Port St. Lucie, FL mom arrested after allowing her 7-year-old son to go to a nearby park alone

[RockaFowler]

A mom faces a charge of child neglect after she allowed her son to go to a local park alone. She says he's old enough but Port St. Lucie Police disagree. Now she's fighting back.

"I'm totally dumbfounded by this whole situation," says Nicole Gainey.

It began last Saturday afternoon when Gainey gave her son Dominic permission to walk from their house to Sportsman's Park .

"Honestly didn't think I was doing anything wrong," says Gainey, "I was letting him go play.

It's a half mile from their Port St. Lucie home. Dominic says it only takes him about 10 to 15 minutes to get there. During the walk, the 7-year-old passed a public pool. Someone there asked him where his mom was.

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/port-st-lucie/port-st-lucie-mom-arrested-after-allowing-her-7-year-old-son-to-go-to-a-nearby-park-alone

OK - I live about 5 miles from this park and I wouldn't allow kids to go to the park alone. But, should she have been arrested for this?? I don't think so . . .

[SoCalNative]

1. I really don't get it

When I was a kid I used to go to the park and meet friends to play with all the time. It was no big deal, and shouldn't be today.
We decry the phenomenon of "helicopter parenting" yet when a parent actually allows a child a bit of independence and freedom, we toss them in jail.

[upaloopa]

3. The world sure has changed since I was a kid

In the 50's you were told to go out and play and come back when your mom calls. Mom's would yell your name from the back porch and if you didn't hear or didn't want to hear the other kids told you "your mama is calling you"
I remember it being my 5th birthday one of these times.

[jberryhill]

5. One of my friends' mother would go outside and blow a whistle three times

They had six kids, and you'd hear that whistle everywhere in the neighborhood.

[louis-t]

2. I know, things are 'different' now, but

from the time I was 7, I walked or rode my bike to school every day, a half mile. We rode our bikes to the park to play ball, we walked to our friends' houses up to a half mile away in the neighborhood. I was raised very strict. We had to come straight home and our parents always knew where we were. Unless he had to cross a freeway, I just don't see what the big deal is.

[jberryhill]

4. Bingo

We've gone nuts.

The crazy thing is that stranger abductions and molestations weren't talked about much back then, and pretty much everyone is more aware of potential hazards now. It wouldn't surprise me if the rate of incidence were a lot lower than it used to be.

[unblock]

6. when i was a young tyke, i chased a good humor truck on my tricycle, in the street.

every time i nearly caught up to the damn thing, he drove another block!

i was over a mile away by the time the cops found me.

there was no thought of my parents being arrested. back then, it seems, cops actually took the protect and serve part seriously, and they simply returned me home.

[Louisiana1976]

7. When I was a kid there was a large meadow across from our house and I was allowed to play in

it as long as I didn't go down in the ditch.

[leftstreet]

8. So some assclown at the pool called the cops?

If said assclown was so 'concerned' why didn't s/he walk him to the fucking park?