The government sometimes arrests parents for giving kids responsibility. In South Carolina, mom Deborah Harrell was jailed for letting her 9-year-old daughter play in a park for the day.
Local media outlets breathlessly reported that Harrell left her daughter at the park “for hours at a time,” and that she “confessed” to that. A police interrogator lectured Harrell: “You can’t leave a child who is nine years old in the park by herself. What would you do if some sex offender came by?” Yet despite media scare stories, kidnappings are extremely rare and are way down.
“In South Carolina, mom Deborah Harrell was jailed for letting her 9-year-old daughter play in a park for the day.” What was she jailed for…willful abandonment of a child???? The charges were dropped.
I too, as many have similarly said, grew up free to roam the streets. My mom worked (step-dads were here and there), I and my siblings went to school, and afterwards did whatever I wanted as long as I did my chores. We played wiffle ball in the street, built forts, put together model cars, played with our army men, etc. If I didn’t, I got the belt on my bare butt (yes, it hurt but soon didn’t care); if I did my chores, I got a few dollars allowance to use; I usually used it to go skating on Fri or Sat night to maybe meet or dance with a cute girl or buy candy. That also involved me walking through woods about 1/2 mile in the dark by myself. Nobody attacked me, nobody abducted me, and I never saw a white van or was approached by someone I did not know or fear Halloween.
The only fear I got was from the present step dad beating us and my older brother experimenting about sexual desires with me.
Being said, I do 100% believe parents are responsible and accountable for their children. This woman did not abandon her child. She let her live. Whether it’s 1970 or 2020, fear in society (42 abductions in daycare vs 0 in a park) is just that, fear (albeit unfounded).
Due largely to the efforts of Lenore Skenazy author of “Free-Range Children,” Utah passed a law specifically allowing just what the South Carolina law prohibits. Kudos to her and John Stossel for addressing the irrational fears that are rampant today.
Opportunistic politicians and shock journalists are the primary culprits. The media mantra once was “if it bleeds, it leads.” Now it is “if it sizzles, it sells.”
So now she will be in jail and maybe the child will go to child protective services where the child has a greater chance of being abused either by violence, sex abuse or neglect.
I base this on the news reports I see here in Florida of the over worked and understaffed child services department where kids are sent off to families with numerous complaints against them for some sort of violation of the rules like starving the child etc
I grew up in the 1970’s at a time when moms stayed home, dads went to work, and children were expected to play outside….until the dinner bell rang. We built forts, played cops and robbers or Army men, we fought commies in the woods and parks all day during summer time. Nothing, and I mean nothing, bad happened to me or my friends in thos Orlandoean days! This may seem old fashioned to some, or worse as child neglect, but I sure wish I could raise my family like that now. Instead, we are all faced with the kind of busy bodies seen in this news article.
We’d be far better off with a yellow journalist like John Stossel being forbidden to parent!
why does someones always have to bring politics into this, BOTH SIDES ARE CONTINUALLY SCREWING US
My Dad was not around most of my life ( Off fighting in Vietnam and other far off places ). Mom did the best she could but I was an explorer and an adventurer as a kid and often went wandering in the woods and other places by myself even as young as 7.
Most of the bad guys I had to deal with were bullies from my school who would catch me in the woods and beat the crap out of me and leave me bleeding and crying.
I was a street smart kid from about the age of six. I do however know a lot of children are overly trusting and would go off with a stranger at the drop of a hat which was proven by an experiment on several tv specials over the years. They would have parents volunteer to have a bad guy ( portrayed by an actor but child did not know that ) approach their child with a trip to Disney or to get an ice cream etc. Many of the parents said no way my kid is falling for that and about 4 out of 10 kids willing and excitedly got into a car with a stranger. And not just 5 and 6 year olds but even teens fell for it.
When I had to do the court ordered probation counseling, it was a group session and some of the stories I heard in there from those that actually admitted they did something was unreal. Neighbors who “Just” met you and when they volunteered to baby sit their kid for free, many of the parents were so happy, never questioning the guys. I say guys ( even though females can also offend ) my group was all males. And of course there were some in the group who were never going to leave the group because they were innocent. And even though they very well could have been, the only way to graduate from the group was to come clean and spill the beans that you had offended.Regardless if you were innocent, if you kept saying you were, you were never getting out of that group. I was the first to graduate as I admitted to every crime ever committed even killing Abe Lincoln just to get the Hell out of there LOL
I went through the same situation in Jacksonville, FL. If you did not say what the counselor wanted you to say, he would keep you there almost indefinitely. There had been “clients” there for more than six years. Of course, the longer you stayed there, the more money you would be paying.
Fortunately, I was able to get out by going to one-on-one counseling with a psychologist in Orlando, FL. I did the whole thing in seven months instead of God knows how many years.
And what about the era in which these adults in the lawmaking business grew up? I’m sure they could tell fun stories of a time when they went to parks and played outside with no adult supervision. And there were child abductions back then, too. So where did this bullshit modern day fear mongering come from? Where????
Soon they will be arresting people for child abuse if their kids aren’t given smart phones. Surely you aren’t safe without one? Maybe even force you to have a chip implanted in your child for safety. Same reason registries exist: phony scare tactics not backed up by real evidence.
Don’t laugh, those chips are coming. It is foretold in the Bible. Taking the mark of the beast and not being able to buy or sell without one. Those who refuse will have to steal, barter, fight or rob to stay alive.
I believe it will either be a microchip or a UPC code tattooed on your forearm so you can be scanned when you buy something or stopped by law enforcement to see if you have warrants. Also the Cameras on every corner and big brother is not a joke nor paranoia. In many cities they already use facial recognition in public areas. UCF police use license plate readers to find and arrest people who are not students on campus even though there are stores on campus like starbucks that anyone should be able to use.
Hope I am dead by time that happens but things are really moving fast with technology. They are talking about eventually anyone on probation having to wear a GPS device.
I contacted 3 local TV stations
[email protected]
[email protected]
https://www.nbc-2.com/category/175032/news-tips
with the following:
SUBJECT: A Must Watch 5 Minute Video by John Stossel
https://youtu.be/IYsE7T2hXe8
The government sometimes arrests parents for giving kids responsibility. In South Carolina, mom Deborah Harrell was jailed for letting her 9-year-old daughter play in a park for the day.
Local media outlets breathlessly reported that Harrell left her daughter at the park “for hours at a time,” and that she “confessed” to that. A police interrogator lectured Harrell: “You can’t leave a child who is nine years old in the park by herself. What would you do if some sex offender came by?” Yet despite media scare stories, kidnappings are extremely rare and are way down.
I also donated $10 to John Stossel by clicking the link on the video.
I also have saved a copy of this video locally and have archived it with other source materials like newspaper articles, government and university studies etc.
I would like to encourage others to do the same. If you have these materials saved locally, then you can include them when challenging fake news and bad legislation that relies of faulty facts and logic.
Seeing much praise on Twitter for this report. And I can’t say enough good about it.
The comments on YouTube are overwhelmingly critical about government overreach! And better yet the only kidnappings that are done to children are by Child Welfare Services…
Wow…sensible reporting…that’s rare.
There ought to be more!
John Stossel is known for sensible reporting. I loved his piece called “Gimme a Break”. There was one episode of that which has since been taken off of YouTube where a teenage couple in MY home state of Connecticut were 2 years apart in age. The male turned 18 before the female turned 16 and that made the ALREADY EXISTING relationship ILLEGAL. The girl’s father pressed charges on the boyfriend and ruined his life. All because of whose birthday came first.
I’ve tried to find that episode again but it seems to have disappeared.