Another Mom arrested for allowing child to play and walk, gasp, ALONE!
How many of our parents and grandparents would have been in jail back in the good ol’ days?
(DailyCaller) A Florida mother says she is bewildered after she was arrested and charged with child neglect for letting her son walk to a nearby park alone.
“I’m totally dumbfounded by this whole situation…”
Just a few days ago, another similar story:
Plenty of working parents can relate to the dilemma Debra Harrell faced when her 9-year-old daughter asked to play unsupervised in a park this summer. How do you find the time and money for child care when school is out?
Harrell’s answer to that question got her arrested. She spent 17 days in jail, temporarily lost custody of her girl, thought she lost her job, and still faces 10 years in prison if convicted of felony child neglect…
More: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sc-moms-arrest-sparks-child-care-debate-24745801
I can’t wait to hear what America’s Worst Mom thinks about this latest story! UPDATE: Lenore Skenazy posted at Reason just a few hours ago:
…Never mind that research has shown living on the same block as a registered sex offender does not make kids less safe. It seems the cops bought into the idea that predators are everywhere, always waiting to pounce, and simply because the worst could happen—no matter how extremely unlikely—children can never be left unsupervised in well-lit, popular public parks.
Let me reiterate here that these arrests are uncommon—that’s why they make the news—and should not dissuade parents from sending their kids to play. On the contrary, the more kids running around outside again, the more normal it will seem, and perhaps these excessive fears will subside.
Or else we’ll be living under a de facto policy of No Child Left Outside. (Read her full post here.)
Watch Reason’s interview with Lenore Skenazy: