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| Apparently, the kids in this photo are being horribly neglected by these parents because they're allowed to play alone in a park near their home. That is, at least in the eyes of Maryland Child Protective Services. |
What people are really talking about how Maryland CPS deliberately didn't tell the parents where their kids were for TWO HOURS.
After CPS finally fessed up that they had the kids, they spent more time not telling the parents what was going on.
Basically, Maryland CPS kidnapped these kids. If any random person grabbed the kids off the playground and kidnapped them, they'd spend 30 years in jail.
So, why aren't the people at CPS charged with kidnapping? Shouldn't they go to jail?
The parents also had to sign a so-called "safety plan" in which they are forced by law never to leave their kids unattended.
So Maryland CPS think they can raise kids better than loving parents? The same organization that thinks it's OK to kidnap children if they disagree with how their parents are raising them?
Like I said, I want jail time for Maryland CPS employees who were responsible for this outrage.
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I would hate to be a kid nowadays.
The rules seem to be that if you're a kid, an adult must be hovering two inches from you at all times. If you're a kid, you don't get to pick what game to play, what to imagine, who to play with, or when.
You don't just go out and play. It has to be a tightly controlled "play date."
Deviate from these rules just a bit, and dire things can happen. You might be taken away from your parents. Arrested and jailed because you misbehaved. Kicked out of school. Shamed in front of your peers.
I'm offering this rant because the so-called "Maryland free range kids" are back in the news again.
According to the Washington Post, authorities grabbed the children of Danielle and Alexander Meitiv out of a park because some busybody saw the kids playing alone, with no adult guiding their Every. Single. Move.
The busybody called the cops, who got the kids and handed them over to Maryland Child Protective Services.
The Meitive kids were previously in the news because Maryland CPS had previously investigated the parents for the "neglect" of having the kids walk home from a nearby park.
According to a previous Washington Post article:
"The Meitivs say they believe in 'free range' parenting, a movement that has been counterpoint to the hyper-vigilance of 'helicopter' parenting, with the idea that children learn self-reliance by being allowed to progressively test limits, make choices and venture out in the world.
'The world is actually even safer than when I ws a child and I just want to give them the freedom and independence that I had - basically an old-fashioned childhood' (Danielle Meitev) said. 'I think it's absolutely critical for their development - to learn responsibility, to experience the world, to gain confidence and competency.'"
But we can't have that!
An independent thinking child will grow up into an independent thinking adult, one that questions the Powers That Be, one that thinks of creative solutions that threaten the orthodoxy of whatever bonehead is in charge at the moment.
Look, I'm not saying there's some grand conspiracy to control kids' behavior so that they don't question authority as adults.
I'm saying this is the result we will get as we continue to squelch any hint of independence and self-sufficiently in kids. Do we really want to live in a world were any independent thought is squelched?
But squelching we're doing, as we learned on Sunday.
On Sunday, the Meitivs were expecting the kids home by 6 p.m., and became pretty frantic when they didn't show up. Authorities didn't bother to mention to the Meitivs that they had the kids until 8 p.m..
My conspiratorial side thinks the CPS maybe wanted to frighten the parents by teaching them a lesson. You know, feel the terror over the possibility your kids were abducted or something.
Yes, I know, I know, abductions are possible. Rare but possible. That's the ostensible reason why we're supposed to hover over the kids.
Abductions are indeed horrible, and I sincerely wish that wouldn't happen to any kid, anywhere, period.
Maryland CPS eventually handed the Meitiv kids back to their parents around 10:30 Sunday night, the Washington Post said.
Way to go, Maryland CPS! Let's terrify parents who aren't helicopters, and more importantly, terrify kids into not having any independence and being fearful of being taken away from their parents, all because they wanted to play in a park.
The kids might have cause for worry.
In the previous incident, when the kids were caught walking home without a parent clinging to them, Maryland CPS eventually made a finding of "unsubstantiated neglect."
That means the agency found evidence there might have been neglect, but it couldn't really be proven. To me, this was a weasly way for the CPS saying that, no, you technically didn't do anything wrong, but we hate what you did so watch your back.
When I was a kid, nobody thought twice about our parents letting us go off on our own, maybe organize a touch football game on our own, or go splashing in the brook in the woods, imagining we were explorers, or knights or whatever our funny little brains decided.
If we misbehaved, it would get back to our parents, and we would be dealt with accordingly.
It would drive me crazy if some parent was with us every step of the way. How oppressive!
Likewise, if we misbehaved in school, the school would let it be known to our parents that we up to no good.
Granted, some parents don't follow up with discipline, which makes it particularly difficult for schools to deal with the troubled kid who's causing the problems.
The solution in those cases seems to be arresting the kids and charging them with serious crimes when they misbehave.
Like that 11-year old autistic kid who freaked out recently and fought as he was being restrained by adults in an escalation with the kid kicking a trash can. He was charged and convicted of felony assault on a police officer.
The kid is 11 years old and autistic!!
So, kiddies, let this be a lesson to you. Apparently, us adults don't want you to learn and have any independence, we don't want you to be creative, to explore, to let your mind wander, to think of innovative solutions to life's little and big problems.
No, we want you to be automatons, who don't even ask, "How high?" when we tell you to jump. You just jump.
And don't you EVER ask why anybody in charge is making stupid decisions. It's not for you to ask.
What a sad world for children.
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