Friend of mine runs a local eatery. She told her 9-year old son to walk across the street - literally to the candy shop where she knows the owner, and told the kid to do some homework for an hour. Police brought her son back and threatened to charge her with endangerment or abandonment or something similar. This was... 2018 IIRC.
They live about 1.5 miles from the eatery. She would let her 9 year old walk home sometimes in good weather - low crime with actual tree-lined suburban streets. Police apparently threatened her over that as well - that's somehow endangering the child too much, and she might be charged with some misdemeanor.
I don't get it. Really. As someone who grew up in the 70s/80s... I can't say 'nothing bad ever happened'. Obviously it did. But the pendulum has swung far too much the other way now.
They live about 1.5 miles from the eatery. She would let her 9 year old walk home sometimes in good weather - low crime with actual tree-lined suburban streets. Police apparently threatened her over that as well - that's somehow endangering the child too much, and she might be charged with some misdemeanor.
I don't get it. Really. As someone who grew up in the 70s/80s... I can't say 'nothing bad ever happened'. Obviously it did. But the pendulum has swung far too much the other way now.