I live in a fairly small town and that didn't stop a dude from busing into a house kidnapping a girl and killing her (Polly Klaas) a few years back. Or the small town I lived in before that when a volunteer at the church killed a girl with a bat and left her in a trash bag by the creek. Here's a fun connection. The church killer was married to a friend of my parents and when we moved we lived around the corner from the cop that found the girl who was to messed up from it he jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge a few years later. My point is where every you live there is sadly some risk bad things will happen but if we live in fear about it it's worse. Are those spam dogs? Because that's what it sounds like.
Is there another word for worst mom? I mean, who in the hell would allow her 9-year old son to take the subway on his own?
When I lived in NY, I'd see kids going from Coney Island in Brooklyn all the way to Manhattan all the time. It's not a big deal.
Of course. I'm just saying that there's less chance of it in a small town than in a city. When I lived in DC for most of the 90's, it was a *good* day if there were only 5 new murders reported on the news. Most of the time it was upwards of ten. Every day. When I and my fellow Air Force personnelists in-processed people new to the area, all adults, we had to give them safety briefings that included 'don't walk off the base if you're white and alone'. The city was bad enough that when I tried to report a woman who'd been raped, the police wouldn't investigate because they 'didn't find a body in that area'. So who knows how many crimes went unreported. Thing is, with more people, there's more chance for crime of all kinds, and letting your kid travel alone in a place that is known to have a high crime rate, like New York, is very negligent. --Moony
Kids who live in Washington, DC do it all the time because thats how they get to school. They even have subsidized fares for them. If the kid is taught to be alert, don't talk to strangers, etc then it's a great opportunity for learning about the world and being responsible. I have no problem with it.
LOL Um... You know that in my area almost all public transportation gives kids free ride during the school year and it is *COMMON* for kids in elementary school to ride the public bus to and from school. Hell in DC this is the only fucking way for kids in poor neighborhoods to get to school. If riding the bus is perfectly ok and common, I don't see why the Subway is any different. If a Parent has gone through the subway with them, taught them how to use it and the kid feels comfortable and has a way to call for help like emergency contact information I am not going to judge that parent out of the risk that a 50-year old pedophile may steal him away and rape and murder him. That can happen anywhere, even with the parent around. And for low-income families, young children riding the bus/subway is a way of life. And a 9 year old is old enough and smart enough that if taught and shown how to do it enough and the child is responsible enough, can do it with parent knowledge. I know everyone would liek to say that children should be handcuffed to parents until they reach 16 but that is not reality. If she is a negligent bastard, then they should remove children from basically every parent of low-income families in washington DC area and put them in government 'homes' instead. (of course this is DC... I cound't tell you about NY subways)
I was gonna say, I work with kids and had a group from manhattan one time. there were 11 year olds that routinely took the subway to get to school. I couldn't believe it, but they were like, "what?"
i don't think that it was the best decision for that mom to do, but i don't think it's newsworthy if nothing happened to the kid. my 8 year old walks to and from school with just a couple friends from up the road every day. of course i live in a small town. we don't even have so much as a bus for public transit here. if we did have it, i wouldn't let my kid take it alone, but i know there are some people in town who probably would. it might be irresponsible, but it's not newsworthy.
My brother and I have taken the New York subway when we were 13 by ourselves, sometimes past midnight going from Manhattan to Brooklyn. It's not a big deal as long you know which train to take and keep to yourself (ie no staring or making eye contact with anyone)
I saw this on TV a few days ago and even back then it turned out to not be a big deal. This particular kid was smart and sure of himself enough to do that, but not every kid would be. So what works and is normal for one will be difficult or even traumatic for others. Now this isn't something I'd let my kids do, but I wouldn't mind having kids who were able to do this.
Maybe its because I don't have kids, but I don't see why it would be a big deal. When I was a kid I rode my bike all over the place and on some fairly busy roads. Its more about how intelligent and mature the kid is, imo. If the kid can handle it and the mom knows where he's going, more power to them.
I remember when I was in the Philippines, kids took jeeps alone, and the Philippines is pretty heavily populated
I just discussed this with my wife, and she's totally the other way (I figure its no big deal), she disagrees mainly because the kid was 9. I remember on the TV report that now people are wondering what kind of lesson the kids learning from all this media attention or summat. (Ie, now you're a star!) I dunno. Sometimes it feels like the press have nothing better to do than rip people to shreds.
When I was nine I was running around stealing cars and killing hookers. I BLAME VIDEO GAMES! Yeah I don't see what the big deal is either.
