Mom puts three-year-old down for a nap. Mom lays down for a nap herself. Three-year-old gets up, lets herself out, wanders around the neighborhood. Naturally, the local law enforcement idiots charge mom with a crime, in this case child endangerment. Lenore Skenazy comments:
Sounds more like the mom underestimated her child — didn’t realize the girl could or would get up and go!
So how about giving the mom some of those babyproofing thingies that make it hard for a child to open a door? Or an alarm that sounds if the door is opened? In other words, how about helping the mom — and child — rather than making this sound as if the mom is a no-good parent who needs to be punished? As it doesn’t seem like there was any evidence of drugs or alcohol, sounds to me like we’re talking about a parent who simply had something go wrong, which can happen to even the “best” of us.
When we criminalize the ups and downs of normal life, we start making it seem as if living that normal life (which inevitably involves some mistakes and surprises) is criminal.
I think we’re already there.
No comments:
Post a Comment