Take Our Children To The Park...And Leave Them There!

And as for the few kids taken away by pedophiles, oh well. It is the price to be paid to bring back the fifties.

In a related story, NAMBLA has declared May 22nd "Low hanging fruit day".

In all seriousness, though, this is a wonderful thing.

@felix

child abductions don't tend to take place at highly populated parks... in the middle of the day...

When I was a kid, my parents told me in summer that they didn't want to see me until dinner time unless I was bleeding.

There was a playground about four blocks over. I was allowed to ride my bike there and play all day. I just had to be home by dinner time, or my butt was grounded.

It had huge metal slides... and pebbles and asphalt... and an enormous structure with monkey bars and a curvy slide and a tube slide. (The inside of the tube slide always smelled of pee, so we'd just climb up the outside of it - the top of which was about 25 feet off the ground.)

teach your children how to avoid the kidnappers and always protect them as much as you can.

Chris Hansen just bought another house in Tahiti.
Can't wait to see this backfire.

I had a similar upbringing, where I went to the park with my friends. My parents were working and I had a key to the house. I could come and go as I please. But the downside to all this freedom was that there was no one I could talk to about the men that would hide in the bushes and masterbate, or the men who walked up to me and tell me that they wanted to touch me. I knew to avoid certain people, but I am afraid my daughter shows no sign of being able to protect herself. And my son is severely Autistic, so he would be in worse trouble than my daughter. What about those children that didn't make it home.....Oh well, she woud say.

I'm appalled that some people would want to see this backfire.

This is a beautiful world we live in and it has its own share of risks and rewards.

If parents properly educate and caution their children not to talk or take candy from strangers then we'd all be better off.

Remember, a huge percentage of child molestations is caused by either a family member or a familiar figure in the child's home.

The outside world is not as dangerous as your tv tells you.

Let the kids go out and enjoy their childhood freedom before they grow up bitter like the rest of this messed up world.

Some of us have been brainwashed by fear I see, specifically felixthecat and nutbastard, Try to develop a healthier world view ,cut back on all the negative leftwing garbage.

"negative leftwing garbage."

wow....could it be that it doesnt matter what fake wing you support? why does someone always bring this shit up?
go watch fox news and stfu....

*snort* As a former law enforcement officer, and now a lawyer, I can tell you that kidnappings by pedophiles and others do take place in the daytime in crowded places. And more often than you know. Sure, I would walk down the block when I was a kid and traipse through the woods singing my little song, and I survived.

And so will most children who are abandoned by their parents at a park on "Dump Your Kid Off at Pedophile Central Day". But there are those poor little kids who will be carried away, never to be seen again save as a moldering corpse in some ditch a few months later. But, "you know, oh well, that is the chance we're willing to take."

Signed, Felix the left-wing unhealthy worldview Cat

There have always been child kidnappings and accidents (many statistics claim less now than in the past), we just hear about it more thanks to the sensationalist 24/7 tv news cycle.

Yeah, we trust you felix.

The whole point is that there are many children nowadays who don't play outside. What-so-freaking-ever. A part of it is constant technological stimulation. A part of it is general laziness. And it's partly fear-mongering by parents who freak out about the constant stream of negativity which comes from all media sources.

You know what my parents did? Gave us martial arts lessons and made sure we hung out in groups. And even as a young kid, we would have absolutely torn the ever living crap out of anyone who tried to pick one of us up. If they had a weapon, we'd have gone down swinging. But you know what? It wasn't (and isn't) even that likely to happen. Yes, it's a tragedy when it does, and children need to be educated about how to avoid situations that put them in danger. But you'd think that we were all going to die by pedophile the way that some of these parents, and internet intellects (SNORT) behave.

*snort* I'm glad you trust me, Briannanana. *snort* *snort* *snort*

I never suggested that we were all going to see our children die at the hands of a pedophile. A few children will, most won't. If you weren't so intellectually and morally superior to me, perhaps, instead of being your usual sneering contemptuous self, you could consider matters from my own vantage point, which may indeed be biased in favor of over-protecting my children to a greater degree than do you.

I trained my children to watch out for predators, and how to react to them. You were taught how to inflict violence upon others, which is a dubious and dangerous method, I trained my kids another way. Many parents don't bother to train their kids at all.

Yes, yes I know. For you it is "well, boo-hoo, at least the dead raped kids had a moment wandering freely through the park, and they're not mine so who gives a ****". I cannot adopt that attitude. Sorry.

Feel free to respond with more sarcasm, contempt, and ignorance. I expect nothing more from you than the usual.

Felix
Do we even have any evidence that the frequency of child kidnappings by strangers in any way correlates to the number of children being allowed to play unsupervised at public parks?

Here's a good list of child safety guidelines. You can let your kids play at the park, and still be a safe parent.

http://www.klaaskids.org/pg_cs_childsafety.htm

Wow, felix. Just: wow.

I don't think anyone should be quoting regular statistics for a day where you're announcing to people that you won't be attending your children. Doesn't this make them a target? I'm all for giving children space... I often take mine to Central Park in New York and let them out of my eye sight. HOWEVER, on a day where sick people know that the children are less likely to be supervised, and keeping in mind that these children have been "over-protected" and possibly have no experience being on their own, I do not think that it would be a good idea to collectively send out your children.

In my opinion.

Facebook removed the link to this story, users were claimimg it to be abusive. Really?

"I played by myself in public and I ended up fine."

If you hadn't, would you be around to type this? Doubtful. So of course you ended up fine. Some poor kids didn't.

And Briannana, this doesn't really relate to whether kids get to play outdoors EVER, because they very easily could be taken to the park and supervised.

Lots of kids who were always supervised at the park end up kidnapped and murdered. It happened that way to my older sister.

Bad timing for this article. Here in Dallas a severely disabled boy was left for dead in a park two weeks ago, to be discovered days later.

http://tinyurl.com/wyliesangel

What a sad story.

My grandmother told me that things were much safer back in her childhood. I don't think it is reasonable to compare an older generation's lifestyle with a newer generation's lifestyle, and of course all of this depends on location too.

Comparatively, child snatchings and stranger molestation is rare. Rates vary depending on the survey but 70-80% of child abuse/molestation occurs in the home or by an acquaintance. Most kidnappings occur in custody battles.

Just sayin'.

Intolerance starts at a young age. In the '50s, many White American kids were taught to fear being abducted by gay pedophiles, black men mugging them, and Soviet communists taking over their country. Guess what, that fear develops into anger, and regurgitates itself back into fear to the next generation, and the cycle never ends until the chain is broken. If we have nothing to fear, we have no reason to hate.

It's nice to see that the very first comment started out with a nice cogent, rational response. I guess hostility begets hostility though.

Personally, I think (almost) everyone makes a valid point. Overall though, there's enough pain and mistrust in the world. I don't see why we should aggravate the situation through ignorance and fear-mongering.

I realize there are children in the world who get kidnapped and molested; parents should care about the safety of their children and take steps to protect them. But is it really necessary to keep an eye on them every second of every day? Is it really so harmful to let them roam around on their OWN once in a while? I think not.

There are plenty of bad things that happen within plain view of adults, blows both physically and mentally scarring that are landed by the hand of a trusted adult themselves, and if someone is really determined to take little Billy and Cindy away and do bad things to them, an adult being present is not going to impede them.

That's not to say that children shouldn't be supervised, but I think there's a line between being safe and being overbearing that too many adults cross far too often. People just need to use common sense and teach their children to avoid strangers, and yes if the need arises, to use violence. Sometimes violence does solve problems.

So who cares which political view you submit to or if you walk in the center, I don't think that affects how you should raise your children (I happen to be a democrat and don't think that plays any particular role in how I feel). And Vic, I think the idea isn't necessarily to actually let a bunch of children run around unsupervised on the 22nd, but to let parents know kids need some freedom on occasion from a parental dictatorship.

If you live in a bad area, common sense tells you that not watching your children is a blatantly stupid idea, but if you live in a decent area, let them be free on occasion. I really don't see why there's so much hubbub about a simple and reasonable idea. If you don't like the concept, hover over your children all you want and be as over-protecting as you'd like. Some people feel differently though.

Oh, and Felix, there are plenty of bad law enforcement officers and there is a reason why lawyers don't hold a cherished place in the hearts of very many people. Listing jobs you've held (regardless of what they were) aren't automatic credentials for knowing what they hell you're talking about.

I know this is long, but I had to get that all off my chest. If even one of you found any of this even remotely enlightening, I feel I've done my job. For any who disagree, well... you're entitled to your opinions too.

Isn't it better to err on the side of safety? My parents never let me out of their sight when I was growing up, and I feel fine about it; I'm not crying over not having been able to wander around by myself. Now that I'm older I have all the freedom I need. I don't think kids really WANT to be that alone.

I think children need to be able to experience life for themselves. If someone is constantly watching over them I don't think they regard the information they were taught as parental non-sense.

Maybe you don't recall what it was like to be a child, but if I was told something when I was younger that didn't relate to me because I was never in a situation when I thought that knowledge might be even remotely useful, I tended to shrug it off as mumbo-jumbo. And I recall plenty of opportunities when I wish I was alone but was not permitted to be. It made me feel like my parents didn't put enough trust in me to make intelligent decisions, and it often infuriated me.

Never letting a child have the experience of having some time to themselves, unsupervised, is the opposite of safe. It denies mental growth by creating only one safe little walled-in scenario they will ever be exposed to. Until they're an adult of course, and then they tend to rely too much on others (I'm not saying this is ALWAYS the case).

Besides, you only get to be a kid once. Why not experience as much as you can then? If the kid doesn't like to be alone, then that fine. While kids do require a high level of supervision, I think it's ok for them to decide what they do and don't like on occasion. If it's skipping around the park that's right across the street by themselves once in a while, or riding a bike around the block, that's fine by me.

Just so you know, I followed this link from 4chan.org (I'm a trending researcher, not a pedophile).
I wish that everyone in favour of this ridiculous idea would hug their Children and realize that they are far more important than "being right", inconvenienced, or gratifying their egos.

The opinions on both sides of this issue are certainly valid. The chances of a child being abducted by a stranger are small but then so is a house fire and we all have fire insurance. The world of today is a much scarier place than it was in our day, or our parents or our grandparents. I don't see how we can feel safe letting our kids run free like past generations of kids. I live in an average sized, regular city and I can tell you the parks aren't a place where children should be left alone. Homeless, gang members, drug users and other assorted ne're-do-wells frequent those parks and while most aren't there to do specific harm to children things happen and kids get caught in a situation they aren't equipped to handle. Bottom line for me is better to be safe than sorry.

Of course, pedophiles and abductions happened in the 50s overlooked by "back in my day..."

But overall this is actually still a good idea in the sense the over-nanny-ness of parents don't really allow kids to be kids anymore. And don't get me started about the fact parents think it's bad to say "no" to a kid (it's a friggin' kid, get them used to it!) or that you can't threaten your own kid with corporal punishment, so now kids are entitled little craps because of, pardon the pun, kids gloves parenting. Sometimes I want to smack the self-smug important little poops so hard their parents feel it or just go right to the parents (usually the mother) and just start a beatdown, the one the kid should have had when he mouthed off and/or repeatedly did something wrong knowing it was wrong.

The funny thing, at least for me, is the fact that no one has posted any real, concrete numbers to support their claims. Whenever I hear "30 children were kidnapped in parks" I always wonder "out of how many? What's the crime rate in the zone? How does it compare with, saying, getting struck by lightning or winning the lotery?".

I respect Leonore Skenazy, I read her blog and I consider she is the first person in a long time to answer questions in a rational way. No one says there is no danger, because there always is (and always was), but you have to keep it in perspective, or you'll end up locked inside your house (where your kid could catch the extremely rare "house bug" and DIE - of course, it only happens in one out of 23 billion cases, BUT IT COULD STILL HAPPEN TO YOU!!)

Finally, as far as I know, most case of child abuse come from someone your child already knows (9 out of 10 times, according to Wikipedia), which means your kid is safer in the park than, say, alone at home with uncle Joe.

I think adults have forgotten what it was like to be a kid, and to be able to ride your bike where you wanted, and figure out how to solve problems on your own, and how to deal with negative situations.

Not that I was left alone as a five or six year old, but once I got to be ten or eleven, I was riding my bike all over the place, miles from home. Usually with a friend or two. Once or twice we ran into trouble (a gang of older kids cornered us and hit my friend in the mouth... I did the smart thing and took off, my friend became aggressive and taunted the gang), but most of the time we were fine.

Of course, as a parent, you want the very best for your child and you want to try to ensure no harm ever comes to them. At some point, though, you've got to let them explore on their own. Otherwise you end up with children like one of my high school classmates, who, 13 years after graduating, still lives at home with mommy...

Bottom line: No matter what you do, your child is learning something from you. What do you want it to be?

This is horrible. Lazy parents let their kids run down the street alone so they can get other things done besides spending time with their kids and then if your one of those that has a kid that never comes back you play stupid like I don't know what happened. They always go down to the park and come back. That's ignorant and lazy and stupid and not worth the risk. I don't wish any harm to children left alone, but I do wish that child protective agencies would step up and watch parks for stupid sh*t like this and put your kids in a better home of course the government can make more money and give you a huge f**king ticket.

This is just a little funny observation I saw growing up. This is what they call on the westside...dropping your kids at the library because you don't want to pay for daycare and leaving them. I used to see that all the time. The librarian in the kids section would feel so bad so she would bring in juice boxes and fruit snacks.

I used to hover while my daughter was one and two years old on the playground. She loved leaping and jumping with no fear. Most of it was teaching her how to get on and off, how to jump off without hurting herself. Then after that, I just kind of sit back and wait. When the kids get really into playing, they never notice you are there anyway. I think once the few times you set good habits for them playing on the playground at the start, it really helps for just letting them play on their own.

My three year old daughter holds my hand to cross the street. I supervise when she's playing with her friends in their yard. But she gets a good amount of free play, time to roam free where she wants. Just not without me in an earshot. She can roam freely without supervision once she's got all the skills in order to be independent. Just not now and not for a while. It just doesn't make sense to think it's suffocating to not be good company while children are at play or exploring. Besides, I enjoy playing with her at the park as much as she does. I like traveling in unexplored areas of the forest. When she grows tired of me and hangs out with her friend, I'm sure I'm the only one that's going to be upset about letting her go, ha ha!

In the end, it's everyone's personal preference. It's the parents decision of what KIND of personal responsibility they want to take with their child. Each child is different so if it's worked and there has been no incidents, then that's cool. If there is, then you have my sympathies, absolutely. I feel horrible when anything happens to families like that. You just want...everyone to be ok...It's a hard balance to find, you know, with what works best. But what works is what works, right?