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Is making your 10 and 12 year old walk 3 miles home child endangerment?
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:07 pm
by Wintermute
Police: Mom ordered daughters out, drove off
Combined with the outrage over
letting a 9-year-old ride the subway alone I have to wonder if these kids aren't being terribly coddled. I know at 10 I regularly walked a few miles home from school, and at 12 had a bus pass and was allowed to go pretty much wherever I wanted.
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:23 pm
by mordraine
I'd say it depends on where you are -- i.e. in the middle of an urban area (like downtown San Diego) would be bad. Rural areas, not such a big deal. In general I'm kinda with you about coddling. But this mom basically abandoned her kids to fend for themselves, on top of which they probably didn't know the route home (three miles doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're 10 years old, it might as well be 20 miles). I'm inclined to think that what she did was inappropriate.
'Course, we only know the parts of the story that were reported by the press. It sounds like there are details we don't know about, so I can't condemn the mother outright.
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:48 pm
by Count Zero
[quote="Wintermute"][url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30344675/]Police: Mom ordered daughters out, drove off[/url]
Combined with the outrage over [url=http://www.nysun.com/news/why-i-let-my-9-year-old-ride-subway-alone]letting a 9-year-old ride the subway alone[/url] I have to wonder if these kids aren't being terribly coddled. I know at 10 I regularly walked a few miles home from school, and at 12 had a bus pass and was allowed to go pretty much wherever I wanted.[/quote]
Three miles sounds like a bit much for a little kid. Of course, we like to think we walked really far as kids, but what seems like a huge distance to a little kid, is probably not that far. I always think I walked huge distances as a kid, but the fact of the matter is, I probably didn't walk that far. It just seemed like a long distance.
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:16 pm
by mordraine
In my freshman & sophomore high school years my friends and I would ride our bikes to the next town over to go to Pizza Hut. According to Google Maps, that's about a 20 mile ride one way. Yikes! And my parents let me do it! This was in New Hampshire.
Also, in 4th grade, the walk to school was 1.5 miles. Apparently, according to my mother, we were just barely inside the range to qualify for a bus ride to school, so we had to walk.
It was also uphill. Both ways. In the snow.
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:32 pm
by Sven
I grew up in Fargo North Dakota. It was less than a mile walk to school. However on occasion I had to walk in -40 degree (F) weather.
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 10:42 am
by Digital Boy
I regularly walked 2 miles to and from school when I was 10 years old, crossing a busy 6 lane main road (E. Valley Parkway) at a crosswalk.
I applaud her for not putting up with their shit and teaching them an object lesson in respecting parental authority.
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:24 pm
by ExiledPrince
13-14 would be ok as long as it's during a busy time when there will be other people around to see if something happens AND the kid is dependable AND the route is very fixed AND there is someone waiting at home for them.