We have a child who was like this at that age. Mom was aware and she had new door locks (standard procedure). Unless the police found this child wandering before they should have offered to help her with the new locks. Our local fire dept will help with car seats and gives free smoke alarms. Seems a bit overboard (ok, I’m being polite).
This is not an “overlawyered” situation. Based on the stated facts (or lack of adverse ones) I’d classify it under “dumb cops with no common sense.” The police are the persons with the most discretion as to whether or not the legal system gets involved. Hopefully the prosecutor will have some common sense to save everyone some money, time and heartache and drop this one. What happened to the good old days when the cop would have returned the kid to the house and made the woman promise that she would do something to rectify the situation? By the way, reading between the lines, I am fairly sure that she purchased dead bolts for her lock change. This is ill advised, because in a panic situation such as a fire, dead bolted doors often result in tragedy.
No, this is a perfect example of Overlawyering. If the laws are written so that some dumb cop nd some dumb prosecutor and some dumb arraigning judge all can interpret the matter this way, that’s crazy law writing.
My Little Guy who will be nine years old in a few weeks did this at four. He climbed out his window, got on his two-wheeler bike, rode about a mile to Walmart with $20 to buy a Thomas Tank Engine Toy. He went to the traffic light and crossed the four lane road with the light. The manager of Walmart called the police because of a small boy at the store by himself. The policeman helped him buy his toy and then took him and the bike back home. He knew his address and how to get to his house at four.
Once that happened, all the windows in the house got nailed shut at a level so that they wouldn’t open more than 4 inches and he went to counseling and we found he was ADHD and now he’s fine. He does very well in school and isn’t climbing out windows and taking off anymore.
I did this exact same thing when I was a little less than three. My older sister was going up to the store with some friends and I wanted to go too. My mother said no, andI went anyways but by myself. I was nearly hit by a car. My mother found me a few blocks away standing in the middle of the street in front of a car that almost hit me. I’m glad no one sent my mother to prison for it. It was nice having her around and my father was a terrible cook.
About the locks. It is true that key-only locks are not good for a speedy escape in an emergency. We had one on a side door because almost half the door had glass windows (break a window, reach in and turn the deadbolt, voila!–a thief can’t do that if you need a key). The front door had a small window and we had a turn deadbolt on that door. For small children, a chain that is out of reach can also be used and then taken off as the child outgrows the “problem”. It’s not an easy problem but if you have a sleep walker (which wasn’t what the original article was about) you can use the same tips that are used by caregivers of those suffering from some form of dementia/confusion.
If you have more than one story to your house buy an escape ladder to get out an upstairs window. Practice using it from a first story window on a good day so everyone knows how to use the ladder. That is a better escape anyway if there really is smoke coming up the steps since most of us don’t live in houses with back stairs.
We always get wide-eyed looks from visiting firemen (and other parents) at Cub Scouts, etc. when we tell them we have an escape ladder. People need them but don’t have them.
6 Comments
We have a child who was like this at that age. Mom was aware and she had new door locks (standard procedure). Unless the police found this child wandering before they should have offered to help her with the new locks. Our local fire dept will help with car seats and gives free smoke alarms. Seems a bit overboard (ok, I’m being polite).
This is not an “overlawyered” situation. Based on the stated facts (or lack of adverse ones) I’d classify it under “dumb cops with no common sense.” The police are the persons with the most discretion as to whether or not the legal system gets involved. Hopefully the prosecutor will have some common sense to save everyone some money, time and heartache and drop this one. What happened to the good old days when the cop would have returned the kid to the house and made the woman promise that she would do something to rectify the situation? By the way, reading between the lines, I am fairly sure that she purchased dead bolts for her lock change. This is ill advised, because in a panic situation such as a fire, dead bolted doors often result in tragedy.
No, this is a perfect example of Overlawyering. If the laws are written so that some dumb cop nd some dumb prosecutor and some dumb arraigning judge all can interpret the matter this way, that’s crazy law writing.
Bob
My Little Guy who will be nine years old in a few weeks did this at four. He climbed out his window, got on his two-wheeler bike, rode about a mile to Walmart with $20 to buy a Thomas Tank Engine Toy. He went to the traffic light and crossed the four lane road with the light. The manager of Walmart called the police because of a small boy at the store by himself. The policeman helped him buy his toy and then took him and the bike back home. He knew his address and how to get to his house at four.
Once that happened, all the windows in the house got nailed shut at a level so that they wouldn’t open more than 4 inches and he went to counseling and we found he was ADHD and now he’s fine. He does very well in school and isn’t climbing out windows and taking off anymore.
Scary, but it was handled correctly.
I did this exact same thing when I was a little less than three. My older sister was going up to the store with some friends and I wanted to go too. My mother said no, andI went anyways but by myself. I was nearly hit by a car. My mother found me a few blocks away standing in the middle of the street in front of a car that almost hit me. I’m glad no one sent my mother to prison for it. It was nice having her around and my father was a terrible cook.
About the locks. It is true that key-only locks are not good for a speedy escape in an emergency. We had one on a side door because almost half the door had glass windows (break a window, reach in and turn the deadbolt, voila!–a thief can’t do that if you need a key). The front door had a small window and we had a turn deadbolt on that door. For small children, a chain that is out of reach can also be used and then taken off as the child outgrows the “problem”. It’s not an easy problem but if you have a sleep walker (which wasn’t what the original article was about) you can use the same tips that are used by caregivers of those suffering from some form of dementia/confusion.
If you have more than one story to your house buy an escape ladder to get out an upstairs window. Practice using it from a first story window on a good day so everyone knows how to use the ladder. That is a better escape anyway if there really is smoke coming up the steps since most of us don’t live in houses with back stairs.
We always get wide-eyed looks from visiting firemen (and other parents) at Cub Scouts, etc. when we tell them we have an escape ladder. People need them but don’t have them.