[TheWastelander]

http://fox6now.com/2014/07/29/mother-arr...ark-alone/

Quote:

Port St. Lucie, FL (WPTV) — A mom faces a charge of child neglect after she allowed her son to go to a park alone. She says he’s old enough but Port St. Lucie Police disagree. Now she’s fighting back.

“I’m totally dumbfounded by this whole situation,” says Nicole Gainey.

It began last Saturday afternoon when Gainey gave her son Dominic permission to walk from their house to Sportsman’s Park .

“Honestly didn’t think I was doing anything wrong,” says Gainey, “I was letting him go play.

...

Police took him home. That’s when his mom was arrested and charged with child neglect. Gainey says she was shocked.

“My own bondsman said my parents would have been in jail every day,” says Gainey who paid nearly $4,000 to bond out.

...

She believes Dominic is mature enough to go to the park alone during the day. Gainey adds her son always has a cell phone which she calls to check on him.

“That I’m here and safe,” says Dominic.

Gainey plans to fight the felony charge. But after this she won’t let Dominic go to the park alone. She’s afraid she’ll be arrested again.

The St. Lucie County State’s Attorney’s office says there is no law that specifies how old a child has to be before he or she can go somewhere unsupervised. It’s done on a case-by-case basis.

I'm so glad I grew up during the 80s and 90s. I used to ride my bike all over the place without parental supervision. Apparently if you let your kid do that in FL you could be arrested and potentially have them taken away.

[Mage]

In this age if you let a kid go alone you have more to fear the police thugs who may want to make a case of this, then you have to fear criminal thugs.

Something's wrong when you have to fear police more then criminals.

[Malekhit]

that kid is 7 years old... thats child neglect however you look at it. I grew up in 90's but my parents wouldn't allow me to go further than sight away when I was younger. I seriously doubt anyone here could go where he pleased when he was 7 years old.

Ps. OP omitted important facts of the story making it unfavorable to police. He omitted how far the kid was from home and how old was he. The wastelander next time when you try to quote some stuff learn how to do it or don't do it at all.

[TheWastelander]

(07-30-2014 11:55 AM)Malekhit Wrote:  

that kid is 7 years old... thats child neglect however you look at it. I grew up in 90's but my parents wouldn't allow me to go further than sight away when I was younger. I seriously doubt anyone here could go where he pleased when he was 7 years old.

I feel bad for you. As soon as I could ride my bike I was going to friend's houses on my own.

The only rules were: don't talk to strangers or go anywhere with them, don't cross the busy highway, and be home before dark.

[TheWastelander]

(07-30-2014 11:55 AM)Malekhit Wrote:  

Ps. OP omitted important facts of the story making it unfavorable to police. He omitted how far the kid was from home and how old was he. The wastelander next time when you try to quote some stuff learn how to do it or don't do it at all.

You're free to read the full article by visiting the link but I'm not posting the entirety of someone else's work unless I know that's okay. I don't know what RVF's rules are on this but a few other forums I visit don't allow it.

[The Reactionary Tree]

(07-30-2014 11:55 AM)Malekhit Wrote:  

that kid is 7 years old... thats child neglect however you look at it. I grew up in 90's but my parents wouldn't allow me to go further than sight away when I was younger. I seriously doubt anyone here could go where he pleased when he was 7 years old.

When I was a child, I would walk home from elementary school by myself. I would go walk to my friends house who lived nearby all by myself. We did lots of things by ourselves. It's not neglect, its called being a kid.

Most of our parents probably did all kinds of things in their childhood without parental supervision.

Are we supposed to bubble wrap the world for everyone?

[TravelerKai]

7 is a touch too young, but not unheard of if you grew up in the 90's. It also mattered where you grew up too. At that age I could not go past the end of the street and the street was fairly long maybe 700ft long. and only if my dad was home. At 10, I went deep into the woods and did not come back until dark because I did not need my mom to come looking for me. That risk was never worth an extra 5 mins of adventure.

[Malekhit]

See wastelander, objectivist tree you have clear destinations from school to home, or from home to friends house. You are not wondering in park alone. In both of your cases its easy to check up on you and it will be quickly noticed if anything happens.

[TheWastelander]

(07-30-2014 12:09 PM)Malekhit Wrote:  

See wastelander, objectivist tree you have clear destinations from school to home, or from home to friends house. You are not wondering in park alone. In both of your cases its easy to check up on you and it will be quickly noticed.

1. You mentioned that you weren't allowed out of your parents' sight at seven years of age and that's what I was commenting on.

2. The kid in the story has a cell phone. It's easy enough to quickly check up on him.

Mine had to call people on landlines.

[TravelerKai]

(07-30-2014 12:16 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  

(07-30-2014 12:09 PM)Malekhit Wrote:  

See wastelander, objectivist tree you have clear destinations from school to home, or from home to friends house. You are not wondering in park alone. In both of your cases its easy to check up on you and it will be quickly noticed.

1. You mentioned that you weren't allowed out of your parents' sight at seven years of age and that's what I was commenting on.

2. The kid in the story has a cell phone. It's easy enough to quickly check up on him.

Mine had to call people on landlines.

So you were one of those kids eh? Roamed everywhere in neighborhood, even when in diapers eh. There's always one....

[el mechanico]

When I was 7 I used to ride my bike all over town and go to my little league games daily. I also didn't talk like that kid. It was 1976.

[Malekhit]

(07-30-2014 12:16 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  

1. You mentioned that you weren't allowed out of your parents' sight at seven years of age and that's what I was commenting on.

2. The kid in the story has a cell phone. It's easy enough to quickly check up on him.

Mine had to call people on landlines.

@1. I just assumed that you were going to friends house only.

@2. If you ever got mugged you know cellphone is only good as a brick. You can't go excuse me mr. evil I will call my parents/police first.

If the kid is safe it's easy to check up on him, but if someone will do to him you will not know until midnight because he is wondering around park. At that time it's to late to even gather witnesses.

[rekruler]

When I was 7 I suffered a really bad ankle sprain running around during break between classes. I was living with my grandparents at the time and they did not have a telephone of any sort, mainline or otherwise. So the school nurse simply said its fine for me to leave early for the day, and I hobbled home the half mile to my house on one leg. Nobody batted an eye. Of course this was not the US though.

[Quintus Curtius]

7 is probably too young, but I don't think this deserves a felony charge. At worst, the officer should give her a stern warning, or maybe an ordinance violation for some low-level misdemeanor.

A cell phone is not a surrogate parent, despite what the woman says.

[Sp5]

When I was six-and-a-half I was walking ten blocks to school and back, including crossing a six-lane divided boulevard at a crosswalk.

After school, my friends and I spent hours playing unsupervised outside around the neighborhood outside our parent's view.

When I was eight I was taking the subway downtown.

[The Beast1]

I would walk to my neighbor friend's house a block away. We would go into the wood's near the houses.

The police need to just f*ck off in this case. Ironically, as a child I was afraid of the police. I will let me future children to never talk to the police unless they explicitly need help. A cop trying to "help" when one doesn't need help is well tyranny.

[Samseau]

Fucked up world to have arrested that mom.

[monster]

This is a case of SJW "good Samaritans" thinking they're doing "the right thing" by calling the cops when they see a kid alone in a playground.

Im really beginning to hate so-called good Samaritans as 95% of the time they do more harm than good when they're own shit stinks just as much.

[kinjutsu]

I think 7yrs is a little young to be going to the park by themselves but arresting her over it is crazy. It's definitely not neglect.

[Renzy]

Glad I was born in the 70s.

The sad part is this sort of thing will just reinforce helicopter parenting. Because even those parents who want to give their kids more autonomy will now have to consider that they could get arrested for doing so.

[Switch]

We live in a fucked up world that someone should even have to worry about their child going to the park alone. Should you let your 7-year-old go to the park alone in this day and age? Probably not. Not worth a felony charge, maybe just a "hey, fucking watch your kid." But still--7 billion people in this world there's bound to be some creepers.

[kosko]

(07-30-2014 12:26 PM)Malekhit Wrote:  

(07-30-2014 12:16 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  

1. You mentioned that you weren't allowed out of your parents' sight at seven years of age and that's what I was commenting on.

2. The kid in the story has a cell phone. It's easy enough to quickly check up on him.

Mine had to call people on landlines.

@1. I just assumed that you were going to friends house only.

@2. If you ever got mugged you know cellphone is only good as a brick. You can't go excuse me mr. evil I will call my parents/police first.

If the kid is safe it's easy to check up on him, but if someone will do to him you will not know until midnight because he is wondering around park. At that time it's to late to even gather witnesses.

Stop being a concern troll.

What bum is going to mug a kid with no money?

Whom would do him harm? There's people lurking in the bushes or what?

It's summer so likely people are out walking there dogs and shit. Also since it's summer it doesn't get dark till 10 which is more then enough time to play. In the summer is be expected to be home around 8pm-9pm when the sun was starting to then orange and set.

It's your type of reasoning as to why men these days grow up getting bloody noses breathing in some outside air. I see little kids these days and they all look disabled from being sheltered inside with iPads.

Once you can ride your bike a kid is getting his freedom pass to explore. These are mess art steps for them to mature and grow. He won't get no pussy, win no fights, or just understand boundaries and limits in general if he isn't allowed to explore and understand his world.

[Dantes]

Parenting is scrutinized like never before. Society reinforces helicopter parenting. As much as this overprotective parenting annoys me, I have some empathy for parents of today's age in trying to live up to these ideals. Parents and schools are blamed way too much for the actions of children and teenagers. We are raising a generation who never learns to be accountable for their actions

Seven now is much different than in the 70s and 80s when we had more autonomy at a younger age. Legal actions seems too severe. We don't need to waste more legal/court time on something like this.

[Cattle Rustler]

Man, for once I'm glad I live in a town that banned sex offenders from living here and has a shitload of cops who pull over everyone.

It depends, yeah...it's a bit over the top, but with weird as mofos roaming the streets nowadays it's weird being a kid. Not to mention that back in the day people knew how to drive, in 2014 drivers are distracted by everything and don't pay attention to the road.

Would I like my imaginary child to be ran over by a cellphone checking driver or get taken by a pedo van? Nope.

Even then, one can tell the child to not go with strangers nor talk to them.....but it's not like you can stop the stranger.

[weambulance]

People keep talking about "these days" like it's more dangerous now or something. In actuality crime is a lower than it was in the 80s and 90s. It's just we are constantly bombarded by fear mongering news so everybody thinks if they ever walk down a dark alley they're going to end up a skin suit in some serial killer's closet.

I agree 7 is a year or two too young to be wandering all over, but I was walking to and from school starting in 1st grade. By 3rd or 4th grade, 8 or 9, I was biking to town on my own or with friends (1.5 miles) as long as I told my parents what I was up to.

Anyway, a fucking felony charge? Whoever came up with that should be tarred and feathered. Everything is a felony these days, it's beyond ridiculous and just one more reason to GTFO of the US before your life is ruined because you didn't sort your recycling and some tree hugging douche decides that's a felony offense too.