Neighbor WWYD

[fortwildernessishome]

True. But I run across more mamby pamby raising parents then I do of the parents who expect their kids to be little adults.

exact opposite for me......so many in out town, like their kids be totally independent. So much so, I often wonder why they had kids to begin with if they were in such a hurry for them to do so much on their own.

Nothing wrong with teaching your kids to be independent, but also nothing wrong with being around to pick them up from school. If that made me "mamby pamby" then so be it.

I was probably one of the most hands on parents in our town. Now my oldest is a freshmen in college, I talk to him once or twice a week and he is a very independent guy!

As I always say to each your own.......if you want an "independent" young kid, go for it......if you want to be more present, I dont see that as a bad thing and not "mamby pamby" (whatever that is!)

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

Wait...people really leave their 6 year old alone and think that's okay? Really???

I'd have a heart attack.

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

You do know many, many first graders walk home on their own everyday from school.

Not mine. I don't care if thousands of them do it, hundreds of thousands. I'll bet that little kid Etan Patz's parents wish every day they'd just walked him to school the day he disappeared. That won't be me.

Just because a bunch of people make (what I believe to be) a poor decision doesn't mean I need to follow.

 

[Nicolepa]

Wait...people really leave their 6 year old alone and think that's okay? Really???

I'd have a heart attack.

My parents left me alone starting at 6. My mom worked in Dallas which was a 30 minute drive W/o traffic. They also left me home at night if they went out. We had no family nearby and my dad was too cheap to pay a sitter.

Still can't believe they did that.

 

[JessicaR]

What does her comfort level have to do with the parents decision. I know when I make decisions for my child I would not consider or even care about my neighbors comfort level. It's a non-issue and really none of her business.

I feel bad for the girl and it's not something I would do with my DD, who also happens to be 6, but it's there daughter and we have no right telling other parents how they should be parenting there child.

The kid is 6, really?

If I was sitting there and a stranger was waiting to pick up my neighbors kid and the kid was visibly upset it would be an issue that I would get involved with.

I never said anyone should 'tell' anyone how to parent.

 

[JessicaR]

Wait...people really leave their 6 year old alone and think that's okay? Really???

I'd have a heart attack.

We must be sheltered, I agree with you.

 

[Hannathy]

Not mine. I don't care if thousands of them do it, hundreds of thousands. I'll bet that little kid Etan Patz's parents wish every day they'd just walked him to school the day he disappeared. That won't be me.

Just because a bunch of people make (what I believe to be) a poor decision doesn't mean I need to follow.

And stranger abduction is such a threat.

The incidence of stranger abduction is so slim you are actually bringing up one that happened 30 years ago.

I prefer to worry about real threats and dangers to my kids.

 

[shortbun]

You do know many, many first graders walk home on their own everyday from school.

OK, well I can report that our public schools do not allow children under 3rd grade to walk home alone from the bus. I drove a school bus for 7 years and they are quite rigid about it. I spent time waiting for parents many times. I agree that children who are under 7 or younger should be taken off the bus by a family member or appointed care giver. They are too young to be able to make emergency decisions alone. I would speak to the bus driver and ask the policy. Then I'd call the dad and ask him to let me off the hook for his daughter-AND clear it with the bus driver and the daughter so no one was expecting me to be responsible. This child is probably 6, right?

 

[Hannathy]

OK, well I can report that our public schools do not allow children under 3rd grade to walk home alone from the bus. I drove a school bus for 7 years and they are quite rigid about it. I spent time waiting for parents many times. I agree that children who are under 7 or younger should be taken off the bus by a family member or appointed care giver. They are too young to be able to make emergency decisions alone. I would speak to the bus driver and ask the policy. Then I'd call the dad and ask him to let me off the hook for his daughter-AND clear it with the bus driver and the daughter so no one was expecting me to be responsible. This child is probably 6, right?

I meant from school. they walk or ride their bikes the whole way. Not just the bus, no one has to be at the stop here either though.

I never left them home alone at 6 but they certainly walked from school by themselves.

 

[shortbun]

And stranger abduction is such a threat.

The incidence of stranger abduction is so slim you are actually bringing up one that happened 30 years ago.

I prefer to worry about real threats and dangers to my kids.

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PublicHomeServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US

http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/MissingKids

http://www.amberalert.gov/

Are you aware of how condescending your post is?
Maybe there are no missing children in your neighborhood. There are so many kids missing. You are usually so well informed.

 

[teacherforhi]

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PublicHomeServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US

http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/MissingKids

http://www.amberalert.gov/

Are you aware of how condescending your post is?
Maybe there are no missing children in your neighborhood. There are so many kids missing. You are usually so well informed.

The VAST majority of those aren't stranger abductions. On the Ohio Attorney General's site, the first ten were teenagers listed as endangered runaways. On missing kids.com, of the first three that popped up, two were endangered runaways and the third was a non-family abduction, but they knew who the abductor was.

The simple fact is, stranger abduction is incredibly rare. A 6-year-old has a far better chance of being taken by someone they know. Does that mean it doesn't happen? No, of course not. But please don't try to make it seem like "stranger danger" lurks around every corner.

 

[Hannathy]

The VAST majority of those aren't stranger abductions. On the Ohio Attorney General's site, the first ten were teenagers listed as endangered runaways. On missing kids.com, of the first three that popped up, two were endangered runaways and the third was a non-family abduction, but they knew who the abductor was.

The simple fact is, stranger abduction is incredibly rare. A 6-year-old has a far better chance of being taken by someone they know. Does that mean it doesn't happen? No, of course not. But please don't try to make it seem like "stranger danger" lurks around every corner.

Thank you!

Stranger abduction is incredibly rare, why do you think it makes national news when one actually happens, and how many of those end up actually being the family or an acquaintance or some connection to the family.

 

[islandmum]

lol that's funny right there... do your hold his/her hand while you cross the street still?

of course not, and you may laugh, but then I also consider leaving your 6 year old home alone as neglect. Please do laugh away.

 

[islandmum]

Wow!

I'm speechless, that is really ignorant.




PS tens of thousands of children walk to and from school safely every single day. Mine included from 1rst grade on. I am really worried about the future of this country with this generation of coddled and unprepared children growing up.

far from it, infact my 9 yr old is flying as an unacompanied minor this summer and spending 2 weeks away from us. I'm guessing your wonderfully independant and prepared kids didnt do that in 4th grade huh?

But alone walking around a town aged 9 - that will never happen.

and please .... feel free to be speechless for a while.

 

[HelenePA]

far from it, infact my 9 yr old is flying as an unacompanied minor this summer and spending 2 weeks away from us. I'm guessing your wonderfully independant and prepared kids didnt do that in 4th grade huh?

But alone walking around a town aged 9 - that will never happen.

and please .... feel free to be speechless for a while.

how far away is your bus stop from your house? do you live in a place with lots of crime? maybe that would change my mind if I lived in an area with lots of crime/drugs/bad guys around...

 

[islandmum]

how far away is your bus stop from your house? do you live in a place with lots of crime? maybe that would change my mind if I lived in an area with lots of crime/drugs/bad guys around...

we live in a town of 30,000 people, with heavy traffic, distractions, people everywhere, there is no way in hell my 9 year old is walking home alone.

Not a crime hotspot at all .... but a very busy hotspot, which is what makes it too dangerous in my view to be walking alone.

 

[HelenePA]

I live in a "town" of less than 2500. My street is a dead end street so really the only people who drive here are my neighbors, the bus stop is less than a street away from my house, the park it out my back gate, no really it is.. I could never live in a town the size of yours or anything bigger than mine! Too many people! I am just not a city girl at all!

 

[mjkacmom]

far from it, infact my 9 yr old is flying as an unacompanied minor this summer and spending 2 weeks away from us. I'm guessing your wonderfully independant and prepared kids didnt do that in 4th grade huh?

But alone walking around a town aged 9 - that will never happen.

and please .... feel free to be speechless for a while.

Well, my town is about the same population as yours (and only takes up a few miles, so I guess we're pretty packed in). My kids started to walk to and from school starting in the 2nd grade (I walked alone here in kindergarten).

My oldest has been flying alone since around the age of 9 to my SIL's, where they go off to some remote camping site on Lake Michigan, no cellphone access for a week, no running water or electricity. She has no way to contact me at all. They do some more road trips, and she flies home a couple weeks later.

Once they hit middle school, they have pretty much the run of the town. Everyone knows everyone here - I have eyes everywhere. I'm not worried about them being abducted (at all). I just don't want them doing something stupid.

 

[Mkrop]

The VAST majority of those aren't stranger abductions. On the Ohio Attorney General's site, the first ten were teenagers listed as endangered runaways. On missing kids.com, of the first three that popped up, two were endangered runaways and the third was a non-family abduction, but they knew who the abductor was.

The simple fact is, stranger abduction is incredibly rare. A 6-year-old has a far better chance of being taken by someone they know. Does that mean it doesn't happen? No, of course not. But please don't try to make it seem like "stranger danger" lurks around every corner.

Really....We have had 3 emails from the school district since January about 3 DIFFERENT attempts at abductions from bus stops. I live in what would be deemed total surburbia. We make the Forbes list of best places to live every year.

 

[aprilgail2]

But why is this anyone but the parents business? That is what I don't get. It isn't your child, why would you call the school? They have decided she can get off the bus alone, their kid their choice.

I'm glad my kids are getting older I couldn't stand this group of busy bodies butting into everyone elses business.

but doesn't it unload right at the small road? they don't get off and walk right to the small road?

In our district the elementary school bus drive won't drop off a child if someone isnt picking them up. Unless otherwise noted by the parents. Tell the driver no one is there to get the child and they will have to go and pick her up from school.

That is totally nuts--you need to be at a bus stop to walk home a 3rd, 4th and 5th grader?? Here you have to be at the bus stop when they are in Kindergarten unless you send a note in saying its ok for them to walk home on their own. One boy on my daughters bus would come home in kindergarten with his housekey on a string around his neck and let himself in the house because his parents didn't get home until 15 minutes after he got home from school.