Mom arrested for letting son walk to park alone

[Primemuscle]

In Florida, a mother was arrested for child neglect because she let her 7 year old son walk to a neighborhood park a half mile away. What the heck?

When I was that age, my friends and I were out playing and riding our bikes around the neighborhood and at the park, unattended by parents all the time. Some might argue that there is the threat of kidnapping or attack. The cop mentioned that there could be pedophiles in the area. Are child molesters something new? Pretty sure they've always been around. I seem to remember my parents telling me not to talk to strangers.

The laws have changed. I suspect there is a law prohibiting allowing your kids to go play unattended by an adult before the age of 12 or some such. However, a kid 7 years old can still walk to school if it is a half mile away.

For more: http://www.kctv5.com/story/26140074/mom-arrested-for-letting-son-walk-to-park-alone

[LurkerNoMore]

Seems like the thread of being kidnapped was greater back then than it is now.  Before all the CCTV and other spy crap was all over the place.

[Dos Equis]

In Florida, a mother was arrested for child neglect because she let her 7 year old son walk to a neighborhood park a half mile away. What the heck?

When I was that age, my friends and I were out playing and riding our bikes around the neighborhood and at the park, unattended by parents all the time. Some might argue that there is the threat of kidnapping or attack. The cop mentioned that there could be pedophiles in the area. Are child molesters something new? Pretty sure they've always been around. I seem to remember my parents telling me not to talk to strangers.

The laws have changed. I suspect there is a law prohibiting allowing your kids to go play unattended by an adult before the age of 12 or some such. However, a kid 7 years old can still walk to school if it is a half mile away.

For more: http://www.kctv5.com/story/26140074/mom-arrested-for-letting-son-walk-to-park-alone

I don't think the mom should have been arrested, but letting a seven year old walk a half mike to the park, play alone, and walk back, in a neighborhood with pedophiles is pretty poor judgment. 

[Mawse]

Sounds fine to me, parents who can't be trusted to make lunch for their kids also clearly can't be allowed to make risk assessments on behalf of their kids.

Pedos are more likely to be in the family than random strangers, but the hossifa wasn't going to say the real reason it's not safe for a kid to walk out there -the risk of local Hebrew teens mugging the kid and taking his cellphone and sneakers.

[Primemuscle]

I don't think the mom should have been arrested, but letting a seven year old walk a half mike to the park, play alone, and walk back, in a neighborhood with pedophiles is pretty poor judgment.  

Community notification of registered sex offenders began 1994. Surely there have always been pedophiles in every neighborhood. We just didn't know where they lived. Potentially, there are pedophiles is all neighborhoods, whether we know they live there or not. While I agree that it is errant to send a child out to play where there are know pedophiles, assuming this mother knew of this, is it not better to give your kids the tools to know how to deal with this treat should it ever occur? When the boy was questioned by someone at the pool, he did what parents have been teaching their kids to do for a long time and that is not to talk to strangers. He did this by fleeing the scene.

A half mile is ten city blocks.  In Oregon, school bus transportation is not required unless the student lives more than a mile from school, which is 20 city blocks. This law does not address the risk of them being approached by pedophiles in the neighborhood. I could not locate the Florida school bus transportation laws, but let's assume they are not markedly different from Oregon's. This would mean a parent can allow their 7 year old to walk to school but not to a park which is potentially closer to home than the school.

[Dos Equis]

Community notification of registered sex offenders began 1994. Surely there have always been pedophiles in every neighborhood. We just didn't know where they lived. Potentially, there are pedophiles is all neighborhoods, whether we know they live there or not. While I agree that it is errant to send a child out to play where there are know pedophiles, assuming this mother knew of this, is it not better to give your kids the tools to know how to deal with this treat should it ever occur? When the boy was questioned by someone at the pool, he did what parents have been teaching their kids to do for a long time and that is not to talk to strangers. He did this by fleeing the scene.

A half mile is ten city blocks.  In Oregon, school bus transportation is not required unless the student lives more than a mile from school, which is 20 city blocks. This law does not address the risk of them being approached by pedophiles in the neighborhood. I could not locate the Florida school bus transportation laws, but let's assume they are not markedly different from Oregon's. This would mean a parent can allow their 7 year old to walk to school but not to a park which is potentially closer to home than the school.

Good point about kids walking to school.  Still, I don't like the idea of a seven year old kid doing what this kid did.  And if you listened to him, he's really vulnerable.  Also, the mom saying he has a cell phone, as if this makes it ok, is pretty naive on her part.

[Vince G, CSN MFT]

In Florida, a mother was arrested for child neglect because she let her 7 year old son walk to a neighborhood park a half mile away. What the heck?

When I was that age, my friends and I were out playing and riding our bikes around the neighborhood and at the park, unattended by parents all the time. Some might argue that there is the threat of kidnapping or attack. The cop mentioned that there could be pedophiles in the area. Are child molesters something new? Pretty sure they've always been around. I seem to remember my parents telling me not to talk to strangers.

The laws have changed. I suspect there is a law prohibiting allowing your kids to go play unattended by an adult before the age of 12 or some such. However, a kid 7 years old can still walk to school if it is a half mile away.

For more: http://www.kctv5.com/story/26140074/mom-arrested-for-letting-son-walk-to-park-alone

You would change your tune if he was walking near Vince Basile''s house

[OzmO]

Good point about kids walking to school.  Still, I don't like the idea of a seven year old kid doing what this kid did.  And if you listened to him, he's really vulnerable.  Also, the mom saying he has a cell phone, as if this makes it ok, is pretty naive on her part.

What's wrong with this Mom?

I wouldn't let my son do that at 11 years old.

[Dos Equis]

What's wrong with this Mom?

I wouldn't let my son do that at 11 years old.

Me neither.  She has a lot to learn. 

Or maybe we are just paranoid parents?