Parents are charged after their son, 7, is struck dead in a car accident
www.nbcnews.com
Gastonia, N.C., police charged the parents with involuntary manslaughter charges after allowing the victim and his brother to walk home alone from a nearby grocery store.
  • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
    2·
    7 hours ago

    The experts say:

    National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (UK)

    Every child is different – but some schools advise children under 8 shouldn’t walk home without an adult or older sibling. SOURCE

    Ottawa Safety Council (Walk Alone Program, Canada)

    … a good guideline for starting to think about letting your child walk alone is age 10. SOURCE

    American Academy of Pediatrics (USA)

    Children usually are ready to walk to school without an adult when they are in fifth grade or around 10 years old. SOURCE

    They also put this poster together:

    Every country has the same general consensus.

    I really hope you don’t have kids…

    Kids and grandkids. And I was also once a kid with a younger sibling. And I see young kids walking to our local school on a regular bases.

    If someone is still walking their teenager to school, they should probably stop 😮

    • pixxelkick@lemmy.world
      1·
      4 hours ago

      Reread what you wrote.

      A 10 year old being able to walk home is not the same as that 10 year old also being responsible for a 7 year old

      This isn’t rocket science.

      • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
        1·
        3 hours ago

        Of course, there are always special circumstances when a child should have constant adult supervision (developmental delays, medical needs, etc.), but this wasn’t the issue here.

        But according to experts, if younger children (under 8) should be with an adult or older sibling, and if 10 is old enough to walk alone, then 7 with a 10 year old is fine to walk 300m home. It would make both kids safer and more visible, since they are in a “group”.

        If the kid was 4 or 5, then that would be different, for sure.

        But why is blame being shifted onto the victim here?

        There is no reason whatsoever that an older kid and their sibling shouldn’t be able to safely walk two blocks to their home.

        This wouldn’t even be a topic for discussion anywhere outside of the united states or for anyone who was a kid before the 90s.

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
      11·
      4 hours ago

      Kids shouldn’t be raising kids.

      Fuck cars, but 10 year old children shouldn’t have to be responsible for other children. They shouldn’t have any responsibilities yet.

      • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
        2·
        3 hours ago

        I agree that kids shouldn’t be raising kids.

        But these kids were simply walking a few hundred meters from the store to their home in broad daylight, while on the phone with their father, and were old enough to be doing so.

        This would be considered completely normal in any other country.

        It’s also important to note that I don’t believe any city, state, or country has minimum age laws for kids to walk. Staying at home alone or in a car? Yes, but not walking (or playing outdoors, or riding a bike, etc.)

        So for the courts to charge the parents with child neglect and manslaughter seems wildly unbalanced.

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
          11·
          3 hours ago

          A 10 year old is not old enough to be responsible for a 7 year old, so no, they weren’t old enough to walk home together. The 10 year old walking by themselves would have been safe, adding a 7 year old made the situation unsafe.

          The dirty secret of the capitalist nuclear family is kids are always raising kids while the parents are busy at work or doing housework or struggling to recover from work. It’s not really the parents’ fault.

          • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
            1·
            18 minutes ago

            We obviously have different perspectives, and experiences, but maybe we can distill this.

            Say your property was massive. Would you be OK allowing a 10 and 7 year old play together, or would you want an adult to be there?

            I think most people would be OK with that, even in a much smaller front yard, or a cul de sac, or park.

            Assuming no predators (humans or animals), the only real concern is cars. And it’s maddening that we won’t allow kids to be kids because of cars in any given community.

            Just the other day, there was a story if a teenager getting hit and killed by a car on school property. Cars are the problem. Nearly 100% of the time.

            And it’s not the parents or kids’ fault that they want to interact with their community outside of a vehicle. We are punishing the wrong people, in my opinion.

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
              1·
              8 minutes ago

              It’s obviously not the kids fault and we are punishing the wrong people. The parents are just doing something their parents probably did.

              But parents shouldn’t give 10 year olds responsibility over 7 year olds, and I’m very firm in that belief. Even if it was on their own property. Kids get messed up by being forced to be responsible for other kids, and the other kids get messed up by having kids be responsible for them. It’s a toxic dynamic that’s baked into our society.

              Kids shouldn’t raise kids, not even for a small walk to and from the corner store.