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If his parents didn't notice he left the house with their car, then it's more about a kid having access to keys.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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That kid is awesome. I have a five year old and this sort of thing would never occur to him (I guess we'll see after he turns six)...I just think having the confidence and knowledge to drive a car six miles when you're that little is incredibly impressive. It's also a bit scary that he didn't know that wasn't OK, but I have to be honest: I haven't explained to my children that they aren't allowed to drive the car.
I don't think it's fair to charge the parents and take away the kids over this incident. Maybe there's other evidence of endangerment the article doesn't mention. Obviously the parents did something right since the kid likes going to school. Someone could have been hurt, and I don't think it's OK to let your kid drive, but it wasn't intentional. Not anticipating that the kid would take the keys and drive away in the car should not be considered a crime.
Edit: Fixed wrong word.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Looking it up elsewhere, apparently his mother was asleep and his father wasn't home when this happened. Still raises up a red flag though...why would he not wake his mother up? Hmmm...
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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scifibum, six year olds should not be able to have the authority to drive to school by themselves. If they have that sense of responsibility, it suggests that something is wrong in the family-- which it obviously is.
As for Grand Theft Auto, I don't find a six year old having played Grand Theft Auto funny. I know a lot of people will chime in and say, "well, I watched Law and Order: SVU when I was four and it never did me any harm!"
I think that unless there is no alternative (such as you live in a war zone), having a child as young as six doing and watching adult entertainment is basically bordering on neglect, in my opinion.
Also, I understand working parents, but I would never consider having my six year old get ready for school and board a school bus without at least seeing him out the door and waving goodbye. That really is neglect, no question.
I do not have a problem with this being a foster care situation.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I agree Teshi. I have a six year old. I drive him myself every morning because even riding the bus for him isn't a good idea. I can't imagine sleeping and not getting up to get him ready for school. I also can't imagine letting him play GTA. I don't even let my 14yr old play that game.
Posts: 1132 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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By contrast when I was about seven, after my sister moved out, my mother taught me to make breakfast for myself and my brother (eggs, oatmeal, and the like), and I would walk him to school before walking to my bus-stop. Not every kid has the luxury of being cosseted.
Posts: 1751 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Judging by the articles, transportation by an adult to school was not a luxury or pampering, it was a necessity in this case. Trying to walk over a highway bridge in VA is difficult enough for an adult, I don't even want to think about a little kid attempting it. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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They didn't say much about the family's monetary situation. It's entirely possible that the child gets free breakfast and lunch at school. Eating at school may be his only opportunity to eat much each day. The article did say that the meal may have been the child's primary motivation.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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The article I read said that he didn't want to miss breakfast (or P.E., but breakfast was specifically mentioned.) I think that is a very valid point.
And the dad left for work at 6:30. I don't know how rural they are, but assuming no more than a 1-hour commute, most jobs that start that early are of the physical labor type, often in retail stores, or food service, and while some of them pay well, many don't.
I feel for the dad. The mom is having some kind of problem where there's a court order not to leave the kids alone with her. But the dad has to go to work to keep his job. So if he can't find someone else to come stay with the kids early in the morning, probably without paying them, based on my guesses about the financial siutation, he has to choose between losing his job and probably not being able to pay his rent, which can lead to the kids being taken away since the courts are already involved here, or leaving the kids with their mom against the court order and hoping nothing bad happens that leads to his kids getting hurt or being taken away.
That's just sad all around. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by scifibum: That kid is awesome. I have a five year old and this sort of thing would never occur to him (I guess we'll see after he turns six)...I just think having the confidence and knowledge to drive a car six miles when you're that little is incredibly impressive. It's also a bit scary that he didn't know that wasn't OK, but I have to be honest: I haven't explained to my children that they aren't allowed to drive the car.
I actually tried to do something like this when I was six, although I wasn't as successful. My mom was out back gardening and my dad was away on a business trip. My younger sister (around 3 at the time) and I were playing, and somehow it got into my head that it would be fun to take my sister for a drive around the neighborhood.
Now, the car keys were kept up on top of the microwave, but I pulled a kitchen chair up to the counter, and climbed up so that I could reach to the top of the microwave.
So I buckled my sister into the back seat of the minivan and got into the driver's seat. I started up the car, put it in reverse, and tried to back out the driveway. I could barely reach the pedals, and I ended up halfway hitting the brake and gas. This ended up making all sorts of unpleasant sounds, and by the time I got out of the driveway it began to occur to me that this was something I probably wasn't supposed to do. However, I wasn't really confident that I could get the car back where it was supposed to be. So I put the car in park and went out to get my mom. I don't remember exactly what I said, but it was some variant of "um, I have a bit of a problem". She was pretty surprised when she got out front.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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We tried to drive the car when we were little, too. I remember my mom would always take forever saying bye. Once when we were leaving grandma's house, mom said we're going so we all trooped out to the car, but then she stayed and chatted for what seemed at the time like an hour. So my older brother worked the pedals and I worked the steering wheel and we started backing down the driveway. Luckily he knew which one was the brake, and stopped us before we backed out into traffic. I got scared but it was also thrilling. Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I was never told not to drive, but since I always had to be buckled up and knew that I wasn't allowed in the front seat until I was 12, I guess that covered it. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I did not attempt to drive at that age, nor did any of my sibs. One of my brothers did take the parking brake off while the car was in the driveway and just us three (at the time) kids were in the car -- parent had run in to get something, or something like that. I didn't know how to put the parking brake back ON.
So I screamed like a banshee while I tried to keep the car from rolling down the driveway and into traffic. You know, even a small hatchback is remarkably heavy.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I never tried to drive, but while pretending that I was, I put the car into neutral somehow and it rolled down the hill into the road. I don't think modern cars do that, though.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Even though I was NOT allowed in the front, before I was ever allowed to sit in the car for a few minutes while my parents ran into the store they showed me how to work the emergency brake (though they never left the keys in the car with me in it until I was MUCH older; if it was hot enough I wanted the air on I had to come inside.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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1) No children under 12 were allowed to ride in the front, for safety reasons. (Statistically, everyone is safer in the back seat, but the real jump in mortality seems to be in the under-12 group, even in the pre-airbag, pre-shoulder-belt days.) 2) No children under 12 were allowed to BE in the front, for touching-my-mom's-stuff-and-my-dad's-radio-settings reasons.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by AvidReader: I never tried to drive, but while pretending that I was, I put the car into neutral somehow and it rolled down the hill into the road. I don't think modern cars do that, though.
Wanna bet? What do you think neutral is FOR?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I can see your enthusiasm for car safety was inherited, kq.
My brothers and I were in a running car when my mom went in the house to get something and my younger brother (at the time 2 or so) managed to get free and put the car in reverse. We went across the street and crashed into a neighbors tree, while my mom chased the rolling car (having quite a crisis of conscience at the time, I imagine).
Keeping this in mind, I have not left kids in a running car unsupervised. I've done other stupid things, though. The other day I had one kid on my shoulders and was attempting to pick up the another one with one hand...it didn't go well.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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One of my friends stepped outside and saw her car crashing into another car. She started freaking out, but was able to find all her kids (only 2) in the house. Turns out a very bad driver was stealing her car.
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
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quote:Originally posted by AvidReader: I never tried to drive, but while pretending that I was, I put the car into neutral somehow and it rolled down the hill into the road. I don't think modern cars do that, though.
Wanna bet? What do you think neutral is FOR?
Most cars these days are built in such a way that you have to be stepping on the brake in order to get the car out of park, which is meant to hinder small children from doing something just like this. I think that was AvidReader's point.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Oh! I completely misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying. Mine requires the keys to be in the ignition to change to neutral.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:I can see your enthusiasm for car safety was inherited, kq.
Indeed.
I've got to say, I thought kids rolling the car down the driveway was a lot rarer before I read this thread. Perhaps my experience was just very, very limited. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I've got to say, I thought kids rolling the car down the driveway was a lot rarer before I read this thread. Perhaps my experience was just very, very limited.
It happened to two groups of my children over the years, in 1985 and 1998. Both times were in cars with manual transmissions and the child(ren) kicked the gear shift into neutral.
That really makes me sound like an inattentive parent, but the second time, my girls were old enough to know better (7 and 9) and playing where they knew they were not allowed. I'd heard them in the car and had just stepped outside to tell them to get out when one of them climbed over the seat into the back and kicked the gear shift. I'd never thought to show them how to pull up the emergency brake. I always engage the parking brake when I park the car, but that time they were in my older daughter's car, not mine.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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