NY Mom kicks kids out of car and drives off.

[Senusret I]

Greek Chat is so fucking ridiculous.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Greek Chat is so fucking ridiculous.

Of course.

Clearly, this would not be "news" if the police had not gotten involved. Many people who are over-the-top outraged may even find this ordeal humorous or a lesson learned by the children because there was no harm caused. So if this makes this woman a TOTAL FAILURE then 99% of parents are TOTAL FAILURES. Almost every parent has done something at home or in public that an OUTSIDER would consider completely inappropriate or a risk to the child. Things done in moderation like raising your voice, spanking, or allowing a 12 yo child to walk a few miles to school in the suburbs have been criticized as being potentially unsafe for kids. If the police and CPS were called, I wonder how many otherwise excellent parents with well-disciplined kids (most of the time) would be labeled TOTAL FAILURES.

I'm also amused how people in here are acting like parenting isn't a 24/7 job. You don't raise children with discipline and then take a vacation because these children will always act the way they are supposed to. There are plenty of well raised kids who act up at the most inopportune times. From the outside looking in, it's easy to say "you should start sooner and raise them better." There are a lot of badass kids in schools who were raised extremely well. Kids act out for reasons beyond a lack of discipline. Sometimes they act out for attention and they know that "good kids turned bad" get more of a reaction from the shocked parents and other adults.

As for the notion that when we were little, parents could make us walk but that could never occur now because "those were simpler times": Child offenders were ALWAYS around and they NEVER went too far from their residence to prey on children. The media covers child offenders more but there is no consistent data to suggest that child offenders are more prevalent now than in decades past. So that child who was left to walk those 3 miles in 2009 is in as much danger as that child in 1999...1989...1979...unless there is crime data for particular areas to suggest otherwise.