Are stupid parents ever going to learn...

[spaced]

http://www.orange.co.uk/news/topstories/6582.h tm?linkfrom=hp4&link=ticker_pos_1_link_2&artic le=index

When are parents going to learn, that letting you children out on there own or letting them walk around on their own ANYWHERE is a stupid risk.

Have they not heard about Sarah Payne, Jessica Chapman, Hollie Wells, Jamie Bulger, Madeline McCann...the list goes on.

What is up with these people?????

[mrs_overall]

Your link doesn't work, it comes up with "error" so we can't read the article.

[China Doll]

http://www.orange.co.uk/news/topstories/6582.h tm?linkfrom=feed_newsandweather&link=link_img& article=index

Is this the story you mean?

[Gromit]

Totally agree spaced.

All children should be imprisoned and locked up all of the time. They should not be allowed to leave home until they are 47.

OK, so hundreds of millions of children played out on their own in the last 20 years and came to no harm, but Sarah Payne, Jessica Chapman, Hollie Wells, Jamie Bulger and Madeline McCann did not.

Keep them home, keep them scared, keep them from growing up.

[mrs_overall]

Hang on a minute.
The child left school and didn't come home, and you're saying it's the fault of the parents???????

The article doesn't say how far away the school is, so we're not in possession of the full facts.

My eldest two kids were allowed to walk to school on their own from the age of 8.

Does that make me a bad parent?

[hollie1586]

i have seen parents with their children and they are not even holding their hand and they are letting them run along the side of busy main roads etc. if the child happened to trip up and into the road, they could easily fall under the wheels of an oncoming vehicle! and im sorry but its seems to be the same breed of people every time! the same people who have dogs such as staffy's, pit bulls etc

[hollie1586]

children should be taken and picked up from school by a parent or guardian

[anderlee]

for the record spaced, james bulger was with his mum in a shop. Hardly the same!!

[robotics]

My ten year old is in bed at 7.30,

I would never in a million years let her play out in the dark.............on playing fields

The society which I lived in allowed me to walk home from school on my own, play in building sites etc but I think it is very irresponsible for a parent to allow there children to walk back from school on there own, and also extremely irresponsible to allow them to play out in the dark without supervision....JMO

[robotics]

For the record, James Bulger was left to wonder outside the shop............

[LoftyLottie]

I totally agree with Gromit.

At nine years old a child should be sensible enough to walk to school and back a reasonable distance in daylight hours. Unfortunately, there are risks in life with everything we do, but if we don't give our kids some freedom they will never be able to cope.

I am just as likely to walk under the wheels of a bus as a nine year old child. I am a respectable mother who has always taken care of my children (in fact I err on the side of caution).

[LoftyLottie]

From what I gather she didn't come home from school. If she was on the playing fields at 7.30pm it was not with the knowledge of her parents, who probably called the police much earlier. People shouldn't jump to conclusions.

[jackthehat]

I misread the reply from Hollie1586 as
'children should be taken and picked up from school by a parent or The Guardian'............

..........which would actually fit with the tone of this post.

I agree with Mrs O and Gromit, on this.

[warpig3]

Sorry spaced but I cant agree, at what age do you think it would be ok to let them out alone, 15, 16, 17?

Yes it is terrible that children go missing or are abducted and murdered but really what percentage is this of all the children who play safely?

Sarah Payne was playing with her brother and sister, you would have thought she would have been safe.

Jessica and Holly were together, you would have thought they would have been safe.

James Bulger was with his mother, you would thought he would have been safe.

Madeline McCann was in the apartment, her parents presumed she was safe.

My comments are not to detract from what happend to these children, merely to show that no matter how safe you think your children are you can never cover every eventuality sadly.

[robotics]

Away from the Topic of the Question

I hope to god this poor little girl is found safe and well

[warpig3]

Agreed robotics, its has just been report on the news that her parents thought she was staying with a friend last night so the alarm wasnt raised until this morning when she didn't turn up at school.

[libertie]

Considering that the vast majority of children who are raped and murdered are victims of parents / grandparents / uncles / brothers and close family friends they are probably safer on the playing fields!!!

[Loosehead]

I feel so sorry for modern kids. When they are finally allowed out on their own they won't know their ar5e from their elbow. In my view the sort of "protection" spaced and others are talking about is in itself a form of child abuse.

The world is dangerous, the word is not fair, accidents happen, there are some lowlives, there are countless dangers, live with it. Yes there are some tragic occurences we all know about them but even with today's hysterical reporting they are no more common that in the past.

When I went to school my mum took me, once! first day, that was it. In fact in my day if your mum/dad took you to school you would have been laughing stock, I'd have died of embarassment.

My own son was taken to infant school but since then he makes his own way, walk bike whatever. He knows it's his job to get to school, end of.

[beanebabe]

I agree - a 9 year old is not old enough to walk any distance on their own (unless we are talking ridiculously close). I won't even let my 7 yr old go to the post box 100 yards from the house on her own. She asked me the other day how old she would have to be before I would let her walk to/from school on her own. I said never, because the walk involves a short walk through a wooded area and even I don't like it (the alternative adds at least a mile onto the journey).

[daffy654]

I still walk my 10 year old son to school and fetch him back at home time every school day without exception. He has Asperger Syndrome though so maybe its slightly different from this case as he has no road sense and has to be escorted when outdoors at all times.

[figure]

Society today is different form when I was growing up; there were not so many bad people around committing crimes. With the way things are these days, parents should and must keep an eye out, and track of their child/children whereabouts.

When this child did not come home at a reasonable time after school, a good parent would have gotten worried. Six pm and the girl did not show up home? Why didn't the parent or adult in charge looked for the child then? I blame the parents! Even if the parents were at work, it's their responsibility to call home and check to see if the child got in safely.

Nine year olds are not matured enough to make certain responsible decisions. Anyone could have confused this childs' mind and led her astray by lying to her. My heart goes out to this girl and I hope by some miracle she's safe and returns home soon.