Kids playing outside? Not anymore - Take them into custody, officer.

[ArcadiaGP]

?Free-range children? taken into custody again in Maryland - The Washington Post

How times have changed.

 

[TaunTaun]

I've been following this train wreck for awhile. CPS essentially told the parents, you shall do as we dictate to you to do or we are going to come after you, even if you do nothing against the law.

 

[churchmouse]

We used to roam "Miles" from home. Kids played outdoors sun up to well past sun down.
Times and people have changed.

There are so many obvious reasons for these changes but to avoid having to hit myself with a ban hammer I will leave this at Nuff Said.

 

[churchmouse]

I've been following this train wreck for awhile. CPS essentially told the parents, you shall do as we dictate to you to do or we are going to come after you, even if you do nothing against the law.

And yet these agency'd will release children back into known dangerous situations.

 

[CathyInBlue]

The CPS in Silver Springs, MD need to be charged with kidnapping themselves. Maybe then they would change their tune with parents of free-range children.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

But... free range children just taste better!

 

[TaunTaun]

What gets me is that this wasn't only spurred on by CPS. The initial stop and frisk was by local LEO's first, when THEN delivered the kids to CPS. And not informing the parents that they had them. 2+ hours to inform them?

 

[churchmouse]

But... free range children just taste better!

 

[WebSnyper]

Starks said police were dispatched after a stranger saw the unaccompanied children in the park near Fenton and Easley streets. He said police took the children to the CPS office.

So unaccompanied children in a park is something that people call in to police on? Unless they were doing something illegal, I don't get it. I must be missing something.

Time to start teaching the kids to say "Am I being detained? Am I free to go?" or print cards for them so they don't even have to talk?

 

[gamer]

and keeping them locked up inside watching cartoons or playing video games is better for them? Let them play outside

 

[Bennettjh]

This is crazy. We played outside all the time when I was a kid. Couldn't imagine having to stay inside watching a screen all day.

 

[drillsgt]

Looks like this ones on the police and not CPS, sometimes even police need to MYOB.

 

[TaunTaun]

So unaccompanied children in a park is something that people call in to police on? Unless they were doing something illegal, I don't get it. I must be missing something.

Time to start teaching the kids to say "Am I being detained? Am I free to go?" or print cards for them so they don't even have to talk?

Oddly enough, the 8 year old daughter already does this to me....

When rough-housing, she also screams "Stop Resisting! Stop Resisting! TASER!TASER!TASER!"

It was really funny when the two year old boy starts trying to say it...

 

[The Keymaster]

We used to roam "Miles" from home. Kids played outdoors sun up to well past sun down.
Times and people have changed.

There are so many obvious reasons for these changes but to avoid having to hit myself with a ban hammer I will leave this at Nuff Said.

My wife and I talk about this all the time. There were railroad tracks near our homes, and we used to play on or near the tracks. Yes we were smart enough to get out of the way when a train came by. In many cases our parents had no idea where we were. Were they bad parents? My answer is no. We learned so much about the world in our formative years. We had fun, and got lots of exercise instead of sitting in front of a TV playing video games.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Like others said above, we were outside all the time. At 6, we were probably just a few houses away but I remember walking home from school, that was a long way from home for a kid, when I was in the 1st/2nd grade. As we got older, our universe expanded -- especially if we had bikes in working order (and we didn't wear helmets--can you imgine?) Our parents would probably be eligible for the death penalty these days.

 

[churchmouse]

Like others said above, we were outside all the time. At 6, we were probably just a few houses away but I remember walking home from school, that was a long way from home for a kid, when I was in the 1st/2nd grade. As we got older, our universe expanded -- especially if we had bikes in working order (and we didn't wear helmets--can you imgine?) Our parents would probably be eligible for the death penalty these days.

If we showed up to the trails by the creek to ride bikes wearing any kind of safety gear.......well.....we would get our butts kicked and bikes thrown in the creek.
There was a good sized wooded area outside the 4th turn at the Motor Speedway just full of trails and 2 intersecting creeks. You could almost get lost in there. It was a right of passage to emerge bloody and bruised with a bent bike.

 

[The Keymaster]

I remember playing on these huge underground storage tanks that were yet to be placed underground. We had a fort in an area of trees on the other side of the tracks. We rode our bikes everywhere. Helmet?? We even played on the roof of the house!

 

[DoggyDaddy]

If we showed up to the trails by the creek to ride bikes wearing any kind of safety gear.......well.....we would get our butts kicked and bikes thrown in the creek.
There was a good sized wooded area outside the 4th turn at the Motor Speedway just full of trails and 2 intersecting creeks. You could almost get lost in there. It was a right of passage to emerge bloody and bruised with a bent bike.

I can't honestly say I even remember the existence of safety gear when we were kids, other than football helmets and pads if you played organized ball. If it did exist, nobody I ever knew wore any. Well, I guess unless you count the machete that I taped to the sissy bar on my stingray bike. It was protective gear against the bigger kids that liked to pick on us younger kids.

 

[churchmouse]

I can't honestly say I even remember the existence of safety gear when we were kids, other than football helmets and pads if you played organized ball. If it did exist, nobody I ever knew wore any. Well, I guess unless you count the machete that I taped to the sissy bar on my stingray bike. It was protective gear against the bigger kids that liked to pick on us younger kids.

I lost count of how many times "Big" kids ran me off into the trees or the creek and laughed maniacally as they rode away.

Never tried the machete but I did use a broom stick on one seriously demented kid. Not on him but through the spokes. He was busted up pretty good. Left me alone after that.

Bully's have been around since the 1st sunrise over the 1st dirt pile. The ones I grew up with thought nothing of kicking you square in the jewels. Report them......are you nuts. We dealt with it. It was a character builder not a reason to kill ourselves.
Times certainly have changed.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I lost count of how many times "Big" kids ran me off into the trees or the creek and laughed maniacally as they rode away.

Never tried the machete but I did use a broom stick on one seriously demented kid. Not on him but through the spokes. He was busted up pretty good. Left me alone after that.

Bully's have been around since the 1st sunrise over the 1st dirt pile. The ones I grew up with thought nothing of kicking you square in the jewels. Report them......are you nuts. We dealt with it. It was a character builder not a reason to kill ourselves.
Times certainly have changed.

Well, obviously I never "used" the machete on any of them, but I think it was enough to make them think that I was a crazy little , and that they probably shouldn't hassle me.