ndrosen

There are several articles in Reason by the estimable Lenore Skenazy which I recommend reading. In one case, after a car hit and killed their seven year old son, his parents are being charged for letting him walk to the store. When I was five years old, I walked to first grade at Easterly Parkway Elementary School, which involved crossing a street. This was normal and accepted at the time. I wasn’t supposed to cross the slightly wider and busier street on which I lived, but one day, caught up in conversation with a couple of friends, I crossed along them. While they headed to their homes, I faced a dilemma. Being a generally good and cautious little boy, I didn’t want to cross the street without someone to cross me, but I could hardly stay on the wrong side forever, so I looked carefully in all directions, and crossed the street on my own. If, somehow, I had failed to spot a car, or dashed out in front of one, it would have been tragic, but I really do not think that my parents would have been prosecuted for letting me walk home on my own.

In another case, a mother has been arrested, and is facing five years in prison for leaving her eight and ten year old boys at home. This article includes a link to contribute to the woman’s legal defense, through Parents USA.

This kind of thing didn’t use to be criminal. I remember that when I was about ten, my parents left me at home in charge of my younger siblings, and promised me a dollar for doing so. The blond brats behaved badly, and I ostentatiously swallowed my first adult aspirin. My father refused to pay me the dollar, which I resented; he held me responsible for my younger brother acting out, although he had not given me the authority to discipline the nasty little twerp. All this was just a little family drama, though, not grounds for a criminal prosecution.