JCC Mother of 9 year old arrested for letting her child play in park

And those are well reasoned, responsible answers. But I think everyone also realizes that there is a world of difference between allowing your child to walk over to their friend's house alone to go play, and having them hang out in a public place for 8-9 hours for days at a time. Especially when you're separated from the child and/or generally unavailable. And also especially when other, more reasonable options were available.Out of all the options, choosing to leave a child alone in a public park is the least responsible one.

This parent shouldn't be blamed for the overall situation, but she is responsible for the choices relating to her child. Especially since this seems like it would be a textbook damned if you do, damned if you don't reaction had people not gotten involved. The woman who called the police was reacting to a child left alone in park after taking an interest in the child's well being. Then, no police officer is simply going to leave a 9 year old child alone in a park after being called. Then, no child protection agency is going to immediately return a child to a parent without conducting an investigation. So where does this leave the parent? Where does it leave the responsibilities of the public agencies?

Leaving your child alone in a park for 9 hours is not a reasonable choice, and it's not reasonable to just assume she would fend for herself when it comes to things like lunch and other necessities. I just think the same people here who are faulting the caller and the public agencies for reacting to this, would turn around and fault the police or social services even more if they didn't take any action. Heaven forbid if anything did happen to this girl- the initial story wouldn't have been what it was, it would have been "Why didn't social services intercede to protect this girl?"

 

By the way, almost nobody thinks that the $15 minimum wage in Seattle is a good idea, especially given the Sea-Tac experiment, except for a few "wingnut types" in that city. And potentially Occupy.

 

I honestly don't know what it would be like to be a single parent earning minimum wage without any extended family to turn to in need. You would think these would be the people that communities would be most interested in helping. Unless you've lived that life or maybe are a social services employee who serves low income families you may have no idea what kind of parenting choices they have to make on a daily basis.

 

As a parent I would never ever leave a child that young in a park or really any public place like that.
That is child endangerment no matter how many times its been done successfully before.

I once saw kids, including small ones, running around on their own. There was no adult in sight and some of the smaller ones were venturing off into a park on their own. Some time passed I called the cops and the first thing out of the officer's mouth after I described the situation was, "And with the amount of pedophiles out there looking for unwatched kids .."

Once a kid is more teen than kid (12?) that's a different story.

Despite all that I feel for the mom. Taking your kids to work/near work is a tradition of necessity among the poor.
She should not have been in that position.

 

I would also like to call the police any time I see a parent bringing a child under 8 years old to an R rated horror movie, or to any movie where the theater volume has been set loud enough to cause hearing damage. I know in these cases the child technically has adult supervision. But only technically.

 

Should go back to early August start and late May end. Late August start is ridiculous - they only get one full week in, the first week, and then they're off the very next Monday for Labor Day - but that's not the primary reason I think this. What if we get another winter like the past one? (Yeah, yeah, yeah - probably some overreaction to the weather by some districts in Southern states, but still.) My district only had five snow days built into the calendar, and because of both actual snow/ice and the cold snaps in January, they lost seven days and were intending to take two of those days out of Easter break until parents complained. Mom said once, "The state/school district should just forgive snow days like they used to" when she and Dad were in high school back in the '80s here in NC.

 

My son starts on August 21, and I think that's perfect. I think it's nice that they start, then have a holiday weekend... makes easing back into school more manageable for both parents and kids.

 

Did the spring semester end in May, then? The LAUSD has had a similar system now for a few years, one that was dramatically different from my school days there; if I had to go back to elementary/middle/high school in oppressive heat of August, I would have so loathed that; there's some thing good to be said, I think, about having to start after Labor Day.

 

For me, yes. All the way from K through 6th in was early August start/late May end. I'm not exactly sure how long it was like that, though. I think it may have been late August/early June for some time, then they switched to early August/late May when I was in elementary, and then back to late August/early June. But, like I said, I'm not entirely positive. anakinfansince1983 might know.

 

Yeah.... **** off, assface.

 

You know there's a number of times when I'm obviously being sarcastic and you take it seriously. As in, maybe 5. I had such high expectations of you, too.

 

I was being sarcastic, as well, bonehead.

 

Each time?

 

The two of your are just about the JCC's version of these two:


.


Maybe.

 

I don't know... I'd have to know what you were talking about in order to answer that question. It was a joke post... relax.

 

Tunick who the actual **** are they and why would you assume anyone who is not terrible would know who they are?

 

I live in Virginia. Schools in the Tidwater/Hampton Rhodes/Whatever you want to call it, area start the day after Labor Day.

You can guess why.

 

isnt the guy on the left one of those militia guys from the 70s in new york city who used to go around with like baseball bats patrolling for muggers? the avenging angels or something?

 

Guardian Angels. Note the Illuminati patch on the left ("sinister", dontcha know) breast.

 

Guardian Angels were awesome.

 

Kuby is a little easier to identify...

With Sliwa you can tell what organization he's in from the clothing and there's only one well-known member

 

At least some folks got that reference; I might be the only person anywhere who misses their MSNBC show.