Mother put on child abuse register for letting her 5 year old go for a walk!

Five is much too young to be wandering around anywhere without a parent. The world is a very different place now to what it was when we were that young so we can’t compare today’s childhoods with our own. As someone else said it’s possible that he’s been seen wandering around before which is why the mother has been put on the register. She’ll certainly not let him do it again one hopes.

Cressida

I read about that and it seems the little boy refused to get into the security guards vehicle because he didn't know him. The guard walked him home.

In the US they seem to molly coddle their children and don't let them take any risks.

There are videos on You Tube like this one www.youtube.com/watch?v=F82v6sjwxdg of reactions to Forest schools in Denmark

Molly coddle but send them to school know the high rates of school shootings

It’s nonsensical

We just cannot equate another Century with ours
Prior to our births it was deemed ok for children to go to work at 11 but we know better now and just because you were able to wander high and low when you were young doesn’t mean it’s safe for young children to do so in this day and age
Jamie Bulger was only a few paces from his mum .

I think it’s lovely he had the confidence to want to go off on his own but at 5 I would have been a little way behind, keeping an eye on him
If it was far enough away to drive him back ( although they walked in the end) it was way, way too far. Out of sight is too far

A child of 5 falling into a pond or river with clothes and shoes on cannot possible equate with swimming in a warm pool however good a swimmer he is at 5 years old
and that he could be trusted to walk to the pond without going rogue. but it’s not about him going rogue, it’s about other people and other dangers.
Very short sighted mother, I don’t know about going on a register, but she should have had a good talking to for sure

There is always that person who doesn’t stick to the speed limit just as that child is crossing the road

That is irrelevant because the person crossing the road could be any age. They can still be injured or killed if someone comes speeding down the road. Even a child walking sedately down the road holding the hand of a responsible adult can be knocked down and killed by a speeding driver.

Thinking about this, the one aspect of it which struck me was that this family must be fairly well-off as they live in a gated community.

Why do they live in a gated community? It must be like living in a bubble, isolated from the real world until they emerge from the bubble. Do they live there because they consider the outside world is too dangerous? Most normal people in this country don't live like that so we are applying our experiences and way of life to this situation and tend to believe we would not let a five year old go wandering off on their own nowadays.

I doubt, if they lived in a normal road in an American town, neither would they allow their five year old to wander off to the pond in the nearest park.

Bluebelle Tue 15-Sept-26 07:08:56
I agree

'I doubt, if they lived in a normal road in an American town, neither would they allow their five year old to wander off to the pond in the nearest park.'

Just to make clear, my statement above does not mean I think she was right, she was not. But living in a gated community with security guards perhaps gave her a misplaced sense of security.
The question is why do they feel the need to live there? The children may gain confidence and independence if being allowed to wander freely but it is not the real world.

May be the only house they liked just happened to be in a gated community. Thee are a remarkable lot of them about.

We live in a back street close to a town centre. Recently a builders yard in the street was turned into a close of really quite small terrace 'mews'houses, nothing outside the ordinary - it is gated - I suspect it has nothing to do with security ad everything to do with stopping unauthorised parking. The houses are narrow, parking is limited, even for residents and the street has few parking places. We often have cars parked outside our house even though it is a in a 'no parking' area.

M0nica

^There is always that person who doesn’t stick to the speed limit just as that child is crossing the road^

That is irrelevant because the person crossing the road could be any age. They can still be injured or killed if someone comes speeding down the road. Even a child walking sedately down the road holding the hand of a responsible adult can be knocked down and killed by a speeding driver.

It’s just another risk factor!

A 5 year old is small. Smaller objects are harder to see. The size of someone hit by a car may very be an additional factor due to less visibility. Driving 101. It is absolutely more risky with a small person crossing in front of a reckless, speeding driver.

NotSpaghetti

Lucky they aren't black I feel.

Indeed. In Virginia, at that.

Personally having lived in a gated community I would still not consider it safe for a 5yr old to go for a walk on his own especially near a pond. The child did sound very sensible though to refuse to get in car with patrol man.

Williamsburg, Virginia is a historic town south of Washington D.C.

Due to the craziness going on with ICE / Local Police and the extremely high crime rate in The Usa, it really was not wise to let a five year old out on his own.

My viewpoint.

I believe that statistically things are safer now than they were in, say, the 1950's?
The fact that the boy was sensible and well-trained is evinced by the fact he did not consent to get in the car with the security guard
Security Guard - 'gated community'? Sounds an especially safe place and maybe his parents were watching him from the window? Not enough facts, and ridiculous punishment - all about state control.

Yes I’m sure the government there, which has a child protective agency overwhelmed by cases, simply wants control over the children. The security guard and the local police are all in on it…

Five

Their backgrounds just highlight a massive double standard and makes the mother’s choice even more baffling. She actually holds a degree in Family Science, so she absolutely should have known better.
A five-year-old’s brain is biologically incapable of processing sudden danger. Their prefrontal cortex isn't developed enough to foresee risks, and their peripheral vision and hearing are structurally immature—meaning they literally cannot judge the speed or distance of an oncoming delivery van, a gated community is not traffic free. If faced with a sudden threat like a loose dog or a vehicle, a child that age naturally freezes rather than taking evasive action. To all those saying they walked to school or shops alone at the age of 5, you have to remember the world like it or not was a different place, other adults and children were far more likely to look out for other children.
It doesn’t matter how many degrees you have, five is just way too young to walk half a mile alone, especially to a pond. Drowning is silent and happens in seconds. If a low-income mum did this, she’d be instantly condemned for neglect, not defended for avoiding 'helicopter parenting'. Wealth, status, and education don't make you immune to a catastrophic error of judgment. We have seen high-profile cases before where highly educated, professional parents made devastating mistakes simply because they believed their children were safe.
Privilege doesn't eliminate risk, and it shouldn't excuse a dangerous mistake. Just my optinion but the authorities were absolutely right to step in!

There are many gated communities in US it’s a thing over there all my American relatives live in gated communities seems horrible to me but there you go, they love it. nothing to do with government control, I suppose it’s the closest they can get to a village it’s just a community with a few little convenience stores usually a swimming pool etc with a gate out and in like when you go to a caravan park in England and that’s not government controlled 🤣🤣🤣
Blessed Art a vivid imagination there Perhaps they chain them up at night to control them 🤣

I wouldn’t let a 5 year old out of my site outside of our home.

It would depend on the 5 year old in my opinion.

We don't know him at all.
🤷‍♀️

And frankly, many children are safer on their own!
Once with friends they are often less cautious and less sensible it seems to me.

No 5 is far too young to be out alone

When I started school at five I went with the girle next door the first day. She was only 6! After that I went by myself.Two years later I took my brother for his first day then we went either together or separately. I don't think my mother ever went with us and she went back to work part-time when my brother started school.We came home at lunch tome and waited at the next door neighbour's house until mum got home to make lunch then went back unaccompanied. At seven I moved to a junior school which was further away including crossing a major road, though there was a lollipop lady but I didn't always cross with her!
Traffic was much less back then but I still remember being told off by the police because I ran across a side street when running late, right in front of their car!
Having said that I accompanied mine to school all of primary school or shared the school run with a neighbour. Both my children played out with the others in our road, mostly on bikes, but it was a cul-de-sac. I may well have let mine play out in a gated development, though possibly not alone.
I woud have thought a quiet word about safety etc more appropriate than seven years on a child abuse register!

Bad people can live in gated communities

Not an offence punishable by death but still dodgy. Child should not be playing near water.

That's Americans for you!