpressed the other day because that story went crazy and he wasnât getting attributed. I donât think KOMO added his name until after getting lots of complaints.
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Ah. Quahog.
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Had we known, at the time, that the act of bringing a feral little monsterchum home - uninvited - would result in reports by neighbour curtain-twitchers sent to the local plod-shop, closely followed by a visit from child-protection-agents and accusations of unsavoury practices bestowed on our parents, our pocket-money would have been rather more substantial.
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Here too in the South-west of England the local schools encourage walking from about age 8, but many of them can reach school without crossing roads with significant traffic, and where there is traffic there are crossing wardens.
When we moved to our present town our daughter was 6. Shortly after we moved she decided to go for a walk without telling us, got a little bit lost, fell and hurt her knee and started to cry. An old lady emerged from her house, picked her up and said âYou must be the little girl who has moved into the XXXâs house,â and took her home. It was then we realised just how effective the local neighborhood Mafia was, especially when we found out that the XXXs had actually moved out thirty years before.
Conclusion: child safety is all about the community.
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Ainât that the truth.
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Thatâs sad. My sonâs school cancels outdoor recess if the actual temperature is 0 F. Thatâs in SE Michigan. Back in the day in Minnesota, we didnât have outdoor recess canceled unless it was raining. Temperatures didnât enter the equation.
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My ex and I have had some experience with this, and difficulty in agreeing and eliciting cooperation with the extended family. Before we were married, my ex claimed to be adamantly opposed to helicopter parenting, or restricting kids from independent outdoor activity. But in practice, there has been a large peer-pressure factor, the fear of standing out because ânobody else does itâ, even though my ex spent practically their whole childhood outdoors. My ex even went so far as to claim that I could not have legal custody after our divorce on the pretext that I donât drive, because ânobody walks anymoreâ, despite everything we need being within easy walking distance. My ex and my exâs family are far more restrictive and aloof than the local laws require them to be. They havenât read the local statutes and donât care to. And have countered my claims of hypocrisy with vague hand-wringing about unspecified dangers. But who they are most wary of appears to be the police and social services themselves.
In my limited dealings with the state and municipal groups, I have been very vocal that we opt out of their protection, and are happy to, if necessary, kill or die (hopefully not!) to maintain our autonomy - and to exact their compliance with their relevant laws and policies. If they choose to harass us to not go outdoors, I will likely try to secure political asylum for us elsewhere.
Itâs not just the crazy righties - itâs all media. Even though something like 85% (maybe more?) of child sexual abusers are known to their victims in some way, the media in general has people convinced that around every corner thereâs a pedophile in a white van waiting to abduct your precious child.
I canât remember what age I started walking to school on my own, but I know that at least by the time I was 7 I definitely was. And at 8 I was walking my 5 year old sister to kindergarten, as well. And the route we walked to school was along a path next to the creek in the forest, no adults around any where. I canât even begin to imagine a parent allowing their child to do that now.
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Regarding the Texas school that wonât let kids out in wind chill of 40: We have a policy in Mn. that we cancel school if the wind chill is 40 below ZERO. But if itâs over 0 degrees F kids go outside for recess.
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Our wind chill was below that last week for a few days. School wasnât closedâŚand many kids (including mine) walked there.
Edited to add: I think the closeness of kids to school makes a big difference. If everyone has to be driven there, and thereâs black ice on the roads (yeah, Iâve spent a lot of time driving in MN in the winter!), getting to school in those temperatures is actually somewhat dangerous.
Exactly. Iâve read quite a few posters over the years using my local area as the prime example of dangerous-neighborhood-OMG-keep-away, but the reality is lots of kids walk and take public transportation here because the dangers arenât what people think. Helicopter parenting seems to happen more in the supposedly most safe areas. Perception â and knowing your neighbors â makes all the difference.
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I walked on my own 6 blocks to and from 1st grade. I was 5. I didnât have to cross any busy streets. But I routinely also walked to a corner store a few blocks past my school to buy candy and I did have to cross a street then. Actually I walked alone to Kindergarten when I was 4, but that was just across one street. Another little girl came over to my house (alone) every morning and we walked together because she was too small to open the door to the school.
Now my 16 year old son isnât allowed to leave choir practice unless the parent volunteer sees a parent physically there, seeing the car isnât good enough, we have to get out and make eye contact. Itâs insane. I think what worries me most though is that my children have clearly internalized it all. My youngest (14) will walk around the neighborhood, go for long bike rides, etc. But both of my older children rarely leave the house.
I should mention that my kidâs school has a âpickup planâ of registering who is allowed to take them from school, but they do also make provisions in their policies for letting parents specify that the kids can walk home alone also. There is a minimum age of 9 or 10 years.
Again though, I think it depends upon time and place. Police or locals definitely wonât complain about walking home from school when and where there are many other children around. But it is still likely to stand out at other times. And also most of the incentive for running outdoors is missing, when there are no other children to play with. I grew up in a somewhat more rural area, where I was happy to explore the secluded wild areas of town - but we donât have much of that here.
Cancelling school due to temperatures must be a somewhat recent phenomenon in Minnesota. I had one school cancellation between 6th grade and graduation, and that was due to a big snow storm a day before a holiday break. That week back in '88 that never got above -20F? No cancellations. Not even for that day with the -60F wind chills.
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You lie: twenty below and a nasty windchill and weâd be inside.
Well, in South Dakota anyway.
I just wanted to stay indoors and read. But nooo, I had to go outside and play soccer with my brothers and the rest of the neighborhood kids.
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The parent might want to call social services about the creepy fuck who stares at their kids.
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Lame. Thatâs good x-country skiing weather.
You gotta read books sometime.
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