Brickbat: Child Abuse

Police in Scott, Pennsylvania, have charged Govindaraj Narayanasamy with two counts of child endangerment for leaving his 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter alone at a local park for a couple of hours. Narayanasamy allegedly went shopping and took a shower at the YMCA while his kids played at the park.

Brickbat Archive

Comments

[Suthenboy]

Took a shower at the YMCA? Sure, that is what he was doing.

[RBS]

That's what I thought. Who just goes and takes a "shower" at the Y?

[WWNGD?]

Young man, there's a place you can go
I said young man, when you're short on your dough
You can stay there and I'm sure you will find
Many ways to have a good time

[Zeb]

I have a friend who is apparently incapable of doing any work on his bathroom in a reasonable amount of time and he and his wife spent a few weeks showering at the Y.

[Mr Whipple]

Better than the second floor men's room at Macy's in Philadelphia.

[invisible furry hand]

it was two hours. In that space of time the children could have been repeatedly raped, tortured, turned onto drugs, and forced to perform hits for the local gangsters. Some unsupervised reading of Naomi Klein may also have occurred. This man is an unfeeling monster!

[RBS]

This could have serious consequences.

[invisible furry hand]

You mean some Puerto Rican guy could have taken the kids?

[Mr Whipple]

I was going to the park on my own at 9 or 10.

Oh well, it could have been worse. He could have let his 9-year old ride the NY subway alone.

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/about-2/

[GILMORE]

Retarded. thousands of kids ride the subway alone to-from school every day without managing to get either kidnapped/raped/abducted etc. But there are indeed a lot of manhattan yuppie parents who are psychotic control freaks with their kids, and consider anyone less paranoid/controlling than themselves 'irresponsible'.

[Bee Tagger]

Normally, I would say Brickbats would be astounding to anyone with common sense. Even people who agree with the law/rule behind it will perform the proper cognitive dissonance to allow themselves to be shocked at the absurdity of the situation in the Brickbat.

This one, however, will not find an audience with those normally sensible people. Granted, these are people with kids so they, by and large, have lost all perspective. But, think of the people in your life who have kids and then think of them reading this Brickbat. How many of them say "yeah, exactly, proper punishment"? 75%?

[fried wylie]

Granted, these are people with kids so they, by and large, have lost all perspective.

Funny, used to be that having kids gave people additional perspective. Thanks NonStopThreatMongerers.

[Mr Whipple]

Note to editor:

Police say a father left his two children alone at Scott Park while shopping at Walmart and showering at LA Fitness.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Police Say Dad Left Kids at Park To Shower

I've decided not to read the article for clarity and just go by the headline. WHO LETS THEIR KIDS SHOWER AT THE PARK ALONE?

Also, who capitalizes "to" but not "at" in their headline?

[Robert]

You parsed it wrong. The "To" is capitalized because it must be a shower in a local facility named for the Korean guy Park To (pronounced like "toe"). The father has not been seen since slipping out the door of the Park To while the kids were still in the shower and couldn't hear him leave with the water running.

[Spoonman.]

I went on several hour long bike rides all the time when I was 9. Now maybe the problem is that a 9 year old can't be trusted to supervise a 6 year old, but I imagine that depends on the 9 year old.

[fried wylie]

It depends on the pair. When I was 9, my brother was only 4, but that didn't stop us from trying to kill each other at the slightest provocation.

Who knows what this pair of siblings is like, but just knowing their ages doesn't tell us too much.

[fried wylie]

*slightest provocation = usually me trying to assert my authority as the older sibling....so yeah, me babysitting wouldn't have worked out.

[TingoZing]

I never really thought about it like that dude, makes sense.

http://www.Privacy-Dudes.tk

[Brian from Texas]

When we were kids we went to the park by ourselves at that age. What a load of crap.

[sarcasmic]

Thanks to every child abduction being put onto the front page of every single newspaper in the country, people think there is a child molester lurking around every corner.

Fact is that the vast majority of "abductions" are by parents involved in custody disputes, and you've got a greater chance of getting struck by lightening with a winning lottery ticket in your hand than having some creeper walking off with your kid.

[Zeb]

Of all the stupid shit that happens now, I think that this is one of the worst. Childhood used to be a time of freedom. I can't even imagine what it is now. And I would be a lot that it is safer for a child to be in public alone now than it ever has been. People used to steal children a lot more when they were useful as labor.

[perlhaqr]

Childhood used to be a time of freedom. I can't even imagine what it is now.

Rather like being an adult, I'd say.

[mad libertarian guy]

Thanks to every child abduction being put onto the front page of every single newspaper in the country, people think there is a child molester lurking around every corner.

You mean there aren't child molesters lurking around every corner, and the media and politicians always wanting to step in and make new law that will Keep Our Kids Safe? are full of shit?

[sarcasmic]

You got it!

[A Frayed Knot]

I don't think this was particularly wise on the father's part, but definitely not cause for arrest.

I'd be ok with leaving a 9 year old at a park alone, but no so much with a 6. year old in tow.

I guess the police in Scott, PA have nothing better to do with themselves.

[Robert]

I guess the police in Scott, PA have nothing better to do with themselves.

That's the problem, and not just in Scott, but probably worldwide. We have them around for emergencies, and it's better to have them & not need them than need them & not have them. The trouble is that the former case applies most of the time, and when that generator discharges without a load, so to speak, there are bad side effects.

[Zeb]

I started walking down town to the store by myself (well with a friend of the same age) when I was 6. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

[sarcasmic]

Nowadays you would be picked up by the cops and sent to a foster home.

[R C Dean]

The usual standard for child abuse is either actual or imminent risk of harm.

Clearly it wasn't the former, and I don't see how it could possibly be the latter. The PA statute on child abuse says the following:

A recent act, failure to act or series of acts or failures to act by a perpetrator which creates an imminent risk of serious physical injury to or sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child under 18 years of age.

Where's the imminent risk here?

[sarcasmic]

There's a child molester around every corner!
Look! Over there! That guy could be a child molester!
Those children were left alone with child molesters everywhere!
Everywhere!
Every-fucking-where!

If that's not abuse, what is?

[AlmightyJB]

There probably at greater risk at school than they are at a park. 9 is certainly old enough to be off playing on your own. As far as the 6 year old goes, seems like a warning would has sufficed.

[GroundTrush]

We are raiding a nation of wimps!

I was still shy of the age of 5 when I was walked several neighborhood blocks to kindergarten on the first day by my grandmother. Thereafter, I walked solo.

Think back, or take a look at any TV show from 40 or 50 years back and you will see kids getting about on their own two feet, or bike, if lucky, at very young ages. These are not aberrations or idealized depictions, this was how we lived.

[Diomasach]

Immediately thought of this;
http://www.nysun.com/opinion/w.....one/73976/

[Diomasach]

Heck, when I was nine my mom was sending me off on my own to the store half a mile away with a note and money to buy her cigarettes...