“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.)”
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 🤬!
It’s not unsafe… It’s never been safer.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In Georgia, probably 30.
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.
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.
Easy to monitor too. 😏
Where I’m from, most kids start walking/biking/taking a bus to school from the 1st grade.