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My kids are generally good kids. They were disciplined early on. Their teachers always talk about what nice kids they are. In middle school, they especially rave about my son being such a nice, polite boy as if those are a rare thing in middle school. They are good students, good kids. There are still times that they push MY buttons and I have to lay down the law. They're teenagers for crying out loud. They're siblings. They pick on each other and bicker. They bickered and picked at each other through my birthday dinner out with them. The same week, one of them texted me from their dad's house complaining about stuff the other one was doing. Then the other one texted me. I told them to tell their dad, since they were at his house. As far as I was concerned, this was his issue to deal with but it turned out he wasn't home. I called them, said to put me on speaker phone so they could both hear. I reamed them out for constantly picking on each other and told them to work it out because they were the only siblings they were ever going to have and I was sick of them acting like this. I really yelled, first time I had to in a long time. Even good kids have their moments of being total brats whose necks you want to wring.
It does seem ridiculous that it's child endangerment to leave two kids at ages 10 and 12 alone in a public place. At age 12, our kids all go to Cedar Point for an all day trip and are allowed to roam around on their own, checking in for lunch and a snack break occasionally. They're fine.
Yes, when she realized the two kids had separated, and the 10 year old was out there alone, she should have turned right around to get that one. But, it's not child endangerment, it's a lapse of judgment for a little bit. I think removing these kids from the home is an extreme measure.
There are a lot of situations where we, as parents, don't always make the best decision. We are human. There was an age with my son where I really struggled when we went places that didn't have "family" bathrooms. He was definitely too old to be going in the ladies room and I was really worried about sending him to a bathroom for men alone. When I had to go to the bathroom, I would worry while in there that he was standing outside the bathroom by himself. But, I made judgment calls, based on necessity. She made a poor judgment call this time, but she's hardly abusive or neglectful. Is it child endangerment when kids get dropped off at the movies? When they walk home from school? When they go to a park on their own? When they are outside riding their bikes? Seriously?
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