Posted on 01/07/2009 5:52:34 AM PST by Former Fetus
WICOMICO CHURCH, Va. – A 6-year-old Virginia boy who missed his bus tried to drive to school in his family's sedan — and crashed. His parents were charged with child endangerment. State police said the boy suffered only minor injuries and authorities drove him to school after he was evaluated at a local hospital for a bump on his head. He arrived shortly after lunch, Sgt. Tom Cunningham said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
LOL! My 13 year old son has been known for setting up some very elaborate plots to SKIP a meal. I cannot imagine having a child who loves to eat so much! Then, I cannot imagine staying in bed while your child gets up, gets dressed and goes to meet the school bus.
Am I the only one who thinks that charging the parents with child endangerment and taking both children into protective custody is going too far? I mean, I would love to have a few words with a mother who can stay in bed while her child is getting ready for school. That probably explains why he wanted breakfast so much. But child endangement????
“””He was very intent on getting to school,” said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins. “When he got out of the car, he started walking to school. He did not want to miss breakfast and PE.”
His parents, Jacqulyn Deana Waltman, 26, and David Eugene Dodson, 40, are each charged with child endangerment, Wilkins said. Waltman is being held without bond. Dodson was released on a $5,000 bond.
It was not clear if they had attorneys.
The boy and his 4-year-old brother were placed in protective custody.
“This really is a story of miracles,” Wilkins said. “The Lord was with him, along with everybody else on the highway.”””
It’s VA...
I wonder if the Lord intended for them to be arrested.
Lads these days are taking things into their own hands more and more it seems. Wasn’t there a thread just a day or two ago about a 4 yr old that took a pistol and shot the baby sitter after she stepped on his foot?
I didn't think of that possibility, but the key word is "different". I bet both your parents did not work night shifts and left you and your sister unattended. I tend to think that this is likely a minority family and the parents too sorry to get up. But I am not ready to call it child endangerment.
When I was 3, I put our brand new ‘86 Honda Civic in neutral, and it rolled down our steep driveway. Luckily, for me, no one was driving down the street. Not-so-lucky for my neighbor, whose brown VW Hippie Van was parked across the street from our driveway. My mother was doing the laundry, and I was feeling quite curious, I guess. I wonder had this been today if they would’ve locked her up and thrown me into foster care.
My sister and I not only got ourselves up and dressed at 7 & 8, we also made breakfast and lunch for ourselves and Dad. We did chores when we got home and switched off cooking dinner and doing dishes too. Mom worked two jobs.
It was a different world then too. Also, we grew up in the country or very small towns and didn’t face a lot of the dangers city kids face.
I like his attitude and gumption. Quite a challenge to mold that without squelching it.
Sheriff Wilkins is lucky that this kid’s parents did not have any guns in the house, at least not within his reach!
I do think the parents should be charged with something. Why in the world would the mom of a 6 year old be in bed sleeping while all this was going on? Because she's neglectful, that's why.
As to the kids being taken away, that depends. How reliable is dad, and can he take over the 'kid' duties until they get mom straightened out? If he's not completely different from mom, then I'd say the kids need to be given to someone who actually cares.
It’s very encouraging that at least the kid was trying to go to school!
By the time he is a teenager, the educational bureacracy, teacher’s unions, and force-fed political correctness will have removed any remaining desire for the kid has for a public-school education.
They probably had him on drugs before he went to bed that night.
Read the article. He didn't want to miss breakfast and PE! Hardly a Nobel laureate in the making.
Nobody else seems to have noticed that this boy (and the 4-year-old, too?) was apparently not going to be offered breakfast at home.
He's six. I think that is typical.
I stopped getting my oldest son ready for school the morning after he demanded I find his socks. I didn't care for his attitude. For a few months, I made sure he got up on time, would check that he was actually getting ready to go, and listen for him to leave. He was very responsible kid and only missed his bus once in years.
My younger son is 10 and he would never make it to school by himself. Last year, I overslept one time. It is usually dark when he gets up, but the child woke up, saw that it was full daylight and just assumed it was a snow day (there was NO snow outside). I found him happily wrapped in a blanket, watching tv, an hour after school started.
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