You have got to be kidding: Overprotective Stories

[Scoutfish]

Nah, I'm cool with my son staying under the care of certain people. I don't let one ruin it for all.

 

But, again, let's be honest and realistic here: Some of you are the smartest people in your imeadiate locale. By that I simply mean....your surrounding friends and neighbors might not think things through completely, might not consider all potential outcomes or just aren't as smart as a dead cow.

 

For instance, one of my wifes former employees was complaining to my wife just 2 nights ago about how stupid her son in law was;

 

THis is crazy, but true: The woman let her daughter and son in law borrow her Toyota Tacomma ( read small truck) to tgo Christmas shopping for their 5 and 3 year old kids. WEll, they took the kids with them. Do the math: small truck, 3 seats, 4 people, and for whatever reason, no car seats. The 3 year old sat in mom lap with the seat belt arouind both of them. The 5 year old in the middle with no seat belt because "it was too hard to click in place".

At some point , during the nighttime rain in traffic, Dad slammed into the back of another truck at 40 mph.

 

Luckily, the unbelted 5 year old only bumped his head on the dash. The 3 year old however...was the cushion between mom and the seatbelt that stopped them. The 3 year old is gonnsa be okay, but is hurt and really sore. WEll, the damage isn't permanant!

 

Yeah, the mom and dad are gonna get eat up in court for sure.

 

But the thingf is, the kids were with people who couldn't rub two brain cells together. People who are parents and should know beter and I imagine, on occasion will be entrusted to watch other kids too.

 

The Mom in law? She blames the son in law EVEN THOUGH SHE KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING WHEN THEY BORROWED TRUCK! So, that means there is one more person I'd scratch off my list of tustworthy.

 

Point was, if you have a list of people to trust, it could get smaller on a weekly basis.

 

As for my son, I see it like this: If it doesn't maim him or kill him, it might actually be a great lesson to him.

 

I sewed my finger to thre sewing machine when I was younger. Yeah, I laugh about it know because it is a funny story! But my point is, I learned more respect for that machine by experience than what anybody could ever just tell me about.

 

My son is gonna get hurt, have accidents and his fair share of cuts, scrapes and bruises. If he's anything like me...he will have a bigger than averaghe share.

 

But leaving him alone on the side of a road is not gonna be one of those experiences...at least not at age 9. When he's 16 and waiting for the bus...sure, not an issue, but at 9....not gonna happen!

 

Why? Because at 9, all it takes is about 10 seconds for a van to pull up, a full size adult to jump out, grab him, and toss him in then follow and drive off. Ten seconds! By the time I could run out or get my keys and follow( with my wife calling 911) this guy could easily be a mile away. With all the many turns, side roads, streets and such, The possibility I'd never see my son again is immense.

 

So as far as that part goes.....there is no justifiable risk factor I will take.

 

Now, as he gets older, I will have to trust him with people. Some of those people I might not know even though he does. At that point, I am not so much trusting those otrher people, but trusting my son to be the smart one. The "other" people are not my concern at that point. But my son is the one who I'd be trusting to think things through and make wise decidions.

 

 

All I am saying is that depending on the area you live in, the populaton, and what activity or event is taking place...then I completely undetsand some parents doing some things.

 

You want to see something scarey? Type in the local agency that monitors registered sex offenders in your area.

 

I can see 28 in a 3 mile radius. And those are the ones who actually registered like they are supposed to.

 

Althougfh I am not crazy about the idea...I do not have an issue with my child getting cut, briuses or banged up while learning not to do a stupid thing AGAIN. But being kidnapped or molested is not in the same catagory at all.

[SctDad]

Many strange stories, and many unbelieveable ones too. But I guess we cannot make this stuff up.

 

Number one rules I follow when someone comes up to me saying that they are hurt

 

"Is it broken, bleeding, or missing?" If the answer is no to all three, then it is not that catastrophic.

 

If someone says that while playing a game or something "He hurt me, he tripped me, or he pushed me down" First refer to rule number one (see above) then determine Rule number 2

 

Was it an accident or on purpose.

 

Usually on accident and the kids realize things are ok and go back to playing the game.

 

One other thing that I hate

 

HAND SANITIZER

 

We grew up using soap and hot water, soap and water, or just good washing with water. Why do we have to sanitize our hands for EVERYTHING.

 

There is nothing wrong with just using soap and water, I turned out ffffffffffffffine. (Funny?)

 

The hand sanitizer not only kills the bad germs but the good bacteria that we need. Not to mention exposure to some diseases and virus processes help us to build immunity.

 

 

[Oak Tree]

She complains regularly about the irresponsible parents that send their kids out in this with no hat or gloves and a light jacket, seeing the kids turning blue and shivering uncontrollably at the bus stop, often while the parent sits in a car with the engine running.

 

This is one area where I tend to take the side of the "irresponsible parent". It depends on the age of the kid, of course, but by and I large I figure it's up to the kids to dress themselves. I wouldn't say the parent is "sending their kids out", but that the kids are choosing to go out dressed that way. Anyway, I'd think that this would be a self-correcting problem. Once the kids realize they are responsible for their own warmth, you'd think they'd dress a little bit better. (note: I'm not talking about kindergartners, and I'm not talking about sending kids places where they could die, just a typical Scout-aged kid on a typical short outdoor excursion.)

[Beavah]

Why? Because at 9, all it takes is about 10 seconds for a van to pull up, a full size adult to jump out, grab him, and toss him in then follow and drive off. Ten seconds!

 

Yah, and if yeh really want to be scared, a meteor will kill him dead in even less than 10 seconds! And it's about as likely.

 

Seriously, yeh would think that there were drive-by van-snatchings goin' on in all of our neighborhoods daily by the way this particular boogeyman comes up. It's even worse than da fear of lawyers in Scouting.

 

Abduction by strangers is extremely rare, especially when you're talkin' boys who are out of diapers. I think more people get seriously injured or killed by revolving doors each year, eh? So be sure not to let your 9-year-old near those deadly things.

 

Beavah

(who waited on the street corner for the bus to kindergarten)

[Scoutfish]

 

 

Yeah, but as a parent, I cannot do anything to prevent a meteor from hitting him. And when is the last time you heard about kids just getting hit by meteor waiting for trhe bus?

 

I suppose I could say not everybody who brings a gun to camp gets shot or shoots somebody, nor does having BB guns at a den meeting mean somebody will get hurt. Matter of fact< I bet the odds are substantially stacked against somebody getting hurt.

 

BUT, the chance is all that warrants having rules for those particular circumstances.

 

Likewise, as a parent in an area that does in fact, have quite many amber alerts as wells as news bulletins about missing or lost kids ..not to mention a plethora of registered sex offenders( many of which are child molestors) in our Council area..then I will not take that chance.

 

I'd rather be whayt youi consider unreasonable or even oprudish about my son's bus stop circumstanvces than to be one of the odds or rare cases of an abductor snatching my son.

 

But then again, don't make a blanket statement of the fact that since you did it as a kid that it probably willnever happen.

 

As a kid, I rode in many cars without seatbelts and so did many of my friends, I had friends dad's who drank a beer while driving and didn't even hide it in a bag. No wrecks.

 

Maybe all those DUI/DWI laws are just a bit of a knee jerk reaction, right?

 

Again,I will let my son many experiences with failure. I personally believe wrecking a bike on a shoddy, hastily built ramp is the best instructor by far.

 

Swing on a tire swing that's knot wasn't tied good is another lesson I will let my son experience.

 

But I will, to the best of my ability...do whatever I can to prevent him from experiencing an abduction or molestation.

 

You are free to let you kids do as you see fit. I'm cool with that too.

[clemlaw]

I doubt if there are many more child molesters these days than there were in the past, but there's a lot more fear of them.

 

One of the reasons this fear is fueled is because of the large number of "registered sex offenders", and it is assumed that these are particularly dangerous people.

 

I'm sure some of them are, but the fear is overblown for a couple of reasons. First of all, if someone is convicted of something like abducting a child, contrary to public perception, this is a very serious crime, and just about anywhere that I'm aware of, this person, if convicted, will get a long prison sentence.

 

Now, eventually, this sentence might get completely served, and there will, indeed, be a serious offender released after 30 years. Even that is less likely, since such cases usually now get an indefinite civil commitment in most states. Yes, it happens, and there was one such case that received much publicity around here a couple of years ago. But it is rare.

 

The ranks of the "registered sex offenders" are artificially inflated by people who were guilty of relatively minor offenses, and who probably pose little if any danger to the community. For example, some "registered sex offenders" are those who, when over age 18, had consensual sex with their girlfriend who was under 18. In some states, people convicted of public urination become "registered sex offenders".

 

Are these people upstanding members of the community? Maybe not. But are they particularly dangerous? Probably not.

 

Stranger abductions are rare. They're probably more common than meteor strikes, but much less common than other things that we don't worry too much about.

 

My son is in first grade, and my wife or I usually walk him to the bus stop. So maybe we're being overprotective to some extent. On the other hand, if we're not there the second the bus drops him off in the afternoon, we don't lose a lot of sleep over it.

[moosetracker]

well Scoutfish, as stated very early on if you do live in a neighborhood with high crime rates where your son has to walk by drug dealers and pimps, and there are drive by shootings by gangs.. Then I understand the paranoia of parents.. Maybe this is your circumstance.

 

If you live in a quite suburb, but are panicing over watching a movie on a child abduction, or heard on the news that 5 states away their was a child abduction.. and you then put a leash on your child, you are being over protective.

 

If your neighborhood has a high crime rate, then you have the right to be more over protective then my area that is very quite, yet every parent is acting like they do live in a high crime area.. Because of something that is less likely to happen then lightning striking the kid as he stands there..

[evmori]

Yeah bicycle helmets probably do help but I don't think any government, local, state or federal should be legislating personal safety.

[Lisabob]

Take a closer look at those amber alerts. In nearly all cases, the child in question is thought to have been taken by someone who knows them.

 

 

[moosetracker]

With bike helmets and other similar safty items I am inbetween.. Our NH laws are always being threatened but I agree with them.

 

Put into law the safty measures for the minors, because the kids are too young to make the decision, and some parents don't have common sense. It hopefully will teach the youth the habit of using the personal safty items.

 

The laws should not be in place for the adults. It is their right to decide for themselves. They should have the freedom to make their own decisions.

 

Now the laws about not texting, typeing on a laptop and other distractions while driving as well as dui laws I agree with.. The personal safty is a decision that only you will be effected by, it does not hurt your attention or focus on the road.. The texting & dui also may be a personal decision but one that may injure others in the accident you cause, because of your lack of focus on the road..

[moosetracker]

I also agree amber alerts are either children taken by people you know, or a "misplaced" child that does eventually show up..

 

Also people registered as sex offenders are usually people who never stole a child.. They either had consentual sex with someone who was too young, or they are found with child porn..

 

But if you are in an area where there is a true known problem for children being taken and abused or killed, you do have every right to watch your children, and normally the school & police will be sending out notices that you do so until the perp is caught.. To ignore those would be ignorant.