Pugdaddyk: 1/2 mile from her stop? 2600 feet, OH MY POOR BABY!!!
Uphill, both ways, in the snow, and barefoot.
Stop whining!!

Eight years old you cocksucking farktard. That's half a mile of potential windowless pedo-van abduction real-estate.

rogue_L_chick: You know, statisically speaking...my kid is not likely to get kidnapped or hurt, but I still don't let him roam for miles at 8 years old...or he doesn't get kidnapped or hurt because he doesn't roam for miles without me knowing where it is...not sure which it is...

Anyone who'd put their kid in harm's way to prove a point about how great their upbringing was...that's just not right.

My husband has stories about what his parents let him get up to that I think are crazy...letting him bike for 10 miles along a busy highway to go play pinball at a Safeway in a bad part of town because it was the BEST GAME EVAH...she even tossed him out of car 30 miles from home because he was being a little shiat one day, then came back 4 hours later to get him. He thinks it's funny (to hear her tell it IS pretty hilarious, in hindsight )but it doesn't mean that we do the same thing for the kiddo now. We are different people, in a different time and he's a different kid. Mybe my kid would be fine if we let him roam with no parental involvement...but I'd rather do what I can to ensure his safety (within reason, he's out playing with his friends every chance he gets, just stays in a radius and the parents all keep an eye out). It's a bit little more work, but I don't mind.

Times have changed. The stories my dad tells me are INSANE and something I would never let my child do. Like walk 30 miles over a bridge into New Jersey just because they were bored. Then again he had 7 brothers and sisters, but still.

Eight year old? Isn't that like second grade? Was this the short bus or something? Because if your child is in 2nd grade and cannot walk 1/2 mile home, you should consider putting them where the short bus will pull in the drive way and the bus driver will walk them to the door.

trappedspirit: Eight year old? Isn't that like second grade? Was this the short bus or something? Because if your child is in 2nd grade and cannot walk 1/2 mile home, you should consider putting them where the short bus will pull in the drive way and the bus driver will walk them to the door.

CLIFF NOTES OF ABOVE POST:

I cannot read.

I am a moran.

flyingMermaid: Let's simplify this: Any Farker who doesn't have children needs to STFU about raising them. You are just so embarrasingto read.

It's like having to listen to a pair of seven-year-olds bragging about how hot they'll be in bed some day

/Would love to see stats on the correlation between barren Farkers and ITG posts.
//If I pay to have my child looked after by someone, then by fark they better do the job properly.
///sense of humor does not extend to my kid's well-being

I have a 3 1/2 year old and a 3 month old. As a mom I would give up just about anything to ensure that they will grow up safe and happy. However, I know that while direct supervision of my children 24/7 will keep them safe it will also prevent them from achieving the self reliance, confidence, and independence necessary for them to be happy. Trying to give my son some small measure of independence, aka playing outside in our yard while I'm indoors, is very, very difficult and gives me a huge amount of anxiety. Believe me, it is a lot emotionally easier for me to keep my son indoors where I can see or hear him at all times than it is to let him out of the house, but I do it because I see it as something he needs, however hard it is on me.

No one here is saying that the bus driver was doing his/her job. This doesn't change the fact that an 8 y.o. should be able to:
1) ask for help or directions if she is lost, and
2) walk a mere 1/2 mile.

trappedspirit: Eight year old? Isn't that like second grade? Was this the short bus or something? Because if your child is in 2nd grade and cannot walk 1/2 mile home, you should consider putting them where the short bus will pull in the drive way and the bus driver will walk them to the door.

That's 8 yr old in todays IQ, you have to account for deflation over time.

An 8 yr old today can only walk 1/16th of a mile, 10 years ago it would be 1/4 a mile, 20 years ago a mile, etc...

Money goes up, IQs go down.

A whole lot of internet tough guys here. "The kid should have got out her GPS, triangulated her position by using terrain association, then relayed it to command and awaited follow up orders! After all, she is 8, I was doing this when I was 3!"

/RAWR

trappedspirit: Eight year old? Isn't that like second grade? Was this the short bus or something? Because if your child is in 2nd grade and cannot walk 1/2 mile home, you should consider putting them where the short bus will pull in the drive way and the bus driver will walk them to the door.

When you were 8 years old, did you know how to find your way home from any spot in town? Did your hometown have more than one stoplight? If so, good for you. I grew up in a city and didn't really know how the streets were laid out more than five blocks from my house (without a map) until I was 15 and started driving.

/and I'm not a short-bus rider by any means.

I banged your sister: A whole lot of internet tough guys here. "The kid should have got out her GPS, triangulated her position by using terrain association, then relayed it to command and awaited follow up orders! After all, she is 8, I was doing this when I was 3!"

/RAWR

I don't think anyone is saying that all 8 yr olds should walk a mile to school.

I think what we're maintaining is that in such extreme/rare cases an 8 yr old shouldn't be so hopelessly dependent as to not be able to walk 2600 ft on their own. And that she did shouldn't be a OMG POOR SNOWFLAKE situation. The same kid will walk 10 miles at Disneyland in a day, she can sort out walking 1/2 a mile.

Possible exceptions being the kid was new to the neighbourhood, and/or dropped off in some random side street.

trappedspirit: Eight year old? Isn't that like second grade? Was this the short bus or something? Because if your child is in 2nd grade and cannot walk 1/2 mile home, you should consider putting them where the short bus will pull in the drive way and the bus driver will walk them to the door.

tombotia: trappedspirit: Eight year old? Isn't that like second grade? Was this the short bus or something? Because if your child is in 2nd grade and cannot walk 1/2 mile home, you should consider putting them where the short bus will pull in the drive way and the bus driver will walk them to the door.

That's 8 yr old in todays IQ, you have to account for deflation over time.

An 8 yr old today can only walk 1/16th of a mile, 10 years ago it would be 1/4 a mile, 20 years ago a mile, etc...

Money goes up, IQs go down.

READ THE DAMN ARTICLES, OR EVEN THE HEADLINE BEFORE YOU COMMENT LIKE THIS, YOU STUPID FARKS.

dyli: Trying to give my son some small measure of independence, aka playing outside in our yard while I'm indoors, is very, very difficult and gives me a huge amount of anxiety.

Your 3 and a half year old plays outside unsupervised?

Any more great parenting tips you'd like to share?

Does the 3 month old bathe herself?

What immigrant outrage might look like

indylaw: trappedspirit: Eight year old? Isn't that like second grade? Was this the short bus or something? Because if your child is in 2nd grade and cannot walk 1/2 mile home, you should consider putting them where the short bus will pull in the drive way and the bus driver will walk them to the door.

When you were 8 years old, did you know how to find your way home from any spot in town? Did your hometown have more than one stoplight? If so, good for you. I grew up in a city and didn't really know how the streets were laid out more than five blocks from my house (without a map) until I was 15 and started driving.

/and I'm not a short-bus rider by any means.

Ask for directions and/or find main streets.

Heck I'm 27 and I still navigate by larger roads. Like when I visit my friend off Kirkwood in Ottawa, I take either Carling or the 417. I could take one of a dozen side roads, but it's easier to make it onto the bigger road and get there.

And when I was a kid it was the same. I navigated to a road I *did* know and went from there.

Lord_Dubu: Pugdaddyk: 1/2 mile from her stop? 2600 feet, OH MY POOR BABY!!!
Uphill, both ways, in the snow, and barefoot.
Stop whining!!

Eight years old you cocksucking farktard. That's half a mile of potential windowless pedo-van abduction real-estate.

Lighten up Arschloch...What part of "It's not news, it's Fark" do you not understand. Look at the cliches of this site. Is anyone here but you serious?
Maybe you should have something else to drink besides coffee in the morning.

tombotia: I banged your sister: A whole lot of internet tough guys here. "The kid should have got out her GPS, triangulated her position by using terrain association, then relayed it to command and awaited follow up orders! After all, she is 8, I was doing this when I was 3!"

/RAWR

I don't think anyone is saying that all 8 yr olds should walk a mile to school.

I think what we're maintaining is that in such extreme/rare cases an 8 yr old shouldn't be so hopelessly dependent as to not be able to walk 2600 ft on their own. And that she did shouldn't be a OMG POOR SNOWFLAKE situation. The same kid will walk 10 miles at Disneyland in a day, she can sort out walking 1/2 a mile.

Possible exceptions being the kid was new to the neighbourhood, and/or dropped off in some random side street.

So you're saying that an 8 year old dropped off in a part of town where they do not live(strange place), and more than a half mile from the day care center, should just wander around asking strangers/local crack heads for directions to said daycare? That sounds like a child abduction waiting to happen.

/Brilliant!

tombotia:
Ask for directions and/or find main streets.

Heck I'm 27 and I still navigate by larger roads. Like when I visit my friend off Kirkwood in Ottawa, I take either Carling or the 417. I could take one of a dozen side roads, but it's easier to make it onto the bigger road and get there.

And when I was a kid it was the same. I navigated to a road I *did* know and went from there.

Well, sure. If I had been in this situation as an 8-year-old, I might not have recognized the streets or known which way to go once I got to a major thoroughfare, but I was smart enough to "think outside the box." I would have called my parents to let them know where I was, or at least have gone into a business and asked a grownup for help.

Still, if I were a parent and some bus driver got an attitude with my 8-year-old and threw him or her off the bus in a strange part of town, I'd be pissed too. I wouldn't sue (at least if the kid got home safely), but with all the pedophiles and dangers that my kid might get hit by a car or lost with no idea where to go, I'd be pissed, and rightfully so. I'd probably call for the driver to be disciplined (I probably wouldn't drag the local news into it unless I got the runaround).

nopokerface: dyli: Trying to give my son some small measure of independence, aka playing outside in our yard while I'm indoors, is very, very difficult and gives me a huge amount of anxiety.

Your 3 and a half year old plays outside unsupervised?

Any more great parenting tips you'd like to share?

Does the 3 month old bathe herself?

THIS. Holy crap lady...there's a reason it's "difficult"...there's a time and a place to tell your maternal instinct to STFU, but it's not when the kid is THREE!

I wonder how many of you farkers would be up in arms if the driver had driven her the extra 1/2 mile, wrecked, and was subsequently fired for deviating from his route. There are rules, you know.

I banged your sister: So you're saying that an 8 year old dropped off in a part of town where they do not live(strange place), and more than a half mile from the day care center, should just wander around asking strangers/local crack heads for directions to said daycare? That sounds like a child abduction waiting to happen.

Why stop with just imaging abduction? I mean, it was a definite set up for child rape, kidnapping, torture and eventual murder. We can't shrivel and die as a proper paranoid media fed culture if we don't consider the worst things possible are around every corner and under every bed.

sboyle1020: My childhood ran the gamut of social classes. As a young child we were very poor and lived in a bad neighborhood. As an older child we were middle class an lived in an ok area and in junior high school and on I guess we have been considered wealthy and lived in the burbs. And the ONLY time I had a "run-in" with a child molestor(s) was in the nicest place we lived. This creepy couple in a van (I know very stereotypical) asked me to get in and give them directions to a gas station. I just ran.

Similar situation here. I was in college by the time my mom moved out to Long Island and $350K home (worth $750K now). And, I watched her raise my sister with disbelieving eyes. She went from expecting me to walk to and from school by myself from age 7 to waiting for my sister at her bus stop directly across the street from our house until my sister was 12. *sigh*

Now my sister is 16 and I'm amazed by her utter helplessness. She's has to be chauffeured everywhere unless she is with her friends. She's filled with anxiety at the thought of taking public transportation by herself. I do not want my children growing up like her.

I encountered flashers on 2 occasions when I was 10 or 11, and again when I was 15. I just turned around and walked away. Not nearly as frightening as the encounter you described. But, I knew at a very young age not to go anywhere with strangers and to trust my instincts.

Mytch: Even if it was only a half mile, she's an 8 year old and given the fact that it was a different bus with a different route, she may not have even known which direction to go. When I was 8, I certainly didn't know my way around my home city.

When I was in elementary school, I had to have a note written by the school that had to be obtained through written permission from my parents for my bus driver to let me off the bus anywhere but my own home.

At 8 I would have had no problem with that. I rode the public buses and got dropped off nearly half a mile from home, no problem. It's our stupid overprotective society--an 8 year old certainly can know how to get home.

weapon13: haddie: Pugdaddyk: 1/2 mile from her stop? 2600 feet, OH MY POOR BABY!!!
Uphill, both ways, in the snow, and barefoot.
Stop whining!!

A 1/2 mile is like 60 in child terms, though.
They have weak little legs.

Boo Hoo..
When I was 8, I had to walk 2 miles to school (on my own and so did a lot of other kids). There was no such thing as the school run..

Bloody snowflakes..

Two miles?! Where I grew up the rule was 1 mile and they provided a bus (not that there were many students that lived farther out--only if the schools were spread out more could the situation arise.)

Fluorescent Testicle: weapon13: When I was 8, I had to walk 2 miles to school (on my own and so did a lot of other kids).

FTFA: ... When her 8-year-old daughter was let off on a busy street nearly half a mile from her usual stop.

This part here is the problem, not the distance in itself. Highway + Unaccompianied eight-year-old = Road pancakes, even ignoring the side-issue of the local unmarked candyvan. Would you let your preschool-age children walk down a busy road on their own? If you can honestly answer this question with a "Yes," please call CPS the moment the condom breaks.

She's 8, not pre-school! At 8 I perfectly well knew what to do about a big road--cross at the light, do not go onto the road surface at all otherwise. They train Seeing-Eye dogs how to handle crossing a street safely (although they don't know about lights they do know about what cars are a threat. If their owner tries to jaywalk the dog will go along--but only if it's safe to do so.)

maskedloser: Tommy Moo:
If I told you there was a 1% chance that you would lose all of your money if you invested in a stock that was otherwise guaranteed to double in value over the next year, wouldn't you put every red cent you have into it?

No. I'd call you a fraud and invest my money elsewhere - which sums up pretty well what I think of your 'one percent' theory on child-rearing.

There's a big, huge, vast difference between being a helicopter parent and merely expecting the bus driver to drop your kid off at the assigned stop rather than at a busy intersection several blocks away.

Putting your elementary school-aged kid at risk, such as by sending her walking to school or to the park alone (without other kids her own age for companionship and safety) isn't character-building; it's pointless at best and dangerous at worst.

/ If a parent demonstrates piss-poor risk management when it come to his eight-year-old kid, and that kid is killed in an accident or by a sexual predator, shouldn't that parent qualify for some special variation of the Darwin Award?

The problem here is that you are assuming threats that aren't realistic. Pedophiles rarely snatch kids off the street. Most pedophiles are already known to the victim. Most "sex offenders" are guilty of nothing more than a girlfriend a bit below the age of consent, or non-sexual things like public peeing. The vast majority of child abductions are custodial disputes, not strangers.

Furthermore, the risk is lower than when kids had far more freedom. It's just all the scary news stories.

steklo: in middle school I was on a rowdy bus. The kids were yelling and screaming and so the bus driver pulled over on a grade. She didn't set the break the whole way and as she's walking to the back of the bus, the bus starts rolling backwards down the hill. One of the kids sitting up front, jumps into the driver's seat and pulls the hand brake up.

She comes running back to the front and yanks the kid out of her seat and tells him that she's going to report him for trying to drive the bus.


It was the last day I rode that bus. From then on I walked to and from school.

A lot easier to blame him than to admit she did a serious wrong. I don't exactly find myself surprised.

fluffytuff: You know, before I became a parent, I used to comment in threads like these with the same lame farking comments about snowflakes, etc. and how I was able to do this or that, or how "it's only 1/2 mile" and how this is ruining America.

Then I grew up and had a family, and realized that your outlook on life is way different now, then it used to be. For those of you that have kids, and still think the 8 year old girl should have just shrugged it off and walked it out, then you are a prime example as to why I think this country should have a license restriction before you are able to have kids.

/I too roamed freely as a child.
//I too realize that times were different when I was growing up.
///And I also realize that I was lucky nothing happened to me.

What you don't understand is that the threat has *NOT* gone up. Only the reporting on the threat has gone up.

flyingMermaid: Let's simplify this: Any Farker who doesn't have children needs to STFU about raising them. You are just so embarrasingto read.

It's like having to listen to a pair of seven-year-olds bragging about how hot they'll be in bed some day

/Would love to see stats on the correlation between barren Farkers and ITG posts.
//If I pay to have my child looked after by someone, then by fark they better do the job properly.
///sense of humor does not extend to my kid's well-being

Why does one need to be a parent to understand? We can look back at our own childhoods.

nopokerface: dyli: Trying to give my son some small measure of independence, aka playing outside in our yard while I'm indoors, is very, very difficult and gives me a huge amount of anxiety.

Your 3 and a half year old plays outside unsupervised?

Any more great parenting tips you'd like to share?

Does the 3 month old bathe herself?

Haha...annnd towels are on the roof Link (new window)

In my 2nd & 3rd grade if you misbehaved you had to stay extra time after school. This meant I occasionally missed my bus and had to walk home. Per google maps, the disance was a touch over two miles.

The walk was a piece of cake, even for a chubby kid like I was.

If the neighborhood was dangerous, then I can see the potential problem. But half a mile is a short, short distance for a kid that age.

trappedspirit: I banged your sister: So you're saying that an 8 year old dropped off in a part of town where they do not live(strange place), and more than a half mile from the day care center, should just wander around asking strangers/local crack heads for directions to said daycare? That sounds like a child abduction waiting to happen.

Why stop with just imaging abduction? I mean, it was a definite set up for child rape, kidnapping, torture and eventual murder. We can't shrivel and die as a proper paranoid media fed culture if we don't consider the worst things possible are around every corner and under every bed.

Hey, I'm just saying, that's not an incredibly smart thing to do. But hey, if you would like to darwin your offspring, then by all means, go for it.

indylaw: When you were 8 years old, did you know how to find your way home from any spot in town?

I'm pretty sure, as an eight-year-old, I would have been able to navigate my way to my regular bus stop from a stop only a couple thousand feet away. If the daycare is spitting distance from the local crack houses and pedophile central, that's a failing of the parent first and foremost -- the bus driver only compounded the error.

nopokerface: dyli: Trying to give my son some small measure of independence, aka playing outside in our yard while I'm indoors, is very, very difficult and gives me a huge amount of anxiety.

Your 3 and a half year old plays outside unsupervised?

Any more great parenting tips you'd like to share?

Does the 3 month old bathe herself?

You are being snide and I know I shouldn't even bother replying, but this is Fark and I can't help myself.

Yes. I let my 3 1/2 y.o. play outside unsupervised. But:
1) He knows to stay on our yard. I know my son well enough to know that he won't disobey;
2) He understands that if anyone he doesn't know speaks to him, he is to call out for me immediately; and
3) He is not out for more than 15-20 minutes at a stretch.

Cubicle Jockey: In my 2nd & 3rd grade if you misbehaved you had to stay extra time after school. This meant I occasionally missed my bus and had to walk home. Per google maps, the disance was a touch over two miles.

The walk was a piece of cake, even for a chubby kid like I was.

If the neighborhood was dangerous, then I can see the potential problem. But half a mile is a short, short distance for a kid that age.

Well, aren't you swell! Come on, even tards can find their way home in their own neighborhood. Now try being 8 and being in an unknown part of the city you have never been to, while trying to get to another unknown location(daycare).

I do think the bus driver was in the wrong, if the girl did not know the neighboorhood it would have been pretty scary for the kid but some of you are blowing this way out of proportion.

All this talk about how the world has changed, if anything it is probably safer now than it ever was. Video cameras are everywhere there is mass paranoia regarding pedos and the police have a vastly improved communications network. I think the media really has frightened a generation of parents with overblown media coverage of the rare terrible incidents that do happen.

With this story I think being near a major road and the child being unfamiliar with the surroundings is far more pertinent than pedos and murderers.

Here is a 9 yo kid who would have know what to do. (new window)

ABC-7 also tried to ask a bus driver if he has been told what to do in those situations, but the driver slammed a bus door and drove away in response.

Hmm. Based on their wording, they just asked some random bus driver about this, not the actual guy who dropped off the 8-year old. Now THAT'S good investigative reporting.

I banged your sister: trappedspirit: I banged your sister: So you're saying that an 8 year old dropped off in a part of town where they do not live(strange place), and more than a half mile from the day care center, should just wander around asking strangers/local crack heads for directions to said daycare? That sounds like a child abduction waiting to happen.

Why stop with just imaging abduction? I mean, it was a definite set up for child rape, kidnapping, torture and eventual murder. We can't shrivel and die as a proper paranoid media fed culture if we don't consider the worst things possible are around every corner and under every bed.

Hey, I'm just saying, that's not an incredibly smart thing to do. But hey, if you would like to darwin your offspring, then by all means, go for it.

Yes, I see the kids walking home from school in my neighborhood and as I drive by I just keep counting, "that's 1 rape happening tonight, there's 2, there's a kidnapping, there's a hit and run"

What a sad scared world you must have going on inside your head

Isildur: Bad_Seed: I never thought Fark was infested with helicopter parents. Granted, the bus driver was an arsehole, but an 8 year old should be able to walk half a mile without getting lost or kidnapped.

/in the snow, up hill, both ways


I seriously hope that's a troll.

You think an 8 year old should automatically be able to make her way in from a random location in an urban area to a place that isn't even her home without being lost? Something like this:

(point A is the actual spot where the kid was dropped off; point B is a half mile East)

Good lord, please don't have children.

that her home or her daycare where she was supposed to go?

wmoonfox: indylaw: When you were 8 years old, did you know how to find your way home from any spot in town?

I'm pretty sure, as an eight-year-old, I would have been able to navigate my way to my regular bus stop from a stop only a couple thousand feet away. If the daycare is spitting distance from the local crack houses and pedophile central, that's a failing of the parent first and foremost -- the bus driver only compounded the error.

I just found out that there's a great pizza place less than a half-mile from my apartment, and I've lived here for over a year.

If the bus stop was on the same main road and the girl could see where she was usually dropped off from where she was, well, OK. If she couldn't see where she was normally dropped off, and didn't know whether to go north or south (or whatever), that's on the 8-year-old? Sorry, I don't buy that.

Oh, and BTW, pedophiles aren't shackled to any one spot and don't just live in a shantytown for pedophiles (probably should). Run a search for sexual predators in your own hood - I ran one on my parents' neighborhood last year and there were numerous registered predators within a half-mile of their house - and they live in a neighborhood full of doctors, lawyers, and millionaire businesspeople.

I definately agree that it was alittle harsh to kick the little girl out of the bus, but c'mon. 1/2 mile? I grew up in uptown New Orleans and from 2nd grade on.. i walked 2 miles everyday to get to the street car so i could get to school.

/no sympathy

indylaw: Run a search for sexual predators in your own hood

I do -- regularly. I also understand the difference between "sexual offender" and "pedophile". I'm more worried about the welfare of my wife with the guy down the street having been convicted of second-degree rape with aggravated battery than that of my child.

Who says it was a 1/2 mile in a straight line?

At age 8 or 9, I was walking to the sweet shop on my own, about half a mile away. I had to go with a buddy though.

Of course, at age 10 walking to said sweet shop I was hit by a car and in the hospital for over a month, but as soon as I recooperated I was out there walking to the sweet shop again.

Everyone in the area thought my parents were crazy to allow me to be so adventurous. I remember some kids weren't allowed to play with me cause I might *OMG* take them on a walk to the flower shop too!

/really, half a mile isnt' very far, and kids SHOULD be allowed to be adventurous
//although I could see why the parents in this article are a bit pissed

wmoonfox: indylaw: Run a search for sexual predators in your own hood

I do -- regularly. I also understand the difference between "sexual offender" and "pedophile". I'm more worried about the welfare of my wife with the guy down the street having been convicted of second-degree rape with aggravated battery than that of my child.

I understand the difference between them too. That's why I said "sexual predator," not "sexual offender." Some of these men (and women) had been convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct and battery on minors under the age of 12.

Why talk to me like I'm an idiot?

trappedspirit: I banged your sister: trappedspirit: I banged your sister: So you're saying that an 8 year old dropped off in a part of town where they do not live(strange place), and more than a half mile from the day care center, should just wander around asking strangers/local crack heads for directions to said daycare? That sounds like a child abduction waiting to happen.

Why stop with just imaging abduction? I mean, it was a definite set up for child rape, kidnapping, torture and eventual murder. We can't shrivel and die as a proper paranoid media fed culture if we don't consider the worst things possible are around every corner and under every bed.

Hey, I'm just saying, that's not an incredibly smart thing to do. But hey, if you would like to darwin your offspring, then by all means, go for it.

Yes, I see the kids walking home from school in my neighborhood and as I drive by I just keep counting, "that's 1 rape happening tonight, there's 2, there's a kidnapping, there's a hit and run"

What a sad scared world you must have going on inside your head

Hey genius, maybe you should back up a bit. All those things are what you wrote, not me. I just said it's not the smartest thing to do. If you can't see a problem with dropping an 8 year old girl off in an unknown part of the city and leaving her and expecting her to ask strangers for directions, then I really hope you do not have kids. On second thought, fark needs some more headlines, which I'm sure you and your brood will provide.

/But you go ahead and get your panties in a bunch if you like.

dyli: Yes. I let my 3 1/2 y.o. play outside unsupervised. But:
1) He knows to stay on our yard. I know my son well enough to know that he won't disobey;
2) He understands that if anyone he doesn't know speaks to him, he is to call out for me immediately; and
3) He is not out for more than 15-20 minutes at a stretch.

As long as you understand that in the unlikely event that a 3.5 year old does not follow parental instructions and wanders off, or some opportunistic person does grab him (which can be done in considerably less than 15 minutes), or some nosy neighbor just calls the cops, you are probably going to jail, I say carry on.

Jesus christ you morons, stop with the farking "When I was a kid, I walked blah blah blah." You KNEW WHERE YOU WERE AND WHERE YOU WERE GOING. This little girl was dropped off in an unfamiliar part of town by an unfamiliar bus driver on an unfamiliar route, likely to an unfamiliar daycare that she had maybe been going to for only a week since school started.

READ THE DAMN ARTICLE.

Pugdaddyk: Lord_Dubu: Pugdaddyk: 1/2 mile from her stop? 2600 feet, OH MY POOR BABY!!!
Uphill, both ways, in the snow, and barefoot.
Stop whining!!

Eight years old you cocksucking farktard. That's half a mile of potential windowless pedo-van abduction real-estate.

Lighten up Arschloch...What part of "It's not news, it's Fark" do you not understand. Look at the cliches of this site. Is anyone here but you serious?
Maybe you should have something else to drink besides coffee in the morning.

If I was being serious would I have used an expression like "windowless pedo-van abduction real estate"? Perhaps it is not I who is taking shiat too seriously...

Damn, lots of tards here fail at reading comprehension. Ok, so you were a big boy/girl and could walk home, here's a cookie. Now go back and read the the damn story again. She was dropped off in an unknown location and was going to another unknown location(daycare). This isn't her farking neighborhood. She doesn't know where she is and doesn't know which way to start walking. Yes, she could ask for directions from all kinds of unknown people, but come on? The bus driver couldn't take the 1 minute out of his day to drive the exta half mile and drop the kid off? I'm sure the dude in the candy van would have loved to give her directions.

indylaw: Why talk to me like I'm an idiot?

You seem to be voluntarily grouping yourself with those who are making major assumptions about the article. If that is not your intent, I apologize, but, as they say, if the shoe fits...

There appears to be a great need to assume the absolute worst about the situation: that the 1/2 mile route to her regular bus stop was some sort of labyrinth; that there were crack dealers and pedophiles waiting at the bus stop to carry out their unsavory acts upon an innocent child; etc. I see that as lazy and stupid.

Why has the parent enrolled her child in a daycare in such a bad neighborhood? Who made the decision to put the child on an unfamiliar route without giving special consideration and instruction to the bus driver? There are plenty of people here to blame in addition to the driver, but it's easier to accuse some mouth-breather presumably from the dredges of society, who couldn't find anything better to do with his life, of hating children. Meh.

stryker4526: This little girl was dropped off in an unfamiliar part of town by an unfamiliar bus driver on an unfamiliar route, likely to an unfamiliar daycare that she had maybe been going to for only a week since school started.

READ THE DAMN ARTICLE.

See? That's the shiat I'm talking about. Assumption after assumption, followed up by an authoritative demand to read the article, as if everything said was gospel.

Lets throw a monkey wrench into this..

What if a lost 8 year old girl came up to you and asked for directions?

Be honest now...

"Eight-year-old Destiny..."

Right there. right there, is where i no longer cared.

I banged your sister: Hey genius, maybe you should back up a bit. All those things are what you wrote, not me. I just said it's not the smartest thing to do. If you can't see a problem with dropping an 8 year old girl off in an unknown part of the city and leaving her and expecting her to ask strangers for directions, then I really hope you do not have kids. On second thought, fark needs some more headlines, which I'm sure you and your brood will provide.

/But you go ahead and get your panties in a bunch if you like.


He genius, you are the one telling me to darwin my kids. By letting them walk home from school. Brilliant. Did you even look at the news article or video story, genius? It was up the street. It was on the same damn street, genius. Here are the directions, walk up the street, genius. If the kid didn't have a helicopter parent and had ever ridden a bike, she would have been right past that spot. What the hell is with all the genius compliments?

wmoonfox: See? That's the shiat I'm talking about. Assumption after assumption, followed up by an authoritative demand to read the article, as if everything said was gospel.

If she was familiar with the area, is it not likely that she would have walked straight to the day care instead of wandering around after standing there for 20 minutes? This was not her normal bus (for which the school should be getting a good ass ripping), so it should be safe to assume the bus driver is not familiar. If he/she was familiar would he/she say "Tough luck, this is my last stop."? She's going to a day care which, it's safe to assume, she is less familiar with than her home and its surroundings. The route to it may or may not be dangerous, but either way she shouldn't be expected to traverse it alone unless that was pre-approved by a parent. I think the inferences people have made are logical, and that the bus driver sounds like a real piece of shiat. I do agree he's not the only one in need of a good curb stomping though.

How is this news? It happened all the time when I was a kid. And frankly what do you expect they pay bus drivers crap and kids don't pay attention. Which is a recipe for this kinda stuff.

I ended up at the transit station many a time when I rode the bus at that age. It sucked but you walked home cause it was only 2 miles.