This case flat out blows me away. It's such an extreme example of overreaction, overprotection of our kids, and over-the-top ridiculousness, I have a hard time believing it happened. But it did -- to Tammy Cooper, a stay-at-home mom who lives in La Porte, Texas.
According to Cooper she was sitting outside of her home in a lawn chair watching her children, ages 6 and 9, ride their motorized scooters in their cul-de-sac. The next she knew, police were there, handcuffing her, and taking her jail where she was forced to spend the night. Why? Because she was apparently endangering her children.
She told Click2Houston she was out there watching them the entire time, but police didn't want to hear it. Apparently they had received a call from a neighbor that the kids were out there unsupervised, and it was an orange jumpsuit for her.
The thing that kills me is that even if she was inside, there shouldn't have been a problem. These kids are 6 and 9, and they were in a cul de sac in front of their home. All children may not be old enough to handle such a situation, but some definitely are, and it should be a parent's right to decide if they are. My neighborhood is filled with children who do the exact same thing alone regularly.
And why take a neighbor's word over a mother's? Who knows what the neighbor's motives were. It's great when others look out for children, but parents shouldn't automatically be presumed guilty.
Eventually the charges against Cooper were dropped, thank goodness, but she says that's not good enough to make up for the humiliating and terrifying ordeal. She told the station, "My daughter had him (the police officer) around the leg saying, 'Please, please don't take my mom to jail. Please, she didn't do anything wrong.'" So she's suing the police department, and I hope she gets some justice.
I tend to be on the cautious side rather free-range side with my kids, but cases like this still make my blood boil. It's such a sad testament to how different our children's childhoods are from the carefree ones without strict boundaries and ever-fearful parents that most of us experienced.
Do you let your children play outside alone? How young is too young?
Image via alibree/Flickr
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Comments 266
i have a six year old son and 9 year old daughter. they play outside with the 9 kids that live next door. there is always an adult stepping out to check on them. are we out there with them every min,no. i think it teaches kids responsibility to be out there on their own. if they do something they are not aloud its time to stay in the house.it only takes 1 time for them to hear the other kids out there playing and they cnt go out for them to follow the rules.
This story makes me INSANE, at 6 years old I was expected to play outside, as were all the kids in my neighborhood. Gangs of us running all over. That was one of the things that made it safer. These days American children seem to be raised in hermetically sealed containers. I've been meeting and trying to hire some of these precious angels and guess what? they are completely unprepared for real life or the work world!
agreed Manderspanders this is absolutely nuts
That is insane. My kids play outside all of the time. The run around the (very safe) neighborhood in a pack with the neighborhood kids, and all of the kids have Karate training. They know the boundries and follow them. Yes, I have spied on them to be sure. You have to balance the risk of something awful happening (which is really quite small) with the very real risk of raising overly-sheltered, fat, inactive kids! I'm no "free range parent;" I'm reasonable. If it is 3pm and the neighborhood teens (many of whom drive WAY too fast in the area) are all driving home from high school, the kids are not out and about. That's just common sense.
When I was 9, my best friend and I had freaking HORSES that we rode every day out on trails with absolutely no adult supervision. We had to stay on the neighborhood trails, wear helmets, nothing faster than a canter, and we followed those rules. I took a nasty fall once and broke my arm. My friend had the presence of mind to tie the horses to the fence and go to the nearest house (a few yards away). They called the paramedics, and I was fine. Better than fine. The paramedics were all gorgeous young men, and the neighbor who called for them was a retired NFL star who happily signed my cast the next day. I was SO cool for a couple of weeks at school!
Did my mom stop me from riding outside of the arena? Nope. The moment the doc cleared me to ride again, she enrolled me in formal lessons and MADE me ride (I was terrified).
Also, were the kids wearing helmets? If not, that is illegal in my state. You probably would not be arrested, but you certainly would be ticketed.
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