10-year-old walks alone a mile away from Georgia home, leading to his mother's arrest (1 Viewer)

[SharonT]

It's a rural area. They don't have public transportation in any rural area that i'm aware of.

"Pedestrian infrastructure" could be a sidewalk or even some extra space. Everything's jammed up with no room to spare, even in rural areas. I see lanes being added around here and then a drop off into the ditch or curbs being installed to "pretty" things up and think about people having to walk or ride a bike around that. But that's not how people think anymore. Must have car. Must have a ride.

 

[DaveXA]

Almost every parent from the pre-80s would be arrested. I used to explore miles from home for the whole day when I was that age.

Same here. My grandmother lived 3 miles down the road when I was a kid, I was probably 8-10 years old and one day just decided I wanted to walk down the road. This was in Lafayette and walking down Pinhook Road, which has a significant amount of traffic. I got about halfway there before my mom noticed I was missing and she drove and picked me up. She definitely fussed at me and I didn't do that again.

But arresting a mom in this situation seems to be a massive overreaction. If it's something where this has happened frequently, then I'd understand it. But arresting someone for this as a random occurrence is too much.

And 10 year olds are often exploring their boundaries, so stuff like this happens. It's called living life.

 

[Madmarsha]

I can’t say for certain, but perhaps human trafficking concerns were not as prevalent when we were kids as they are now - again I’m not sure. There have always been terrible people out there looking to harm children, but I think the fact that their chances of getting snatched up feel greater nowadays. I don’t know.

Trafficking as an "organized" thing these days versus 50 years ago? My thought would be that it's more prevalent. That there's more pedos nowadays? My thought would be, no, there were just as many pervs and weirdos lurking in parks and alleys .... and families .... back then. Difference now is they are lurking in internet chat rooms as well as out in the "real world".

But, in this case, the child was doing what we've all described we did growing up and luckily, hopefully for most of us, escaped any foul play. So now they're going to punish the mother for no harm coming to her child? I think that's BS. She didn't abandon him, didn't beat him, didn't fail to provide him a home and food, didn't keep him locked up, didn't sell him to traffickers. He was outside. Walking. I'd rather the police spend the time trying to find the actual pedos and traffickers because I don't see how arresting this mother does any good.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I can’t say for certain, but perhaps human trafficking concerns were not as prevalent when we were kids as they are now - again I’m not sure. There have always been terrible people out there looking to harm children, but I think the fact that their chances of getting snatched up feel greater nowadays. I don’t know.

I know that we were single-digit aged little tyrants who went everywhere on bikes - miles and miles away from home. We dug up turtles and snakes in the canals, destroyed each other with BB guns, tried all kinds of BMX tricks with makeshift ramps and hazards, and don’t mention “wrasslin”. Bro, we’d get a huge cardboard box, break it down and body-slam the heck out of each other. Good times.

Tylenol scandal and cable tv

 

[Paul]

The more I think about this, many of our parents were probably trying to give us away back then.

“Boy, don’t come inside until the street lights come on. Like when it’s dark, dark outside.”

 

[saintmdterps]

The more I think about this, many of our parents were probably trying to give us away back then.

“Boy, don’t come inside until the street lights come on. Like when it’s dark, dark outside.”

“You’re not going to sit around and watch TV all day, now get out of my house”—all our moms

 

[0rion]

I walked that far away from the house all the time when I was a kid. Also a different world back then.
This reminds me of my cousin. He was at a friend's and called his mom to come pick him up. She told him to walk because it was only a little bit up the road. After awhile when he didn't come home she called the friends mom and he had left after talking to her. She went out looking for him and found him lying dead in a ditch. He had been a victim of hit and run. My aunt and uncle were never the same after that.

 

[saintmdterps]

I walked that far away from the house all the time when I was a kid. Also a different world back then.
This reminds me of my cousin. He was at a friend's and called his mom to come pick him up. She told him to walk because it was only a little bit up the road. After awhile when he didn't come home she called the friends mom and he had left after talking to her. She went out looking for him and found him lying dead in a ditch. He had been a victim of hit and run. My aunt and uncle were never the same after that.

Oh my God... How would anyone get over that?

 

[saintmdterps]

@Madmarsha

I think you know this neck of the woods. I lived in Sudbrook Park not far from Pikesville. Within the bounds of where we were allowed to ride bikes there were no stores, it was all residential. We as a group were expressly forbidden from crossing the railroad bridge on Sudbrook Lane to go up to Reisterstown Road and visit the drug store and other shops. Too dangerous for 10 year-olds

One day our reprobate nature got the better of us and two friends and I hopped on our bikes and moseyed right on into Pikesville, bought candy and soda, and were sitting on a curb munching contentedly on our forbidden haul. One of my other buddy's (who wasn't there but was usually present for other shenanigans) dad sees us, knows we aren't supposed to be there, yells at us, and loads our bikes into his station wagon. He dutifully drops off each of us, gets profuse thanks from our parents, and we all get spanked and grounded for a week. We spent that week yelling to one another from our back/front yards. We dared not cross that line again

 

[SWJJ]

At 10 I walked a mile to school and then a mile home every day.

Ridiculous.

 

[kansast]

When I was 7 my friends and I would travel on our bikes for miles and miles. Gone out of the house almost all day long. Just had to be home before dark or if my dad whistled for us. Which we could hear blocks away

 

[Madmarsha]

@Madmarsha

I think you know this neck of the woods. I lived in Sudbrook Park not far from Pikesville. Within the bounds of where we were allowed to ride bikes there were no stores, it was all residential. We as a group were expressly forbidden from crossing the railroad bridge on Sudbrook Lane to go up to Reisterstown Road and visit the drug store and other shops. Too dangerous for 10 year-olds

One day our reprobate nature got the better of us and two friends and I hopped on our bikes and moseyed right on into Pikesville, bought candy and soda, and were sitting on a curb munching contentedly on our forbidden haul. One of my other buddy's (who wasn't there but was usually present for other shenanigans) dad sees us, knows we aren't supposed to be there, yells at us, and loads our bikes into his station wagon. He dutifully drops off each of us, gets profuse thanks from our parents, and we all get spanked and grounded for a week. We spent that week yelling to one another from our back/front yards. We dared not cross that line again

I do know that area a little, not from growing up there, though. But I'm guessing the parents have a very good reason for that rule given the railroad and the proximity to 695 and just the general "paved over" nature of the area even decades ago. Great area, though.


Trivia that I just found from Googling Sudbrook Park: Frederick Law Olmsted was the landscape architect for the neighborhood. Never knew that.

 

[saintmdterps]

I do know that area a little, not from growing up there, though. But I'm guessing the parents have a very good reason for that rule given the railroad and the proximity to 695 and just the general "paved over" nature of the area even decades ago. Great area, though.


Trivia that I just found from Googling Sudbrook Park: Frederick Law Olmsted was the landscape architect for the neighborhood. Never knew that.

And that explains the origin of Olmsted Road, which ran into Kingston, where we lived. TIL:

This is my buddy’s house. His dad was an architect. In the background are the pine trees we climbed as far up as we could, and from that vantage point you could see 695