Why aren't the kids going outside anymore lol

I was waiting for the part of the article where something tragic happened to the kid to warrant the mom’s jailing.

Not… him just going for a completely normal walk…

What the actual hell is wrong with... Ah wait, its USA so why am I even surprised...

"I will not sign," she says.

Very good idea. I wouldn't sign anything.

Btw, what did they even charge her with? I mean, don't you have to commit some crime in order to be detained?

In Japan I saw like 5 year olds taking the morning train by themselves to school

Gen-X reading this.

"I was not panicking as I know the roads and know he is mature enough to walk there without incident," she says.

The sheriff disagreed.

"She kept mentioning how he could have been run over, or kidnapped or 'anything' could have happened," recalls Patterson.

Even if his mother was walking there too, it's not likely going to do much to stop a car from running him over. She'd just be some extra mass to fling.

Kidnappings -- and a number of other serious crimes -- are usually done by people who are known, not random strangers.

kagis

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/zmldiz/til_there_are_only_between_150300_kidnappings_of/

There are only between 150-300 kidnappings of children by strangers each year in the US. The other 200,000 kidnappings each year are by relatives.

Even more lopsided than I'd expected.

And as for "anything" happening, I'd imagine that "anything" could have happened at home, too.

Only in the US of A.

Only restriction a 10 year old has is 23:00 curfew. Kids here(SE EU) go to school on their own from first grade. Being out 'till curfew without adult supervision is normal.

I grew up on 10 acres in the country in the 90's/early 00's. My mom would literally lock my younger brother and me out of the house to get us to spend time outside and so she could get some work done uninterrupted.

You bet we'd be foraging through the woods, going for 10+ mile bike rides, skipping rocks at the river, catching garter snakes, etc, all day with no supervision and we never had a single problem. We were raised to watch out for "stranger danger" and to let my parents know what we were doing in general, and that was enough.

I did the shit all the time back in the 1950s

I used to walk all over my home town (and around my first home's block) starting at age 5. Like, the fuck is this?