The Warriors is actually one of the movies I was thinking of. Is it really never like that? Ok, I’ll take everybody’s word for it.
People do get mugged and shit, don’t they? At least late at night?
Good for her. :rolleyes:
http://www.prlog.org/10558295-child-travelling-alone-molested.html
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TRAVEL/NEWS/08/08/northwest.molest/
http://forum.purseblog.com/up-to-the-minute/11-year-old-girl-allegedly-molested-delta-flight-195195-3.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/15/earlyshow/main3366947.shtml
All that from the first page of google results. You’re welcome.
I guess. When I was three, the phone could have been right there with picture instructions, and I would have still stood there digging up my nose, so kudos to the kid for getting pops some help.
So I guess it would NOT be safe to let her ride on an airplane. Thanks.
Sorry to disappoint you but it’s generally quite rare. I don’t know if I’d let a kid on the subway alone–it would probably depend on the child and the route and such. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid alone on the subway. Though a group of kids wouldn’t really faze me. The days of crazed Bernie Goetz type characters shooting up minorities are long gone!
You could always stick her in one of those giant hamster balls, that way nobody could molest her. Just a helpful thought!
My link was screwed up for Minneapolis in my prior post:
Says here, you are less likely to be mugged in Harlem today, than in the neighborhood where the Prime Minister has his house in London.
I had a similar realization when I visited NYC for the first time and didn’t see a single giant gorilla climbing up a skyscraper.
Lucky you- that totally ruined my trip :(.
Do you have any kids? Just curious where you derive your expertise about parenting?
You know the Goetz thing actually happened, don’t you? It wasn’t fiction. It wasn’t a movie. Why is it ridiculous to believe that something which actually happened could realistically happen again? It may have been atypical, but it wasn’t ridiculous, King King fantasy. It was a real event.
I have 3 kids, actually.
Although I admit my perspective is a little skewed based on the data I get at my job, for the most part:
- Actual violence rarely happens to people who don’t seek out the criminal side of things. Nobody’s going to shoot up a subway train full of people, there’s too many things that can go wrong. You’re not going to get mugged unless you intentionally walk down back alleyways at night where shady types gather.
- By far, the worst danger to children is their own family.
And if you want to go the “what I saw in movies” route, I’ve seen plenty of instances where seemingly-shady guys hanging out at public transit turn out to have a soft spot for kids and would be the first to protect them if danger did arise.
I should think as long as the kid travels during normal commuting hours during the day and knows how to call for help in an emergency, they’ll be okay. Really, despite all the stereotyping about how New Yorkers pay zero attention to the people around them, I have to imagine at least some normal people will take note that the kid’s alone and be ready to keep an eye on them. Few people actually want to see a child get hurt.
All right ladies and gentlemen, you can pack it in, this thread’s been Diogenized. Nothing to see here, let’s just move along and hope the next thread is more interesting.
[Nelson Muntz]
Ha ha!
[/Nelson Muntz]
No kidding. I live now in the same neighborhood as I did when I grew up and it’s amazing the evil eye, waiver forms, etc., I have to (or would have to) go through to, say, let my kids leave school and walk home by themselves. The school flat out forbids it until 4th grade, and then only with a parental consent form. We live five blocks away.
We have to schedule “play dates” with friends well within biking distance, about 10 blocks away, but no, they are driven over and picked up in car, or with their parents walking them over. No more knocking on doors and asking if so-and-so can come out to play. Heck, nobody “goes out” to play in front of their house either for pick-up games of whatever kind; the very phrase “playing in the street”, like catch or stickball, is considered a synonym for “attempted suicide”.
And this is in a relatively quiet and suburban-like corner of Northeastern Queens. My wife grew up on the pre-yuppie Upper West Side, with chalk outlines on sidewalks, winos passed out in doorways and gunshots on certain streets and avenues she was not allowed to walk down. However she still took the bus and subway by herself at the age of 10, to get to school or to afterschool activities like music lessons on her own.
My wife was the second of 4 kids and the idea that her parents would be responsible for escorting a 10 year old around town was simply not a question. And in my neighborhood (when I was growing up), as well as her own family, at age 10-12 any kids with younger siblings would usually be tabbed with the responsibility of taking them around the neighborhood.
As a result, she usually can’t resist the obvious comeback to the other parents who say “it was different then”, especially the ones who are local natives like us (and amazingly, they often are). “Really? NYC in the 1970s was so much safer than it is now? LISTEN TO YOURSELF!”
Actually… looking at statistics, what kind of a parent would let their kid stay at home, or worse yet… ***drive ***them somewhere? :dubious: Cars are deadly, and most accidents happen at home.
Just make sure you don’t leave the kiddies with Uncle Al.
No, it would be. That’s actually the point. Kids have been molested on airplanes, snatched from suburban streets, and flashed on subways. But, statistically, your child’s chances of coming out ok are good. Real good, as a matter of fact. That’s why this stuff gets in the news; it doesn’t happen that much really. Kids who are armed with knowledge and have good parents who’ve given it careful though and deemed them old enough to be independent have an absolutely excellent chance of being just fine out in the world.
When you read that story about the 3 year old who saved her dad’s life up there, the thing you need to notice is that she was a kid who’d been taught how to react to an emergency. Teach your kids and they will be ok. No one advocates dumping a totally unprepared kid alone in the middle of a city. But a child who has shown responsibility and has been shown how to deal with a given situation can be trusted and will be alright the vast majority of the time. And a kid who knows they are responsible and capable is a strong kid.
I would be more worried of my child getting lost or trampled then I would of an actual crime situation. I still think 9 is a little young for most kids for a subway ride with multiple transfers. I would probably think most 12 year olds were OK.