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

@witzend Mother put on child abuse register for letting her 5 year old go for a walk!124
13/09/2026 20:48 GrandmaKT

Your point is?

The missing child in Suffolk is still missing. Police, Villagers, helicopters, thermal imaging and dogs out trying to find him
and he only slipped away from an adult for a few seconds

Maybe "slipped away" is key here?
Sadly.

Not sure what that means NotSpaghetti

The little chap is still missing after a whole night He’s non verbal and partially deaf poor little scrap he was with a family member but ran off as they were leaving the playground
It can happen in seconds which just shows how easily a small child can ‘disappear’

I m glad they spoke to the American mother in question in this thread and I hope she will be more careful with her precious 5 year old in the future

What it means, BlueBelle is that this little chap was with someone and "slipped away" - I had a child slip away at a zoo once and it was terrifying. Mercifully my 3 year old was found quickly.

It was a different scenario to the one being discussed, was all I meant.

In the story we were discussing the mother had agreed to the proposed walk.
(I'm completely aware that things could have gone wrong) but with any child "slipping away" the danger seems to me to be accelerated ...And this little one and their family are in a very frightening situation.

Sadly the world has changed and whilst I don’t agree with teaching children to be overly fearful - it is a balance and 5 is too young I believe even on a familiar path. However the punishment definitely doesn’t fit especially if this was a ‘one off first time’ for the parents.

GrandmaKT

I really don't know why people think it is so much more dangerous for kids now than when we were that age? I know there is more traffic, but children can learn road sense from a very young age, where to cross safely etc, There are security cameras on every corner, kids have mobile phones and even trackers. Yet there seems to be this mass conviction that it is too dangerous to let children out to play.

Trafficking was not as prevalent as it is today.

Do you mean trafficking children, Menopausalbitch? If so i think you’re right, the internet has enabled paedophiles
If you mean traffic - cars trucks etc, you’re correct again

The little boy who ran away from his grandad at the play park in Suffolk has been fond in the nearby pond, a total tragedy. Younger that the child this thread is about but could easily be the same outcome.

BlueBelle

The little boy who ran away from his grandad at the play park in Suffolk has been fond in the nearby pond, a total tragedy. Younger that the child this thread is about but could easily be the same outcome.

Yes am afraid what happened to poor little Noah who was 3 could happen to any small child, and 5 isn’t that much older, I believe a child can drown in just a few inches of water.

Exactly Fallingstar I d rather be called over protective than ever take a risk like that American mum … Five is no age

Sadly this reminds me of a friend who's 5 year old disappeared 50 years ago. She lived on a very quiet country lane in one of a row of 7 terraced houses backing onto fields. The back gardens were fenced. Her son went to play in the garden where my friend watched him from the kitchen window whilst washing the dishes . Suddenly she lost sight of him and rushed out , thinking he'd gone behind the garden shed. Then she searched the house in case he'd come back inside. No sign of him. The police were called and massive search was carried out but the little boy was never found. My friend said the police were absolutely marvelous and kept in touch with her for years. One day her husband came home and found her collapsed and sobbing on the kitchen floor. He called the Dr who immediately visited and told the husband to " get her away from this house and get her pregnant "!!! And guess what dear GNs that's what happened. They had a baby girl.

CocoPops that is a terrible story.
In all respects.

Statistically, 1 in 10 people are paedophiles (I unknowingly lived next door tto one!). Even though gated communities in the USA tend to be safer, there are still many dangers out there for children of all ages and letting a 5 year old walk down to a pond on his own, in my opinion, is irresponsible.

It's so strange how adults seemed not to worry about safety in days gone by. In the 1950s I walked to school in London alone aged 5 and caught a bus alone in London quite some way aged 8. Did my mother worry, who knows?

Children just had unlimited freedom back then, playing outside and nowhere near their home, just had to be back by dark. The older children were expected to watch out for the younger ones but how much 'watching' could they realistically do? Many must have had mishaps or accidents.

Now we wouldn't dream of letting children do what we did back then. It really isn't safe today because we have so much more traffic and so many more people, many of them corrupted by malign online influences which never existed before. It really is a different world.

I’m with Newatthis, paedophiles look like us, live amongst us. I’m aware the family is also a dangerous place for some children but that’s different than encouraging a five year old to walk without supervision (to water)

I don't know where you got your statistics from Newatthis but they're wrong. The real '1 in 10' statistic refers to victims not perpetrators.

I’m not sure we can ever truly have a grasp on the number of perps. The internet has enabled so many creeps to act or live secret online lives of depravity. I still read a lot of US news. There was a famous American announcer on a game show who just last week was caught in the paedophile chatroom while sitting on a plane with his laptop open. Very arrogant. Another passenger took pictures of him and his laptop and alerted authorities. The thing is, technically there was no crime since there were no illegal images, but the content of the conversation was revolting. This man may or may not have ever acted on his impulses and certainly had no arrest record. They walk among us every day. Gated community or not, this is not the world of the 1950’s and not every neighbor or neighborhood is safe regardless of what it looks like. I don’t advocate paranoia but healthy caution with children is so necessary. Let them explore, but keep one eye on them. What’s so wrong about that?

Newatthis

Statistically, 1 in 10 people are paedophiles (I unknowingly lived next door tto one!). Even though gated communities in the USA tend to be safer, there are still many dangers out there for children of all ages and letting a 5 year old walk down to a pond on his own, in my opinion, is irresponsible.

What stats claim 10% of the population are paedophiles?

I lived nextdoor to a paedophile for 2 years and did not know, in fact I became friendly with his wife so we socialised with them (sunday barbeques etc). His wife thought his behaviour was 'odd' so she asked my advice what I thought (???). I was very shocked with what she told me. She knowingly stayed with him and did nothing to report him because the Evangelical church she attended said that if she prayed everything would be OK. My daughters, at that time were quite young, as were hers. I reported him to the police and social services and they discovered very, very bad stuff on his computer. The Social services gave me the 10% statistic, I too was shocked.

Back in the day I seem to remember playing out but always with other children. Never on my own.
It doesn’t take much to have an accident. Maybe those other children couldn’t have done much but they could have run for help.
My neighbours little boy drowned in their pond. Doesn’t take much time to produce a lifetime of grief and regret.