I still can't believe that mom was arrested for kicking her bickering daughters out the car. I remember my mother doing the same thing to me and my sister, and we just walked home. I don't even see the legal issue here, b/c 10 year olds are able to walk home from school all the time by themselves. I would be more mad at the older sister that left her younger sister and started walking home. I am not saying she is right, but sometimes I can understand a parent getting frustrated with her children, and at least she did not physically abuse her children or neglect their needs. She gave them and herself a few minutes to cool off, not to mention they were only 3 miles from their house, and she went right back for them. I hope I don't ever get this frustrated with my own, but if I do, I don't think the law has the right to step in.
Re: Give that White Plains Mom a break!
Matthew Kevin
7/31/83-7/20/11
Met 1/8/00
Engaged 4/21/06
Married 9/29/07
Two beautiful legacies: Noah Matthew (2 yrs) and Chloe Marcella (8 mos)
Day Three
some of the things our parents used to do back in the day are null and void these days.
There are too many weirdos out in the street for you to kick your kids out of a car and let them walk home. You can't even let kids play in their own neighborhoods anymore. Just take a look at the Sandra Cantu story.
If something would have happened to those girls because they had a 3 mile trek home- I don't know how that mother could have lived with herself. There are better ways to discipline.
3 miles is a long way when you are 10. at 10 you don't drive and don't have the best sense of direction-- whose to say they even KNOW how to get home from 3 miles away??? it's ridiculous. and that woman is a partner at a really prestigious law firm-- i wonder what her colleagues are saying now.
I didn't even hear this one!
If I was close to home, but even closer to having a breakdown due to my kid's constant screaming... I'd kick their little butts out of the car, too. It's better than getting into an accident because you can't focus while driving.
It is completely sad that you have to think about weirdos out there, most of those cases though the offenders are not strangers though.
I completely agree that there are better ways to discipline. However, she snapped as most parents will sometime in their child's life. I knew how crazy we drove our mother, and just the thought of my daughter acting the way I did scares the life out of me. I am just saying I sympathize with her, and I don't believe it is a legal issue.
The first thing that came to my mind was me at 10 years old and i just came to America from another country and had to walk 2 miles each day to school (not speaking a word of English). There was never an issue with that then, why now?
I don?t think her neighborhood is worst than mine, so i don?t know why everyone is making it such a big deal, it's not like she left her 4 year old on the side of the street.
but who am i to judge.
I completely agree with this. What was acceptable to do so many years ago is not ok now. There are so many stories of things happening to kids as they walk home from school, or when they are right in front of their homes that for someone to leave their kids on the side of the street is just insane, and yes she should be punished for it.
kenitaw - I believe she is a lawyer with a high stress career. I don't know if she has help at home but from what I've read - she is a single mother. The way that the story went down was that the two girls (10, 12) were fighting. She had enough of their bickering and kicked them out of the car in downtown White Plains. The 12 year old was able to catch up with the car and get in, the 10 year old didn't and was left behind in the middle of downtown.
I can't even imagine the sense of abandonment you would feel at that age. You run after the car but are too slow and left behind by your mother.
A stranger saw the 10 year old was hysterical, purchased her ice cream (creepy)and flagged down a police car. I don't know if any of you have lived in NY but Mamaroneck avenue isn't exactly Rodeo Drive.
Look, I understand getting frustrated and needing to cool off. What I don't understand is putting a ten year old in a position where they are seeking the kindness of strangers. What if it hadn't been a Good Samaritin that helped that little girl?