Child Neglect???

[DanC78]

So the bus stop for the elementary school picks up the neighborhood kids at the end of the street.

I’ve recently noticed that when my neighbors kids get off the bus in the afternoon, there is no adult there to walk them home.

They are the only kids at this stop as well, so that means there are zero adults around period. The bus drops them off at the foot of the road leading into our neighborhood, and the road that intersects with our neighborhood is a very busy one loaded with strangers watching.

So what do you think...child neglect or good parenting?

FYI...my house sits at the top of the hill looking straight down the street and where the bus drops off. My office window looks out over the neighborhood so that I can see all that is going on. Nothing gets by me, I’m like a Hawk!

 

[DFSNOLE]

I know it's a different world today but I walked nearly 3/4 of a mile to elementary school everyday. Are these kids in kindergarten or 5th grade? Makes a difference IMO.

I think kids need to start to learn to be self sufficient earlier than many of the parents today.

 

[DanC78]

Oh yeah...I would say kids are probably in 2nd grade

 

[DFSNOLE]

Is there someone at home when they get there? I like the fact these kids are being taught responsibility at a young age.

 

[DanC78]

I know it's a different world today but I walked nearly 3/4 of a mile to elementary school everyday. Are these kids in kindergarten or 5th grade? Makes a difference IMO.

I think kids need to start to learn to be self sufficient earlier than many of the parents today.

Me too...never once, not one time did my parents pick me up or drive me too. From 4th grade through middle school my parents didn’t wake me up for school and were rarely home in the afternoon .

 

[runkpanole]

I know it's a different world today but I walked nearly 3/4 of a mile to elementary school everyday. Are these kids in kindergarten or 5th grade? Makes a difference IMO.

I think kids need to start to learn to be self sufficient earlier than many of the parents today.

I was going to say the same thing. I use to walk back and forth to the bus stop all the time. That said, we had a ton of kids in the hood and usually at least one parent was around somewhere.

But, like you said, it is a different world.

 

[AdNole]

So the bus stop for the elementary school picks up the neighborhood kids at the end of the street.

I’ve recently noticed that when my neighbors kids get off the bus in the afternoon, there is no adult there to walk them home.

They are the only kids at this stop as well, so that means there are zero adults around period. The bus drops them off at the foot of the road leading into our neighborhood, and the road that intersects with our neighborhood is a very busy one loaded with strangers watching.

So what do you think...child neglect or good parenting?

FYI...my house sits at the top of the hill looking straight down the street and where the bus drops off. My office window looks out over the neighborhood so that I can see all that is going on. Nothing gets by me, I’m like a Hawk!

When my kids rode the bus in Forsythe County only 5th graders could walk home without a parent. Our bus driver would not let a kid off the bus without their parent there or another approved parent with a letter on file.

 

[MIKE_G]

I'm pretty sure the school allows kids to be dropped off without an adult present if the parent/guardian provides a note that it's ok, even at the grade school level. I meet my kids at the bus stop and they're in 2nd grade. I'd be ok having them walking home the 200 or so feet if my wife or I were unable to meet them. They have a key. I wouldn't want them to be home alone for an extended period of time at this age, but if I was running late (which has happened as I'm coming directly from work), it would be ok. I would just hope nosey neighbors like DanC78 wouldn't call protective services on me.

 

[DanC78]

I'm pretty sure the school allows kids to be dropped off without an adult present if the parent/guardian provides a note that it's ok, even at the grade school level. I meet my kids at the bus stop and they're in 2nd grade. I'd be ok having them walking home the 200 or so feet if my wife or I were unable to meet them. They have a key. I wouldn't want them to be home alone for an extended period of time at this age, but if I was running late (which has happened as I'm coming directly from work), it would be ok. I would just hope nosey neighbors like DanC78 wouldn't call protective services on me.

Im not nosey...I’m more of a Angel watching over the hood, making sure everyone is safe.

 

[ericram]

Im not nosey...I’m more of a Angel watching over the hood, making sure everyone is safe.

Sounds like you have it covered then.

I walked home and was home alone from 2 grade on. It was just what you had to do.

 

[MIKE_G]

Im not nosey...I’m more of a Angel watching over the hood, making sure everyone is safe.

So who's watching the guy who's watching the kids walking home from the bus stop?

 

[cfbfan23]

Im not nosey...I’m more of a Angel watching over the hood, making sure everyone is safe.

An angel with a trench coat and a bag of candy.

 

[fsu1jreed]

I know it's a different world today but I walked nearly 3/4 of a mile to elementary school everyday.

Yep, I was attending McNamara Elementary in Houston and from ~2nd grade on I had to walk the ~.5 mile to school, crossing on Fondren rd (even back in the late 70's/early 80s the traffic was unreal).

 

[DanC78]

So here is what made me post about this.

It is very true that I see these girls get off the bus and walk home by themselves. And it's weird that I when I see this happen I instantly get a little protective and worried for them. As I mentioned above, I walked to and from school all the time and my parents weren't around in the morning or afternoon.

Second, I saw that Utah just passed a bill yesterday allowing parents "free range" parenting. Which basically means kids can walk from the bus stop home by themselves, stay at home by themselves, and raise their kids the same our parents raised us without fear of being in trouble with the local po-po.

Just amazing to me how much the world has changed. And even with people like me...wild.

 

[DanC78]

here is the article.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/utah-free-range-parenting-law_us_5ab8b3dce4b0decad04b91c7

 

[TallyNole93]

Agree with DFS. It is a new day, and society is different, but I too walked to school. No parent escort from 3rd grade through high school. On weekends we would be gone all day. Parents would say "Be home when the street lights come on".

 

[ericram]

So here is what made me post about this.

It is very true that I see these girls get off the bus and walk home by themselves. And it's weird that I when I see this happen I instantly get a little protective and worried for them. As I mentioned above, I walked to and from school all the time and my parents weren't around in the morning or afternoon.

Second, I saw that Utah just passed a bill yesterday allowing parents "free range" parenting. Which basically means kids can walk from the bus stop home by themselves, stay at home by themselves, and raise their kids the same our parents raised us without fear of being in trouble with the local po-po.

Just amazing to me how much the world has changed. And even with people like me...wild.

How has the world changed? I was "free range" growing up as were most of my friends. I guess you are right, the US has changed in that it became more protective over kids (not that it was a bad thing) than in the past.

 

[Nole Lou]

I've let my kids walk to and from the bus themselves after kindergarten or first grade. Granted, the bus stop is about two houses away, so if they had to cross a busy road or something I might have accompanied them longer. I didn't know you were "supposed" to walk your kids to and from the bus doors or you were a bad parent.

I was home early a week or to ago, and I do think it's weird that I still see parents meeting their eight graders off the bus, when they live like three houses away from the bus stop. But I guess what's the harm.

I got a nasty email when my son was in the 4th grade because he was in a program he had to be at school like a half hour early, and I let him get out of the car and cross one lane of the empty parking lot himself instead of getting out and walking him to the door. I was hopping on a public bus and going downtown at about that age, and knew a lot of kids taking a public bus to school every day, but that was 30+ years ago.

I don't know. I guess it's all in a good cause and nothing is more important than keeping kids safe. But I do tend to lean toward letting them be at least minimally self-sufficient and confident in their ability to cross a street or something. But I guess that's easy to say until something happens.

 

[rustyb93]

Here's a 3 year old article, but the message is currently the same, or very similar. Children are safer now than they have been in decades. They are much less likely to be abducted.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...o-be-a-kid-in-america/?utm_term=.7429c987d345

 

[FSUdawg]

My daughter walks to school and home every day, but it is required by the school for me to walk her into the building and pick her up at the door at the end of the day. Since we are across a rather busy street, without a crosswalk or light, I would walk her across that street and let her go, if I were allowed to.

The bus here drops kids off without parents around, but it is in the neighborhood. I am surprised a bus would drop off kids at the entrance to the neighborhood without at least one parent being present.

 

[seminoledq]

I thought this was going to be another Ryche-bashing thread.

DanC how does your boss feel about your voyeuristic tendencies when "working from home"?

 

[Hayduke GW]

I thought this was going to be another Ryche-bashing thread.

NEVER FORGET

 

[FSUTribe76]

Im not nosey...I’m more of a Angel watching over the hood, making sure everyone is safe.

 

[Cribbs]

Speaking from a person who works in the Florida Chld Dependency system for the last 14 years, there really isn’t a set age and it just depends on the child’s intellectual capacity.

 

[FreeFlyNole]

You should capture, molest and sell them into sexual slavery just to show their parents it could happen.

Or just mind your own business.

Whatever. Your choice.

 

[DanC78]

You should capture, molest and sell them into sexual slavery just to show their parents it could happen.

Or just mind your own business.

Whatever. Your choice.

My goodness Dude

 

[seminole97]

But, like you said, it is a different world.

I thought it was a safer world by just about every metric.

 

[DanC78]

I thought it was a safer world by just about every metric.

Isn’t slavery more prominent now than its been at any point in history?

 

[seminole97]

Isn’t slavery more prominent now than its been at any point in history?

Probably not.
1850 census pegged US population at 23,191,876— total population included 3,204,313 slaves.

That’d be close to 43 million slaves in the U.S. with today’s population.

I’m taking the under.

 

[SeaPA]

As with many here, when I was a kid everyone in the area was dropped off at the bus stop & walked home - whether home was right by the stop, or a long walk down a dirt road or path to the house (it was, for the most part, a rural area). Then about 10 years after I graduated from high school, a 12 year old girl never made it home, found dead in an orange grove a few days later. I knew/know a lot of her family quite well. Her murder's never been solved, and since 25 years have lapsed it likely never will be.
It changed a lot of thoughts & attitudes around here.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Probably not.
1850 census pegged US population at 23,191,876— total population included 3,204,313 slaves.

That’d be close to 43 million slaves in the U.S. with today’s population.

I’m taking the under.

The world encompasses more than just the US.

 

[seminole97]

The world encompasses more than just the US.

Yeah, but they outlawed it there too.

I get that there are slave markets in Libya since some idiots toppled their government, but by and large I’d expect to find fewer slaves in Africa, India or China than 150 years ago.

 

[FSUTribe76]

The world encompasses more than just the US.

False!

 

[DanC78]

"Although there are more people in slavery today than ever before, slavery represents the smallest percentage of the world's population than at any other time in history."

https://www.freetheslaves.net/about-slavery/slavery-today/

 

[DanC78]

As with many here, when I was a kid everyone in the area was dropped off at the bus stop & walked home - whether home was right by the stop, or a long walk down a dirt road or path to the house (it was, for the most part, a rural area). Then about 10 years after I graduated from high school, a 12 year old girl never made it home, found dead in an orange grove a few days later. I knew/know a lot of her family quite well. Her murder's never been solved, and since 25 years have lapsed it likely never will be.
It changed a lot of thoughts & attitudes around here.

That’s some real shizzz.

I’m not judging the neighbor or anyone else for that matter who’s kids walk home by themselves, I had almost zero parental supervision from 8-15 years old.

But it’s hard to read tour post and think about it being my kid. I’ll do the best I can to meet at bus stop or have neighbor who watches for me...something.

 

[seminole97]

slavery represents the smallest percentage of the world's population than at any other time in history."

That’s what I figured.

 

[noleclone2]

To me, traffic is more of concern kidnapping. If super busy road, no sidewalks, little iffy on kids in second grade on their own. I do find the comment “loaded with strangers watching” pretty funny in a warped view point of all sorts of people hiding and waiting.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

False!

That shirt is awesome.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I well remember when Adam Walsh got snatched as it wasn't too far from me and he was just a few years younger.

It freaked me out and I kept having nightmares about getting kidnapped.

 

[FSUTribe76]

That shirt is awesome.

I agree, if I could find it for sale I’d totally get it. Just for S&Gs on the Fourth.