this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2024
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"A few days later, DFCS presented Patterson with a "safety plan" for her to sign. It would require her to delegate a "safety person" to be a "knowing participant and guardian" and watch over the children whenever she leaves home. The plan would also require Patterson to download an app onto her son's phone allowing for his location to be monitored. (The day when it will be illegal not to track one's kids is rapidly approaching.)"

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago

You don't want the Dutch scenario to happen. Children as young as 6 are joining bike gangs that hog half the trail width and don't bother to step down in pedestrian zones!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 days ago

The absolute state of the U.S. A thousand years of shame would not be enough

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

10 year old is too young to walk alone to town but 16 year old can be trusted with a car.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The car is the difference. If they could ban walking everywhere, they would. Who knows, maybe they will

https://lemmy.world/c/fuckcars

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

This is my third time coming across this topic today. I was waiting for additional information, but I wonder if there is any history there. Maybe the sheriff has been feuding with the family for a while and wanted to use this as an opportunity to exert dominance. Maybe they suspect the kid has truly been causing trouble and so are using this as an opportunity to track the kid and see.

Overall, seems like an overreaction, especially in small town USA.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

Looks like Georgia DOES have a "Reasonable Childhood Independence" law...

https://letgrow.org/states/

So cops are ignorant or just don't care?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"She kept mentioning how he could have been run over, or kidnapped or 'anything' could have happened," recalls Patterson.

Might have even had Police Contact and that's dangerous as FUCK.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

How is that different from what anyone faces when they go out?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Yeah, why isn't anyone clutching their pearls when I walk my dog twice a day? I'm in the street, on the sidewalk , I even cross medians. And I have a large dog, so I could theoretically be attacked by a large dog. "Anything" could happen.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

America, fuck yeah!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

Huh? What the actual fuck?

[–] [email protected] 56 points 2 days ago (7 children)

This is insane. When exactly is a permissible age for kids to be walking about on their own?

Things are absolutely different today than they were when I was a kid. My parents never had any idea where I was. They simply said "be home by dinner" and I was home by dinner. Did we get into trouble? Absolutely. But that's part of being kids.

Fast forward to today. My partner and I don't see eye to eye on this because of how things feel so unsafe now. I know how valuable that independence was for me though, so I tend towards permissiveness.

The thing is, kids still walk to school in all kinds of localities. I remember walking to school on a much busier road than the one described in this article. The worst I ever encountered was teenagers throwing eggs once. (Haha. They missed.) And yeah, drivers may hit you. I get it. The government can help mitigate that with better planning and sidewalks, if they actually cared.

But a tracking app too!? Where the government can know my kids location?! That presumes my children even have a phone with a mobile plan, which is a privilege the government isn't paying for. And if they did, @#$& you government! Seriously. WTF?!

I'm both flabbergasted and not. Because, these days, I pretty much only expect fuckery. I wish that weren't the case. I often hope it isn't. And I love being surprised when it's not the case. But 🤬!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Where I'm from, most kids start walking/biking/taking a bus to school from the 1st grade.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

I live on the same street as an elementary school, I see dozens of 3rd-5th graders walking to school every morning. Really confused about why this person was singled out.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago

It's not unsafe... It's never been safer.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I wouldn't mind having USPS offer cellular service and Internet, as a service. Bring back basic banking at the post office too. Solid revenue streams for the USPS and cuts out the cancer of ISPs and cell companies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Easy to monitor too. 😏

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

I babysat younger kids at 13 while the parents went out and got back after midnight. Nowadays I think leaving a 13 year old alone would get someone in trouble much less have them be the one watching the other kids.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

This is insane. When exactly is a permissible age for kids to be walking about on their own?

In Georgia, probably 30.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I was around this kid’s age when I was at a friend’s house for a sleep over and we decided to leave his house at 2 am and go downtown and see what was happening. We had big backpacks full of stuff because we were 10 and it was an adventure. Cops drove by and looked at us as they drove by and didn’t slow down. And the town was a whole hell of a lot bigger than the 370 population of this one. There were also a lot of people likely to be stumbling out of the downtown bars at 2 am, but I don't remember anything other than the cops driving by and looking at us. Apparently Indiana cops back then didn't think it was all that big a deal.

But things have changed for kids since the 1980s and, in cases like this, not for the better.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If anything, the cops should have been more on the ball in your case. I would have been grateful as a parent. Bring the kid home and let it end there. What happened in this article is describing something so very far on the other side of the pendulum. Good grief.

As for me, I managed to stay out of sight of the police. And I will admit that there are times when the police would have had very very good reason to take me downtown. 😬 I can't even count how many times the cops brought my older brother home. But in every case, it ended there.

I'm guessing the cops want to make sure kids are better controlled these days that way they can more effectively shoot other innocent kids with all that extra free time they have.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

It was the 80s. They were probably just glad we were just walking through downtown with backpacks on and not taking a hit off a homeless man's crack pipe without heeding Nancy Reagan's warning about saying no.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The other side of the coin is when kids are legitimately getting abused and it gets brushed off as a kid "acting out".

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Europeans who's children go to school alone at 6 would be laughing their ass off if this wasn't such outrageous bs

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There are cities all over the U.S. where American children walk to school alone.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

And in this case, it wasn't even a city. Just a town of 370!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

These dumb fucks should come out where I live. Little kids younger than that walking much farther than that to school alone.

Because we're fucking normal here.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I was thinking the same thing. Where I live most kids walk to school as we have limited bus’ and very accessible walking paths. Things just freaking nuts.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I remember days around that age where I'd bike much further than that alone.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago
  1. The State requires Adults to be responsible for Children until they are at the end of the age of Legal custody, these ages vary, but it's usually 18 years old

  2. It it very difficult for The State to determine which activities done without Adult supervision are safe for children, I mean, just look at the Catholic Church

  3. The State is a hammer, everything it sees is a nail

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