Absent Parents at Playground!?!

I understand that helicopter parents need to justify their restrictive parenting but you are way off on this. That child would have either walked home or to their nearest friends house without your over the top intervention.

My kids ran around our subdivision since they were four. No one kidnapped them, they came home if they were hurt, and they never went in a friends house without calling first to give me the location.

I can't speak for a park because there are no parks within walking distance. My ex's new house backs up to a park, had we lived there I would have had no problem letting my kids play there with their friends.
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The biggest difference between now and then, well it is still this way in my subdivision, is we looked out for each other's kids without making anyone feel bad if their kid happened to get the biggest injury of the day.
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Um, yeah, walking home, wasn't like it was his leg though I am pretty sure my kids would have figured out how to get home with a broken leg as well.

You are attributing your personality and that of your kids to a child you don't know. Not every kid is like yours, thankfully most of us know our kids ability. Just because it looks wrong to you doesn't mean it is in fact wrong.

What has always floored me about helicopters is that they have no problems telling us everything we do wrong yet I have yet to see anyone like me go up to a helicopter and say you are hovering! Keep your attitude to yourself and I can assure you people will keep theirs to themselves as well.

11 moms found this helpful

Well, many children fall and break things every single day WHILE MOM OR DAD IS LOOKING RIGHT AT THEM. So I'd like to hear this boy's mom's side of the story before I judge.

I REALLY wish we could all just give each other a freaking break already.

:(

8 moms found this helpful

i'm so tired of the battle lines.
we can all find extreme examples to support our parenting styles. and everyone is feels just so justified and so very RIGHT by pointing out how awful all *those* parents are.
you just don't know. you don't know if that little boy's parents just got the news that one of them has terminal cancer and they were sitting there in shock. their attention got distracted for a second and off he went. kids do that.
you don't know if that mom on the cell phone not pushing her kid on the swing is talking to her mortgage company who is getting ready to foreclose on her house.
my son broke his wrist on a friend's trampoline, a block away. he broke it again driving his go-kart in our backyard. i was not right there for the one, and standing right there for the other.
i wish everyone would stop putting themselves on pedestals about what wonderful parents they are. i'll bet i did dozens of things that even you who like me wouldn't do. and i have zero doubt that i could pick holes in any single one of your parenting styles.
just knock it off.
khairete
S.

7 moms found this helpful

I called 911 for the very first time over the summer because there was a 3 year old little girl at the park by herself. She was there for AT LEAST an hour before people started leaving and I realized none of the moms were hers. It was getting late, dark and chilly. I had put a coat on my daughter and hung out a good 30 minutes longer than I wanted to. Not 5 minutes before the cop got there her dad came down from nearby apartments and took her home, telling me this was the third time she'd "snuck out" in the last few months. Really?? Snuck out??? Yeah, those 3 year olds are stealthy... C'mon!

7 moms found this helpful

Who the hell does this to a child? My oldest is 4 and I don't even let him stand outside in the backyard by himself. If we are outside and I have to run inside to get something, I make him come with me and stand at the door. Playgrounds are hard because I am chasing my 21 month old daughter around but I always have my eye on my boy. And if I have my mom with me at the playground, we each take a kid to watch and I will follow my son around. I helicopter parent, I know it. But I also enjoy being with my kids. I don't know how old my kids will be when I am comfortable with them doing things without an adult, but it will be a long time!

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My parents (mom) never came with me to the park/playground.
I either walked or took the bus to/from school.
This was rural/suburban Iowa, in the 70's.
Back when they still had kiddie/wading pools in the park.
Sure there were creeps and weirdos but I suppose my friends and I had what a lot of kids lack these days: common sense!!!
I don't think I left my kids alone in a park until they were at least 8 or 9 but they sure as Hell knew how to spot a creepy character. I made sure of that from day one.

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FINALLY!! another parent who isnt a member of the "let the kids fend for themselves club", unfortunately, because, the uninvolved parents vastly un number the involved parents, WE get the "gee, will you push me on the swing? will you help me? can i have a snack ?wheres my momma?", i cant tell you how many times i have been glared at by the un involved parents because i bring a snack for my child, pick her up when she slips and falls, STAY and PLAY with my child rather then walk off and leave her to fend for herself, she is TWO, not twelve. we walk a mile almost every day( with her in the stroller) to go to her favorite park, and i am supposedly supposed to just casually walk off and leave her???i am 43 years old and disabled, if i can walk a mile with my child to go the park and play with her, then why cant the un involved parents do at least that much?is that really asking too much?
K. h.

7 moms found this helpful

Helicopter parent or not, I think think it's important to be present at the park. Too many weirdos and they can get hurt! I wish more parents had this mindset and would intervene when kids are "trying to work things out", most of the time they need guidance on how to work it out. Ugh, don't get me started :)

PS: I've encountered the pushing on the swing requests too and I usually comply.

6 moms found this helpful

I think it would depend on a few things. The age/maturity of the kid, the distance of the playground from the parents house, the safety of the neighborhood, etc. We let our 5 year old play in our back yard swingset by herself, I can see her from the window. My friend has a playground practically in her backyard and her little girls have been playing on it practically since they could walk. Granted, they're rarely out by themselves, but if she has to pee or something, she doesn't gather them back up to go in the house with her. It's a very safe neighborhood.

If you're worried about accidents, that can happen while you are watching your child. I broke my arm rollerskating at the park with my mom within sight. When my daughter plays at the park, I'm generally on the bench reading a book. Not because I don't love my daughter, but because I don't need to direct her play, she always makes friends when we get there and they come up with their own games. If she gets hurt (like yesterday she skinned her knees really good playing fairies and zombies with a friend (some kind of complicated tag game where the friend's little brother was a zombie, and I don't think he knew he was playing), while both parents were right there) she gets hurt. A broken arm, a skinned knee, they all suck and hurt, but kids get bumps and bruises.

Now, I would not let my 6 year old be at the park by herself. Not because I'm afraid she'd be kidnapped (she's statistically more likely to be kidnapped by someone she knows than a stranger) but because I just don't think she's old enough to be at the park by herself. If she were to God forbid break an arm or something, I want to be there to take care of her. But when she's 10-12, I'm not going to lie, I'm probably going to let her go to the park by herself. I wish we lived close enough to the library so she could go by herself as much as she wants in a couple of years, but unfortunately, she'd have to cross a lot of traffic to get there.

You have to know your child, know what they're capable of, and know your surroundings.

5 moms found this helpful

I had that happen to me, but the kid was on a bike. He was only about 6 or 7,and he didn't live in my neighborhood. He lived a few miles in the other direction. He had falled at the corner near my house. He skinned his knee really bad and elbow. I had an emergency bag and asked him for permission to help him. Cleaned up his injuries and bandaged him up. My husband drove to the parents house. The parents told us that they thought he was riding around on their street. They had NO idea he was missing!!

I sat with the boy until his parents came. They weren't too pleased when they got to him. I honestly felt sorry for him. However, the mom never thanked me, only the father. She was too busy scowling. Anyways, a week later, the boy dropped a dunkin donut card in our mailbox with a thank you note. It was really sweet. I am just glad that he is okay. I don't know what would have happened to him if we weren't around that day. The poor kid!

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I'm not surprised the little guy broke his arm. It wasn't your husband's job to say "No, little man, we don't do that. Now get down" and MAKE him get down. Not his job, and not my job. However, I have done it a hundred times. It seemed that I was anyone's mama when the parents weren't around, although I suspect that some people wouldn't have liked it. (Then again, they wouldn't have known that I prevented their kid from breaking something...)

We ALL witness parents not paying attention to their kids in the park. I think that if I came up to a park and NO ADULT was there, like you are talking about, that I would have called the police and told them that there were little children left alone in the park. The police would have ended up at the parents' houses and had a word about it with them. Again, those parents wouldn't like it, but it probably would stop happening if they knew someone in the neighborhood wouldn't put up with their lax parenting.

I hope the little boy is okay. What a hard lesson to learn!

D.

5 moms found this helpful

For me, old enough is when the child is almost adult size, understands not to talk to strangers, and knows how to use a cell phone. It's sad that some parents are so lax when it comes to their kids.

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I would have called the cops. Six is too young. Perhaps, the parents learned a lesson this time.

I don't know what the right age is, but it's not six.

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As I commented on the post about the child who was almost kidnapped while using a public bathroom:
I did a paper in the early '80's about the problem of missing children. This was shortly after the Atlanta Child Murders and the John Wayne Gacy cases hit the media. What I found out is that the majority of kids who end up as missing children are taken from small cities or towns and neighborhoods that are considered safe. The parents have a false sense of security or the kids think that Mommy and Daddy know everybody. You can not leave children outside playing with out adult supervision. At least the parents should be able to see the kids from the window. But to me that is not good enough.
Hopefully this accident scared the parents enough to make them more viligent.
Maybe you could talk to the admistration of the school the child attends and ask them to have a presentation for the parents on how fast their child can disappear.
Or the officer involved can do a demonstration to the parents on how fast a child can be grabbed and put in the back seat of a car and be gone. It really is just a matter of about 2-3 minutes.
In the case of one of Atlanta's children who was later found murdered. She was sitting in the living room of the family home on the floor watching TV with her brothers. The Mom was at work the Dad went into the kitchen to check on dinner when he came back his daughter was GONE. Someone came in the door grabbed her and took out of the home and was no where to be seen in a matter of 2-3 minutes. Now that is scary.

But walking the fine line between scaring the begeebers out of your kids and teaching caution is difficult.

4 moms found this helpful

I am constantly asked by other children to come and push them or to help them get to the top etc. I have even had kids ask to come home with me! I am so saddened when I see kids by themselves at the park. I always try to keep an extra eye out for them but sometimes it isn't doable. I personally am afraid of kidnapping, molesting etc. I will do whatever I need to do to protect my kids. When I see a child in danger---I have no problem calling the police to have them come and find the parents. HTH

4 moms found this helpful

Wow, that is terrible, and inexcusable.

I can't recall when my parents started letting me go to the park without them, but then again, I was the 3rd kid and was always with my older siblings.

Based on my oldest son's personality and maturity level, I probably won't let him go with a group of kids, unsupervised, until he is at least 10. My middle son will probably be ready by about 8 (again, not alone, in a group with other kids).

4 moms found this helpful

My daugther is 11 and cannot go accross the street to her best friends house without me watching her cross and get inside the house. In the last fewyears in Florida we had a 5 year old walking with her older sister home from schoo. There was a bunch of kids together like 5 or 6. The two kids had a fight and the older assumed she ran on ahead home. But no she didnt preditor took the opportunity and that girl is now dead. The 11 year old on the west coast cutting through some warehouses like she had done tons before is kidnapped by a preditor and is now dead. It is not like it was when we are kids. You might say oh those are unique cases. Well my daughter will not be one of those unique cases.

4 moms found this helpful

Hard question. :( I'm not a helicopter mom, but a present mom. I don't hover over every single conversation and every move my 5 year old makes, but hovering over someone and being PRESENT for someone is different in my opinion! My 5 year old: I go to the playground with him, I play with him sometimes but by this point he is PERFECTLY happy to play without me, run around like a little boy should, having fun. He is great at playing with his little brother (age 2) if there's not other kids his age to play with. (If he has peers there, I play with little guy so he can be big and do his own thing without having to babysit). But I'm PRESENT. I'm there.

Sometimes, I slow down so he can move up ahead, or engage in a conversation with another mom, but I am actually being VERY involved in parenting. I'm watching him, when he thinks he's got an opportunity to act without me on him, because I want to see how he plays with other children: How well does he make friends? Does he play nicely, share, not say mean things? Is he being played with nicely and not bullied? What kinds of things make him light up, and what things make him seem unsure? How does he respond to different things? I'm WATCHING. All the time. I'm learning my son, and I'm learning things we need to work on together at home. But I'm there. But I know loads of moms could be thinking "What's wrong with that woman, why isn't she playing and engaging her child, she's so lazy just talking to her friend or reading that book". But they don't know what we do at home or how engaging I am, they don't know what I'm doing there or why. They're wrong, plain and simple.

That said, accidents will happen. Climbing a tree is not a bad thing, it is a wonderful thing and more children should do it. I was in kindergarten and my backyard magnolia was my sanctuary....later in 2nd grade, it was my "secret" reading spot. When my brother was in 4th grade, he was stronger than me, he could climb better than me, but he still slipped and broke his arm in 3 places. That doesn't make climbing a tree bad, or my mom bad for allowing it. Accidents DO happen, even to good people with good parents doing good things. But I won't take that and hold my children back from being kids. (And for the record, I was showing off on the monkey bars THIS PAST A. and I slipped....I'm heavier than I remember, not as strong for my weight as I used to be, and....I swear it was just a little wet, lol. I landed so hard there was a cloud of dust....I had dust in my mouth AND in my pants, lol. It hurt. A lot. All I could do was just lay there and laugh, but a couple weeks later, I had to go to the doctor for a shot to help my bicep injury. Go figure. And I AM the parent.

I can see my son being somewhere around 8 or 10 and playing at a playground if it were CLOSE, if he had friends with him. (Approximately-I don't think you can just name an age where it's appropriate to do things, because there's nothing magical about an age; it depends on the individual child, and his level of independence, maturity, level of common sense, ability to follow some rules, where he's playing at and with who, etc, etc) But I would need to be outside and nearby. By around 8, I think he'd be able to read any signs of trouble, follow safety rules, keep up with his friends, and phone me or get his bike and come home if his friends were acting up. I'd have him phone me BEFORE he left the park, or if he needed anything at all. My mom was good at being "the bad guy" for me when I felt uncomfortable about something, and I would do that for him if he wanted (or needed) me to. But 6 is quite young to have no parent around at all, but then that's hard to say definitively because I don't have a playground very close to my house at the moment. Our nearest playground is 1 mile away, and that's too far for my comfort zone, for my 5 year old to be alone.

As for Jo W......hmmm.......for the record, I'd like it known that I would really want an adult to get my phone number from my child and call me, and if that isn't possible than call 911 and we'll figure it out later, but if my child is writhing on the ground with obvious broken bones, we need to get him some help please! I think it was perfect that a child nearby was able to run get the parents for help while your husband stayed with the hurt child. Stranger or not, that is most certainly not over the top intervention: running to a hurt and crying 6 year old, calming him, sitting with him while help is coming.....those are the humane responses and I would think very, very ill of someone who didn't try to help in some way.

3 moms found this helpful

Our park is next to the ball fields. A lot of the kids are over there playing while the parents are playing sports or watching brothers and sisters play.
I am typically right there on the bench watching my kiddos or if they ask, I play with them (sometimes they prefer to hang out with the other kids without mom).
This year, I actually let my 5 yo play on the park so I could watch his brother play ball. I had a line of site, but he did extremely well.
Would I let him go there on his own. NO.
If I had a line of site from my front window to him playing with other kids at a neighborhood park . . . maybe. He has learned a lot from playing in our own little neighborhood about crossing the street, cars and strangers and a host of other things.
I never mind pushing other kids on the playground or entertaining a group of kiddos mine are playing with. I think it is what community means. Taking care of one another, even if we don't know them or their circumstances. I don't know what circumstances led this child to be at the park alone. It is not my place to judge but what we should be doing is fostering a sense of community and cut others a little slack instead of jumping to the end conclusion (other posters not you) that CPS should be called or the child needs to be removed from the home, etc. I think what your husband did in an unknown situation was great. end of story.

3 moms found this helpful

Growing up, the park was across the street from my Grandmother's house and we thought we owned it. We were there ALL the time. We also paid our way into the pool and went swimming on a regular basis. I would say we started this at about 5 - 6 years old. We also walked to the shopping center right at the end of her street and across the main highway. We would spend most of the day there until we ran out of money.

When I take my six year old to the park, she often runs so fast, she is out of my sight. She is usually pretty timid, but when she is playing, she loses sight of that and runs off.

Vegas is nowhere near what it was when I was growing up, so I don't leave her alone.

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I am pretty sure that if someone had called the police or 9-1-1 to get help for this child that he would have been placed in protective services overnight or until they could have done an investigation.

Geesh, when will people learn? A child has no defense against a predator or an accident like this.

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When I grew up in the 70's there were never any parents at the park with kids, and we all did OK. The crime rate was higher then than it is today. I didn't let my kids go to the playground without me until my older son was 8 with my younger son was 5, and that was after a lot of "training". I did make my kids bring walkie talkie with them for the first little while. We have a prgram here called "Block Parent" as well, and the kids know that if they are in trouble they just go to the "Block Parent" for help. I feel very fortunate that I live in a place where I feel safe to allow my kids this freedom, because many of my fondest childhood memories involve my "exploring" the world on my own. Of couse it depends on the child, but mine are quite independent, responsible and have proven to be critical thinkers.

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Calling 911 sounds like the best thing to do in that situation.

And I let my children "fend for themselves" on the swing. I show them how to swing themselves. Then they work on it. No asking random strangers at the park to push them. My children are taught they cannot have a person's attention at all times. Its not the {insert kid's name} show. So just because I don't help my child with every swing or slide doesn't make me disengaged. Encouraging some independence works for me!

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I would Never let my 6yr old go to the park alone maybe my 9-10 yr old if I could see the park from home. When I see a child unattended I'm so tempted to take the child and just wait to see how long it takes for the parent to realize it. I would never do that obviously but I mean seriously, if you don't want to be a parent don't have kids! There was just a little 3yr old girl who died 25yrds from her home after falling into the water and drowning because her parents didn't watch her! If you don't watch your kids your asking for them to get hurt! The kids don't deserve to be in pain but the parents sure deserve to have to deal with a broken arm!

2 moms found this helpful

My husband took our son to the park one day, my son is 5, and there was a little boy there, about the same age as my son, and my husband was sitting down watching our son run around, he witnessed the other little boy approach our son and tap him on the shoulder. he could see that words were being spoken to my son and then the little boy walked away. He said our son stood there with a confused look on his face and then proceeded to play, but as he did, he continued to look back at the little boy. So my husband called our son over and asked him what the little boy said to him. our son told him that he called him the B word! Needless to say, the little boy was there with no supervision! There was no one else at the park, so it was clear that he was there alone!
I had the same response as you! WHere the hell are ths kids parents? And aren't they worried about kidnappers/child molesters?
To answer your questions...when we go to the park, we do see a lot of parents there with there kids, interacting with them, and guiding the young to explore. More often than not. But we too have noticed this bewildering trend of children going alone.
There are some houses across the street from the park, but regardless, I would not allow my 5 year old to cross the street to play at the park, while I watched from afar! The park is near a busy street and there is enough traffic around the park, that I wouldn't consider this option as a safe one! All it takes is a split second to have your child abducted or molested.
I read a story a few years ago about a child that was molested in the bathroom at a beach! This child was 8 years old! You would think that's old enough to go to the bathroom alone. Even if you are just waiting outside of the bathroom! But it's not!
As far as what age is appropriate, I have no idea, in this day & age.
One never wants to be the over protective mother bear that doesn't allow their child to live and learn, but in a society where an 8 year old is molested in the bathroom, right under your nose, it really makes one extremely cautious.
And I always make sure my husband goes with us to the park. I tried taking my son by myself, but because I have a bad back, I am one of those parents that sits and watches while my son plays. The texts come in and I answer them, while constantly looking up to watch my son. I would hate for that split second to occur while I was responding to a text. So my eyes are always up and down. And I do wonder what it looks like to others. I know if I was capable and I was the one chasing after my son, and I saw a mother sitting there texting on her phone, while her child played by himself (if no other kids were around him), I know what I would think. So my husband takes over in those departments.
It hurts my soul when I see a parent that is capable, ignoring their child. We take so many things for granted.
Last week there was a strange guy in a car following some kids after school. Luckily, the kids were in a group, walking home, and were smart enough to yell help and they all ran! They reported it to their parents and the school and all the parents were called that same day to notify them of the activity. We were also given a description of the guy and the car. That is scary, considering we live in a very safe neighborhood and this happened at my sons elementary school! Thank God all of those kids are safe!

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Not for nothing, but had the mother, father, or other caregiver been present at the park the little boy still could/would have broken his arm. Your husband, looking out for the boy, gave him a gentle and firm warning and the boy still had an accident. Accidents happen. It would have happened one way or another with the only difference being that his mother would have been there instantaneously.

That was my "it is what it is" response.

Were he my own child, I would likely have been at the park reading a book and looking up from it at the end of every paragraph. I would have been present, but would still have a child with a broken arm.

I myself may come off as a helicopter type to some of the moms here, but I don't actually hover. I give my children space to learn and make mistakes and figure things out. Natural consequences and all that unless there's a very clear and imminent danger that I can obviously (and should) prevent. My youngest is 7, my 9 year old is special needs and so it's imperative that she's supervised, and my eldest is 12 and earning her stripes.

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I have found a lot of young parents just don't care and/or don't have a clue how to parent these days. I don't care how "safe" an area is thought to be; there is no guarantee! In the past, I have actually left parks because I see children unattended. I don't want to be responsible for these kids and I don't want my kids being blamed for something these unruly kids have done because there is no other adult there supervising and/or witnessing what is going on.

I see this a lot in stores as well; especially book stores. Parents will leave their kids in a particular section and go do their shopping and have no clue what their kids are doing. I actually did say something once to a little kid - their parent was elsewhere in the store and they were going to go look for them - I strongly encouraged the kid to stay put. And then I left; I wasn't going to be responsible for this kid because of the parents' stupidity!!!

People need to get a clue!!! It's unsafe to leave a young child alone AND believe it or not, little Johnny or Susie is NOT a perfect angel when you're not around!!!

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I let our son go sledding with his friends when he was around 10 without me being there. About 2 hours later, my friend was standing at the door with my kid and his friend. My son had decided it would be a great idea for him to jump rocks on his sled. Unfortunately there is this thing called GRAVITY and he didn't make it. He hit his head on the rock and was knocked out cold. His friends got scared and LEFT him except one. Happily, my friend, who is a nurse, saw what happened and sledded down the hill to my son. He woke and she brought him home. We then spent 10 hours in the ER with him. He had a serious concussion.

I was so mad at myself for letting him go. There were older kids there as well. I think total about 15 to 20 kids. I still think 10 is okay but make sure you have decent friends! He got rid of those friends except the one who helped.

To me, 5 or 6 is really too young to be unsurpervised at a park. When our daughter was playing soccer or softball, I would let little man go to the park but I could see him. But if I couldn't see, I was there. I don't consider that a helicopter parent, I consider that a parent.

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I wanted to find a girl's parents once to tell them that her nanny was not watching her at all. She was just a toddler, climbing on a playground for older kids. I kept more of an eye on her than the woman paid to do so - that one was chatting with a friend or on the phone and way on the other side of the park! It's right near a road. I could have scooped up the child and been gone before she noticed, or the kid could have gotten past the fence and gotten hurt.

I did allow DD (4) to play with her cousins at a playground near the pavilion but not right next to it recently. She was with older kids and a couple of relatives were there with younger kids, she was within sight and there was a fence that gave her one exit only and I'd see her before she got there. She did very well staying within my guidelines. But to send her off solo? No.

I'm thinking back and SD was probably 8 or 10 when she and her friends could go to our neighborhood park together. It also depends VERYMUCH on the location and the maturity of the children.

My SD (who is 18) was recently injured while out and about and a passerby called 911 for her. We are glad they did and I'm glad you were there for that little boy. We need to look out for each other in general, no matter how old or young.

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Heard something on the radio this morning that reminded me of this exact situation. Since 2004, accidents among children have risen A LOT in general....and guess when it all started? With the IPHONE. Yep the stats show that parents are less 'aware' even if they are nearby. Just stating what I heard.

That being said, I would never leave my 6 year old alone at a park. Maybe I"m a helicopter mom, but I would fear abduction or getting hurt too much to let her play alone. And honestly to me, that is just sad that the child has to play alone. Does the parent have something that is THAT much more important to do? Going with a group of friends when you are 8-9 is one thing. Going alone at 6...I think it's just sad.

I'm sure some parents do this now and others did it in the past. This is not something I would be comfortable with. So glad you were there to help that little boy!

1 mom found this helpful

I've written about this before because I live next to a park and am there nearly every day... and I see all degrees of this.

Sorry I don't agree with anyone who says it's ok to let a 6 year old go to the park alone. My kids are 7 and almost 9 and I still will only let them go if they are together, just in case some kind of injury happens. If your kid falls from a play structure onto their head and is unconscious they certainly aren't going to be able to walk home.

And I do agree with you regarding the parents that have no interaction with their kids when taking them to the park. I don't step in to help them unless I can see that what they'r doing could result in an injury... but if what they are doing isn't safe and there's no one around I help I do. It's no helicoptering, it's being a responsible adult who can see the risk of a child's behavior and preventing serious injury.

I could be completely biased about this because I grew up in a home with NO supervision and had to "fend" for myself. There's a balance. People who subscribe to this theory that we should let kids figure out everything (even dangerous situations) by natural consequences are the other end of the extreme of helicopter parents. When my Mom was a child her first swimming "lesson" was to be thrown out of a boat and told to sink or swim. I'm sure that her parents thought that was the best way to teach her too... but it isn't the animal kingdom of survival of the fittest. I would hope that we've evolved a bit from then.

And with that... let the blasting begin~

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Really, how long does it take to dial 911? I would have dialed 911 immediatly, but it seems that there was someone else that knew the child you refer to. Are you sure that little boy wasn't being looked after perhaps by an older child?

How old is old enough? For me ....these days....about 10 with two or three other kids and the park is just around the block.

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There sure are some extremes on this issue. I would not allow our 6 year old to go to the park or anywhere without me, or another parent there. They are allowed in the back yard by themselves because there isn't anything that will hurt them that they can get in to AND the side gate is locked so I know (4yr old daughter) can't go anywhere. I do keep an eye on them but am not always out there now that they are learning responsibility. Park though, NO WAY. There is a boy in our neighborhood who is 8, will be 9 in November. I never seen him out and about with his parents. I met the mom one day when we were walking around the block. He is a sweet kid and wants to play with our kids (he is too old in my opinion but he has no one else to play with) so I will let him play with my supervision. I'll go sit out back when he's here. He is allowed to go to the park and other places by himself. He bikes to school across a very busy street and goes to a skate park 2 miles away across a busy street. I WOULD NOT let my kids to that. We are not in the 70's, my how I miss those days. It seemed safer back then to be out playing without parents. This boy will ask can we go to the park and looks at me funny when I tell him I have to go to. He had a conversation with me tryiing to figure out when I will let my 6 yr old go with him without a parent. I told him maybe when he's 10-13. It'll depend on how responsible he is by then. I have 4 years to figure it out and by then our 10 yr old will not be hanging out with an almost 14 yr old. Their interests will be totally different.

It only takes a second for a kid to get hurt or taken and if there is no parent supervision, helicopter or not, who will help the kid (yours or someone elses) or prevent the kidnap? I would not want the pain of losing my kid because I left him alone. I am not on the playground with them, I do sit on the sideline and let them play by themselves. I do watch and correct them as needed.

Call me paranoid but there are too many instances of child abduction. Jaycee Dugard for one. She was held by her predators for a long time and had 2 kids before they were caught. The parents thought she was safe walking to school in Tahoe. The police NEVER paroled and searched his house properly. Love google maps. They thought his property was 1/2 the size it really was. If ANYONE of them ever looked at a plot map, let alone google maps, they would have known and found her sooner.

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i think thats crazy, that little boy should've been supervised, period. im not saying specifically by his parents but someone shouldve been there with him, and older sibling or friend, a friends parent,even a friend his own age, anyone that couldve been around to help in a situation like that,for him to be there completely alone is rediculous .. if he was a couple years older it would be different but being that u said he was at most 6 yrs old i think thats horrible.. it reminds me of something that happend in my town when i was younger.. our town used to do a summer camp at the park for kids whos parents went to work all day .. i was maybe 8 or 9 at the time, a classmate of mine's mother dropped him off in the morning, i dont remember the specific circumstances i cant remember if it was because his mom hadnt paid for that week, or it started raining and everyone was getting picked up, but for some reason he couldnt stay there.. obviously his mother was at work, noone called her to say someone needs to come get him, but for whatever the reason they made him walk all the way home by himselfanyway, clear on the other side of town in the rain. needless to say his mother was livid and wrote a letter in the newpaper saying what happend and how upset she was.. well nothing like that ever happend again. they got more helpers to run the camp & had an adult supervisor there everyday (at the time it was run by older kids, i remember going some days because my older cousin who was a senior in highschool at the time was one of the counselors)