Doesn’t mean your child can run free! I bet your saying geeze “What is she rambling about now”?
Yesterday while driving home from dinner, my husband and I saw a woman a few streets from our house on the corner standing outside her car crying. Automatically I began to feel bad, because I assumed that her husband was deployed and that her car had broken down, and that she had just had a really screwed up day. We were going to stop but I assumed because she was on the phone that she had called for help and someone would be there to assist her soon. ( I assume alot don’t I?)
When we got home my friend called and alerted me to the fact that one of our neighbor’s kids was missing …a 5 year old to be exact. When I finally thought about it , I realized that’s why the woman I had saw was crying . Did I feel bad for the child…HELL YES! Did I feel bad for the mom …MMM No!!!
You see for the last year and a half I have lived here and they have lived near me , and except for the time this family was away, never has there not been a time I didn’t see this child outside unsupervised. Several times I’ve seen the kid outside in their undergarments. I mean this kid goes farther on their scooter at five years old then I was allowed to at twelve. One time the little one came to my door and gave my husband a flower. My mom has visited two summers in a row and loves to sit on my front porch and drink her coffee and has witnessed the child in question outside early in the morning, coming and going as they please. When she calls she always ask if that child is still running free around the neighborhood.
So I am assuming I have a few people saying” What’s wrong with the kid being outside playing?”
Well first off this kid is 5! Enough said, but for the sake of making my point I’ll go on.
Secondly either the parent is just in a fog or is one of the “I live onpost so nothing can happen types”. These are the kind of spouses who assume because we live onpost , that sick pervs don’t roam around ,that cars don’t speed and that nothing bad has ever happened onpost. What they feel to realize is that in addition to spouses and dependents we also have several extended family members who reside onpost. I am sure you have seen that house that has way more then the allotted number of people in it , or that adult that you know isn’t in the Army and your instincts tell you they aren’t a spouse neither. I recently checked our sex offender database and was shocked to learn a few lived onpost.
So I say all that to say this…Do not get so comfortable living onpost that you become unaware of the dangerous realities that still exist. Living onpost tends to cause a few people to have a false sense of security. Feel free to call me overprotective, but my six year old is barely allowed on the front porch if I am not sitting right there, and my eleven year old is allowed to play outside within reason. This is not an attack on one’s parenting style, but it is a prime example of what I am always saying. Some people let their kids run free and then freak out and put on an Academy Award winning performance when something happens. For the record I am not talking about the unfortunate incidents that happen to parents who keep an eye on their kids, I am talking about the parents who let their three year old run around the street with no one to keep an eye on them on a constant basis and then act shocked when something happens.
The funny thing is prior to them finding the kid , my neighbor said to me “Where do you think so and so is?” I said I doubt anything bad has happened, so and so is probably is in someone’s backyard playing or scribbling someone’s front porch up in chalk .
Was I right…Yup!
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Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market. She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries.
Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market.
She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries. 13 Comments on Just Because You Live Onpost…
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I see this happen time and time again. When I first got here, I was in an accident when a kid ran right in the street and into the side of my car. I was sick with worry and grief but the child was ok, only a scrape on his face. My car was in worse shape since my side mirror was hanging down by my tire.
When the police came, it turns out that the little boy was walking home from school by himself (he was 8 and by himself, so it was a no no) and no one could find his parents for a while.
I’ve always had people laugh at me because of the way I am with my son. I don’t let him out of my sight outside and the one time he tried to walk home from school when I was 5 minutes late getting there, I yelled at him for about 10 minutes. You just never know what could happen. Just because we live on post doesn’t mean that its as safe as Fort Knox (where they store the gold, not the whole post). Crazy people still live here. Iam glad that the child was found and I hope that the parent has learned her lesson.
at Fort Bragg, they had a rapist running around just a few months back…there’s nowhere safe these days…and if anything, it’s a worse world to live in than it was when we were kids…
I couldn’t agree more! It is one of my pet peeves when people do not supervise their kids. I understand the 14 year old neighbor walking around the neighborhood to visit friends on their own unsupervised, but the 3 year old running around in the street barefoot in nothing but underwear day in and day out, I do not understand at all. I am seen as over protective as well, but I’d rather be seen as over protective than have something horrible happen to my kids because I was “sure they’d be fine”.
OMG I SEE THIS ALL THE TIME!!!! The kids I see have to be at least 3 years old. I feel so scared for the little kids out. I NEVER let my 3 year old out by herself. If She does go out I go with her and even then I don’t let her walk by herself. I always hold her hand. Thats just stupid of people to think that just becuse we live on post nothing will happen to their children. Some times I think people who live on post or work on post are the worst at violating on post rules and regulations. I always see people holding their phones to their ear while driving. And I always see someone zooming through the neighborhood. Rules and regulations need to be enforced.
OMG I SEE THIS ALL THE TIME!!!! The kids I see have to be at least 3 years old. I feel so scared for the little kids out. I NEVER let my 3 year old out by herself. If She does go out I go with her and even then I don’t let her walk by herself. I always hold her hand. Thats just stupid of people to think that just because we live on post nothing will happen to their children. Some times I think people who live on post or work on post are the worst at violating on post rules and regulations. I always see people holding their phones to their ear while driving. And I always see someone zooming through the neighborhood. Rules and regulations need to be enforced.
I completely agree. I typically have anywhere from 9-12 kids at my house EVERY day because I don’t allow mine out of my yard. My oldest is 10 and then I have four younger children that are 9, 7, 5, and 2. The neighborhood kids around here are allowed to roam so I provide a safe place for them all to play at my house. Right now, there are 11 of them in their “clubhouse” on my back deck. There is too many “ifs” for ANY parent to allow their child too much freedom. A child can’t be in charge of their own safety.
I live in Porter and it’s a everyday thing over here the kids are out at 6am ringing peoples doorbells among other things….Atleast weekly theres a lil boy about 2 or 3 just sitting in the middle of the street early in the morning and I wonder where are his parents???? I keep saying that if I see him in the street again I’m going to put him in the car and take him to the MP station but my husband won’t let me… The little kids on post run wild I’ve even seen a parent damn back over there own child because they are running wild … It won’t stop until something bad happens sorry to say
Omg, I babysit for my friends on post and everytime I go(I only go tue, thur and fri for 2-3 hours) there are kids everywhere, some only 2 years old with no mother or father around. It is the worst! I am such a protective person that it truly baffles me on how women and men can just let their chilsdren run off. I was actually babysitting last week and a lil girl came to the door said no one was home, and ended up staying 2 hours before we noticed that the mother had came back. I didn’t even know the girl! I had to call the school to let someone know that I had her because the little girl didn’t know her mothers number! And you would think if your little girl is gone for over two hours, wouldn’t you be searching for her??????? The mother that I babysit for and I both told the lady out, bu really people need to start taking care of their kids better. I understand there are a lot of people on base who do, but there sure are a hell of a lot that don’t give a damn, and that’s what really pisses me off.
In my neighborhood its the older kids that play in the street all the time!!!!! BUT I will say my son will TRY to get really close to the road when we are outside, and he will take off on me and there were a few times I woke up at 6 am to find him in my neighbors car. He is 4 years old and is being tested for Autism. It is VERY HARD to teach him like you would teach every other child. Other then the few times he got in the morning I am always there with him, will he get very close to the road, YES. do I freak out? YES!!! Its scary! He has no fear or understanding of things like that. So what I am saying is sometimes children may not look like it but they may have problems why there doing these things and its our responsabilities as adults to watch out for them even if they are not our children.
Here on Ft. Bragg there is actually policy (and I’d be surprised if most posts didn’t have a similar policy) for the supervision of school age children. All children through 4th grade must have direct supervision at all times, and action can actually be taken against the parents. Might be something to look into!
THANK YOU! I was beginning to think I was the only one not letting my child run wild here on Oahu. I’ve seen 3 year olds riding their trike in the street alone! Totally baffles me.
I See it all the time there was a Mom that lived 4 doors down from me with a child that mentally challenge and could not talk she could mumble but not talk she would allow her baby outside with now diaper running around the yard all the time… Forthood of all places…. she would be gardening with her back turned and her child would be roaming up and down the street…. people simply have no sense anymore…. for christ sake first off if someone were to grab her she could not really say anything cause she could not talk and I’m sure mom would not have noticed because the child would make loud mumbling noises all the time people just don’t have the good sense they were born with I think…
I saw this happen while I was stationed in HI. It had my heart sink cause it was a toddler in a diaper nothing else. I was drivig home from a friends house, I followed the kid for like 1/2 mile and it was getting dark. I didnt see any parents or anything. I called the MPs and there was no report made about a missing kid at all. I stayed with the kid for like 1hr until the mom showed up. It made it hard cause I was preggo at the time and my oldest was around the age of the missing kid. I’m glad that they found him but that shouldnt happen.