Posted on 06/27/2014 12:52:11 PM PDT by WhiskeyX
“The kid should have known his address. 8 years old!”
[Chuckle], he did know his address. He was just trying to not get into trouble at home for sneaking off like that. Didn’t work....
When my youngest son lived in Monroeville, AL, his 8-year-boy and sleep-over buddy snuck out the bedroom window around midnight. The cops found 'em shining flashlights into downtown stores "looking for criminals" and brought 'em back.
Next day, some Child Endangerment came over to check things out, and my boy told him what happened. The guy says "You ABANDONED your child and let him roam about at midnight. We could take your child." My boy almost struck the guy down but instead replied, "I put him to bed IN HIS FRIGGING BEDROOM!". The guy harrumphed and left.
My boy's wife went ape, thinking she would lose the kid. Luckily, she was on good terms with the mayor's wife, told her what happened, and never heard another word. Nevertheless, they bailed from AL in a few months.
Oh, that makes sense.
I had a nice middle-aged lady deputy turn up at my door one morning with my 4-year-old son. “He says his name is Frank, and he lives here!” Frank had a crush on a little girl up the street, and he’d gone looking for her, but couldn’t remember where she lived.
He was knocking on doors (on the wrong side of the street). “Does Maggie live here?”
I’ll say. I guess I was darn lucky to have never been caught!
So how long was Frank in jail for stalking?
As a REAL little kid - perhaps 4 or 5, I would sneak over to the old couple’s house through the hedge in our backyard on Sunday mornings to try to get out of going to church. I think it was pancakes that I really liked at their house!
Fortunately, we’re friends with Maggie’s parents and grandmother. They let him come over and gaze at Maggie (who is a year older, and blonde) from time to time, plus he sees her at the playground and the gym nursery.
I used to go hang out with adult neighbors, too, when I was a kid. One of my daughters, now 14, often went to play dominoes with an elderly neighbor’s church group, when they were short a player. She would just call on Sunday and say, “Can Sally come to dominoes? Pack a lunch!”
The kid knew he was supposed to be at church so he lied so he wouldn’t get in trouble. When you are little you will lie to bullies!
There’s really too much government interference in private life. Hey, you know, I get it, if something dreadful had happened to this child then MAYBE some charges might be in order.
But, we really can’t turn every screw up or momentarily lapse of judgment into a criminal infraction. Just like we can’t keep ostracizing people or chasing them out of their jobs because they said something stupid. These are things that every single person on earth is guilty of at one time or another.
I just don’t know what to do about all this, it’s starting to seem overwhelming.
And what happened in MS shows how those in power will stop at nothing to hold on to it.
So, I’m feeling a bit depressed about the state of our nation because I feel like truly we are on the road to fascism.
An eight year old is perfectly capable of pretending he doesn’t know his address because being taken home by a cop means the jig is up.
I bet like anything he just wanted this cop to go away so I can get home before the bus does.
“We live in anonymous neighborhoods now.”
Well, that wasn’t true in this case. Another customer at the store knew who the kid was and where he lived.
I’m pretty sure the kid knows his address perfectly well, but I’m guessing he knew he’d be in trouble for having cut church.
Imagine how guilty this poor kid probably feels now.
The kid should have known his address, phone number, and where his dad worked and his dad’s work number. Or at the very least which McDonalds his dad worked at.
I also have to agree with other FReepers in that at 8 years old we ran around the neighborhood all day and our parents did not know where we were at every minute. Only thing we were told was to be back at dinner time.
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