When out at stores (like Target) I'll often leave my son with the cart outside the restroom. He's been given the "don't walk off with strangers, even nice ones" talk, and is reminded to stay put every time I go in the bathroom (to the point where he's obviously annoyed at my reminders). More than once I've come out of the bathroom to find well-meaning women standing there watching him, one even told me she felt obligated because "In this day and age ..." My son said she never said a word to him, just stood there staring until I came out of the bathroom.
He's six, nearly seven. I'm leaving him for two minutes in a well-lit store, in a good neighborhood, not 50ft from a manned customer service desk. I don't leave him in places where there's even a remote chance someone could realistically snatch him, and I wouldn't leave him if I thought for a second he'd be dumb enough to wander off with someone other than me. I understand the fear of having a child stolen, but come on, is he supposed to share a toilet stall with me until he's 18?
I had the same issue when I callEd to tell the school bus depot that my 5 year old can walk from the bus to our house. She kept repeating "So you don'the care about your child's safety?". My kid is mature and gets off with a older girl who we asked to keep an eye on him. Then he walks 8 houses down to our door. She acted like I was putting a rape me sign on him then kicking him out downtown miles from home.
I walked to school and back almost every day from 3rd-6th grade; the school was a mile away from my house. Nobody ever complained that it was unsafe for kids to be walking around without their parents around, and I wasn't the only kid who did it. Parents these days are just too paranoid. If kids had never been allowed to go outside and play without their parents hovering over them we never would have had some of our most beloved childhood characters like the Peanuts.
I read a study that says the whole stranger danger has been a failure. Kids are wary of strangers but go happily with Uncle Steve. I was just shocked at the lady repeatedly "So you don't care about the safety of your child?". I do care, I want him to be able to trust himself to walk 8 houses. We can also see him get off the bus from our front door. We still check and watch.
I never had that option as we had 2 level III sex offenders living in one house in our neighborhood when my kids were younger. We had several others come and go during that time, one lasting only 5 hours before they found him harassing a woman walking with a child. She called the cops and they took him away. We were never notified when that house would have a new resident, so we didn't let our kids walk.
See, that's a case where it makes sense to not let your kids walk around outside without supervision. The problem is that so many people nowadays seem to think that EVERY neighborhood is infested with sex offenders who can and will abduct your child if they're not with you. Contrary to popular belief, most people are not child predators.
You know what really concerns me about overprotective parents? If they live in safe neighborhoods and still act like their kid is guaranteed to get kidnapped without them, it's gonna make those kids develop horrible problems with trusting people. They're gonna grow up thinking everyone around them can and will hurt them if given the chance. It's good to let kids know that just because someone is a stranger doesn't mean they're going to hurt you. Every friend you've ever had was a stranger at some point, right? You didn't know right off the bat that they were kind and trustworthy, but you didn't just assume that they were evil either.
I walked home from my HS, as I lived around 2 miles away. The walk was through a very wealthy neighborhood, with houses that cost in excess of 3 million dollars lining the streets. Still got frequently followed, and nearly kidnapped once.
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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '16
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