I live in Katy and my kids have been free to roam about as they wish from around the age of 9 or 10. Heck, our school allows kids in 2nd grade to start walking or riding their bikes home alone, so at 8 my kids started riding bikes to and from school that is a mile away all by themselves, rain or shine.

When I was 7, we lived in East LA. I would walk 1.1 miles (had to look it up) by myself, one-way to my baseball games. I had to ready myself for the game, feed myself, and get there on-time. And when the game was over, I had to find myself home. I had already had an invitation to join a gang and declined, but always felt I had their "support."

At 12-13... rural Texas... our mailbox was 0.8 miles from our house. My 8 yr old brother and I would race every day during the summer to get the mail.

Dr. Nefario said:

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... I once hitched a ride in the back of a stranger's pickup to visit a friend in the next town 14 miles away...

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This is bada$$. I never thought about doing that, plus we always had our bikes. The only time I got picked up hitch hiking was by some girls after my car ran out of gas.

jopatura said:

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HoustonAg2106 said:

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The mom said it's not illegal for a kid to walk to the store and the cop responds it is when they are 10 years old.

So according to the law, what is the age when it is legal for someone to walk to the store? This is laughable

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12. In Georgia they are allowed to be left at home alone from 10-12 at home no more then 2 hours. They can't be out and about.

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Can you show us the penal code?

Based on what I read, there is no law.

https://codes.findlaw.com/ga/title-16-crimes-and-offenses/ga-code-sect-16-5-70/

Here's the law. Im not sure what the officer was referring to

Damn. She shouldn't be arrested. That's her business. Crazy times. She's an idiot for sure and an ignorant parent, but if that's what we are going to be arresting people for, things are going to get really busy really fast.

Who?mikejones! said:

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Logos Stick said:

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jopatura said:

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HoustonAg2106 said:

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The mom said it's not illegal for a kid to walk to the store and the cop responds it is when they are 10 years old.

So according to the law, what is the age when it is legal for someone to walk to the store? This is laughable

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12. In Georgia they are allowed to be left at home alone from 10-12 at home no more then 2 hours. They can't be out and about.

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Can you show us the penal code?

Based on what I read, there is no law.

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https://abuse.publichealth.gsu.edu/child-supervision-guidelines-in-georgia/

It ain't law. It's bureaucracy gobbledygook

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Exactly. That's what I'm seeing as well.

Logos Stick said:

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jopatura said:

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HoustonAg2106 said:

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The mom said it's not illegal for a kid to walk to the store and the cop responds it is when they are 10 years old.

So according to the law, what is the age when it is legal for someone to walk to the store? This is laughable

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12. In Georgia they are allowed to be left at home alone from 10-12 at home no more then 2 hours. They can't be out and about.

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Can you show us the penal code?

Based on what I read, there is no law.

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https://abuse.publichealth.gsu.edu/child-supervision-guidelines-in-georgia/#:~:text=in%20Parental%20Custody-,1.,of%20maturity%20of%20the%20child.

Georgia technically has no minimum age in the penal code so that anyone could be arrested for leaving their minor alone. But not following these "guidelines" will result in your arrest.

riverrataggie said:

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We'd go 5-10 miles on our bike.

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My first thought. I rode my bike all across town at that age.

Lock up the virtue signaling moms who trans their kids. That's the real child endangerment.

So you're not allowed to be a kid out walking there? Cops will pull over and start investigating if a kid is out walking around? As others have said, 80's kid for the win. I grew up until 1985 at the age of 11 in Wichita, KS and me and my friends rode all over on our BMX bikes looking for BMX trails to ride. The walk to school was over a mile. In 1985, we moved to small town Oklahoma. Walk to school over a mile there too. In the summer, my friends and I would ride our bikes down to the CImarron River to swim. Nobody ever thought anything about it. It was a great time to be a kid.

When my sister and I were 5 and 6 we would walk a few miles to the convenience store if we found some change under the sofa cushion. On the way I would look for soda bottles in the ditches to return for the deposit.

I would sue the **** outta the govt for arresting me over non law guidelines .

I wouldn't care if I win or lose. It's important to fight this "rule by experts" any way possible.

NSFW; this show lauds criminal child endangerment of toddlers being forced to provide unpaid labor.

Patentmike said:

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Unfortunately, the only avenue for suit is IF, IF, someone lied to the judge to get the arrest warrant.

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I disagree.

IF, there is no law against a 10 year old walking a mile from their home, then there is room for a lawsuit.

If there is such a law, then this is an avenue to get it removed.

I wasn't walking at that age. I was driving a tractor all alone in a field miles from the house. Dad would come get me at lunch, then take me back to the field after.

Unless there was a pickup no one was using, and I drove myself

Logos Stick said:

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jopatura said:

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Logos Stick said:

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jopatura said:

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HoustonAg2106 said:

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The mom said it's not illegal for a kid to walk to the store and the cop responds it is when they are 10 years old.

So according to the law, what is the age when it is legal for someone to walk to the store? This is laughable

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12. In Georgia they are allowed to be left at home alone from 10-12 at home no more then 2 hours. They can't be out and about.

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Can you show us the penal code?

Based on what I read, there is no law.

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https://abuse.publichealth.gsu.edu/child-supervision-guidelines-in-georgia/#:~:text=in%20Parental%20Custody-,1.,of%20maturity%20of%20the%20child.

Georgia technically has no minimum age in the penal code so that anyone could be arrested for leaving their minor alone. But not following these "guidelines" will result in your arrest.

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Sorry, but I call major BS. To be arrested, you have to commit a crime defined by law. A guideline is not a law.

Also, I don't believe your other statement about minimum age.

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The Laws on Age Requirements for Leaving Children Home Alone

There are only three states that have laws on minimum age requirements for leaving children home alone. The majority of states have guidelines, though not actual legal statutes outlining the provisions. Illinois, Oregon, and Maryland have laws stating the age children can be left home alone. In Maryland, that age is 8 years old.

Although Georgia does not have specific laws stating when a child may be left home alone, the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services has issued guidelines for parents. These guidelines state that 8 years old is too young in Georgia to leave a child home alone. The guidelines also state that when leaving children home alone between the ages of 9 and 12, parents should only do so for a period of two hours or less.

Also, according to the guidelines, children cannot look after younger children when home alone until they are the age of 13. Only at this time can they start to act as a babysitter and even then, only for a maximum period of 12 hours. Any time a parent wants to leave a child home alone, they must assess the child's maturity level, according to the guidelines.

Other Laws Pertaining to Leaving Children at Home Alone

Georgia may not have specific laws regarding leaving children home alone, but they do have laws on child abuse and neglect. A parent could face these charges for leaving a child home alone in a situation that placed the child in danger.

For example, if a parent left a child at home alone for an extended period of time and did not leave any food to eat, that could be considered neglect because the child would have no way of getting food for themselves. Or, if an older child was left home alone but had disabilities that left them unable to care for themselves, that could also be considered abuse or neglect.

Texas does the same thing.

At the end of the day, I would bet this kid did something to piss someone off in the community and this was the easiest way to solve the problem.

Growing up in the 70's in a suburban Dallas area, as long as I was home by dark, no worries.

Logos Stick said:

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I know they are guidelines. I agree! They are not laws.

You cannot be arrested and charged for not following guidelines. You cannot! You are arrested and charged and prosecuted for commiting a crime.

The deputy even stated "you commited a crime", which is a lie .

Then you said it was a law before backtracking and stating it is simply a guideline.

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Well, it's a law in the fact that if you break these guidelines you will be charged in GA. But I'll admit some of these government websites make it hard to know what's codified and what isn't.

Raising your kids how Gen x and on-the-cusp millennials were raised is now a crime.

My parents would have been arrested too many times to count.

Tough *****

We should start abandoning this removal of liberty. This is absurd.

We had this happen in my neighborhood. A parent called the cops on kids walking home from school. Walking home from ducking school. Its an absolutely absurd notion that some pencil pusher can write a recommendation that the police then arrest one over.

This is a clown world

48 hour rule.

As a bigger kid I used to ride my bike around 15 miles each way to New Braunfels just to have something to do. That's gotta be a CPS visit these days.

jopatura said:

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Texas does the same thing.

At the end of the day, I would bet this kid did something to piss someone off in the community and this was the easiest way to solve the problem.

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And that's a problem. It's literally law fare at the local level.

Post it. I posted the endangerment laws for Georgia i could find and they say nothing about guidelines and not following them is breaking the law.

riverrataggie said:

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We'd go 5-10 miles on our bike.

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You got to pump those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers.

In the 70's and 80's we had the Piney Woods to roam around in where I grew up.

I had a pellet gun at that age and we would get in trouble if someone didn't have that or a .410 in order to shoot snakes or the random coyote while we were out playing.

The Tweet says the cops will drop charges if mom signs a "safety plan" that includes a GPS tracker on her son's phone.

So the kid had a cell phone? That's a safety device that 99.99999% of kids in history never had.

And don't all cell phones already have a GPS? Are they wanting mom to track the kid, or the cops?