Mom questioned over son's solo outdoor playtime

[Jazzy]

A Texas mom started a parenting debate this month, blogging about her six-year-old playing outside by himself.

She described her shock and anger when police and Child Protective Services came knocking on her door, CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez reports.

Kari Anne Roy knows all about the joys and challenges of raising a child. She has three of them. Her youngest -- six-year-old Isaac -- recently gained the privilege of playing outside alone for a few minutes.

Isaac said his rules were laid out for him: don't go past "the top of the hill where the stop sign is."

But a seemingly well-intentioned neighbor brought Isaac back home one day.

"There was this kind of disconnect there that I was smiling and saying, 'yes he was outside playing' and she was like, 'well, he was outside by himself' and I said, 'yes he was outside by himself playing, as six-year-olds do,'" Roy said.

But it didn't end there. Soon, Roy had another knock on the door: a police officer who questioned her, but left. A few days later, Child Protective Services (CPS) arrived and questioned each of her children.

"Like, 'have you taken drugs or alcohol?' 'Have you seen movies of naked people.' 'Has anybody touched you?' They had to investigate," Roy said. "If CPS gets a call, you want them to check on the welfare of the children. However, I think when they are getting these kinds of frivolous calls, it's wasting resources."

Roy said that while supervision is important, letting children have their space is valuable too.

"I think when it comes to children, you have to give them the experience of life," Roy said. "It's doing them a disservice if we keep them trapped in the house until they are 16 and then they are off to high school."

Diane Debrovner, deputy editor at Parent's Magazine, says this is a debate largely fueled by fears, like kidnapping by a stranger, which statistically is very low.

"We wish we could let our children play more but everyone is more worried about safety and I think that this case raises some thorny issues about how much authority you have over making decisions for your own child, and where the boundaries are for neighbors stepping in and making judgments about your parenting," Debrovner said.

Source

Questions:

What are your thoughts about what happened to this Mom?

How old should a child be, in your opinion, before they can be outdoors alone?

 

[Dee]

*sigh*

I remember when I was this kids age, and could play outside alone or with my brothers/friends and no one from CPS came to my house because they thought my parents were negligent or irresponsible. I completely agree with what the mother thinks and feels. She shouldn't deprave her son of the chance to be a child simply because of the world we live in. However, there are legitimate reasons as to why neighbors and other parents might be concerned about such a young child playing outside by himself.

It really just depends on where you are in the world, what the neighborhood is like, whether you're living near people who are offenders who may hurt your children, and whether you can trust your own neighbors. It's just sad that we've come to this kind of sheltered world for our children, to the point where people will question harmless play and get the authorities involved. That should have NEVER happened.

 

[Sinon]

I'd say it depends. I live on one of the more-used roads in my town, and with all the walls, hedges and whatnot it's not very easy to see very far past my driveway. From the sounds of the article, the child wasn't playing in a garden or driveway, but on the road itself. Personally I don't think that's something a 6-year-old should be doing. There are a lot of risks to children being on or around roads, and I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable allowing my child to run around unsupervised. There are a lot of dangers, and with no adult supervision those dangers could be far, far worse.

 

[Jazzy]

I say it depends too where he was playing alone. Appears from the article he was playing on the sidewalk and told don't go past "the top of the hill where the stop sign is." We all know kids can get distracted and lose sense of where they are supposed to NOT go. I don't think the neighbor was anything but worried about the welfare of this child. In my opinion, she did the right thing by taking him home.

I have no problem that we was playing outside alone. I have a problem of where and he was out of his mother's sight. I would never let my six year old play outside where I couldn't keep an eye on him.