<p>“As for accidents” is suggesting that the lady should keep on procreating…without ability to afford ever increasing family size…aside from “racist” label, don’t kids deserve some kind of minimum care, they are kids, not little puppies, kittens or whatever, they are real human beings. You can call me whatever, I do not understand this type of logic, way beyond me. Let’s produce and leave them to their own devices, interesting “positive and caring” attitude.</p>
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<p>Not for infants, but my neighbors actually hired me ($.50/hr) to babysit their kids when I was 10.</p>
<p>There was a news story of a 12-year-old girl at home alone. Someone broke into the home by kicking the door down. She hid in a closet, called 911 and the guy that broke the door down started to open the door of the closet.</p>
<p>^yes, things like that happen, but we imagine they’re more frequent than they are. And they happen to 16 year olds and adults too. As stated above:
we perceive that the world is more dangerous, because we have more awareness through all the media that tells us. The actuality is that accidents are probably less common now, with more safety practices in place, and home invasion, in most neighborhoods, is random and rare.</p>
<p>As others have said, reporting the family is likely to lead to real hardship, and real trauma, for the kids. One would really need to know, not just worry or believe, that there was a significant threat, before doing so. Foster can be a very chancy situation; bad things can happen to kids, to parents, and to their relationships–economically, socially, psychologically, physically.</p>
<p>And overall, I think it’s a shame that we have taken to wrapping kids in cocoons because of over-publicized fears of what “might” happen. Yes, bad things can happen, and do happen. In spite of all our precautions. Luckily, except for those in truly dangerous surroundings (and it’s a shame that some neighborhoods are that), they are rare. Meanwhile, the sense of competency from dealing with the actual world and feeling responsible for oneself–that, I think, is becoming even rarer.</p>
<p>"There was a news story of a 12-year-old girl at home alone. Someone broke into the home by kicking the door down. She hid in a closet, called 911 and the guy that broke the door down started to open the door of the closet. "
-It could happen with adult and a 12 y o might be stronger than 60 y o and she might even have more senses. 12 y o sounds reasonable to be home alone, but several young kids are all together different story. And again, if family has no problem with that, why do we?</p>
<p>The 12-year-old girl shot the guy twice with a handgun.</p>
<p>I imagine that she had a fair amount of training on the range to have the composure to do that.</p>
<p>A large dog might have kept the guy out of the house too. Or maybe even a Beware of Dog sign.</p>
<p>Or he could have shot the dog if there was one.</p>
<p>The guy that broke in didn’t have a gun.</p>
<p>It was one of those ring the doorbell, if no one answers, then break in in the back. A dog barking probably would have scared him off.</p>
<p>If he did have a gun and shot the dog, then anyone hearing the shot could have called the police. As it was, the girl called her mother. Her mother told her to get the family gun and hide in the closet which she did. I assume that the mother then called the police. It’s not particularly easy to hit someone with a handgun, even with a little training, in a real-life-and-death situation.</p>
<p>Bce, I’m sorry but what’s your point?</p>
<p>12-year-old kids can be a lot tougher than you think.</p>
<p>I used to walk to and from school (1 mile each way) starting at 6 years. I also used to take the subway into Boston and go near the red light district “Combat Zone” to get to a chess club. I recall other elementary-school aged kids taking the subway to get around too.</p>
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<p>The point as I percieve it is: that when you teach your child how to be take of themselves instead of overprotecting, they will have better chances of reacting properly in a dangerous situation.</p>
<p>I can relate to this story because I lived in a rough area of town with my parents. My dad started teaching me to shoot a handgun when I was 8. By the time I was the same age as the girl in the story I knew exactly where the guns were kept and how to load one quickly, in case of an emergency. Nothing ever happened, but it was good that I knew what to do if it did.</p>
<p>Some may not understand the level of desperation of single-parents taking care of kids (that’s not the case with the OP as the lady that’s the subject of this thread is married with apparently two incomes now), but my mother did consider calling social services and asking them to take us away as she was on the edge taking care of four kids by herself.</p>
<p>There are no laws in the State of Washington regarding the age a child may be left alone at home. </p>
<p>This gets a big MYOB from me. They probably get home, fix a sandwich and watch tv til mom or dad gets home. My girls went to after care in elementary school until #2D was in 5th grade. They would have been fine at home (H usually got home around 4), but it gave them the opportunity to play with friends for an hour or so after school. I was more worried about them being home w/o parents when they were in HS…more things to get into trouble with.</p>
<p>Having had a CO tragedy this month with 10 year old walking to school (a rare post possible risk)… perhaps the mom’s plan is best. I’m not crazy about 9 year old and 5 year old home along (especially if they tend to roughhouse or fight), but at least the mom knows they got home safely.</p>
<p>I see young kids (5 or 6 yrs old) walking to school by themselves sometimes & I wish I could give them a ride- cause we don’t even have crossing guards in our neighborhood anymore.
But we do have registered sex offenders.</p>
<p>I agree it is good that they are seen safely home from school.</p>
<p>She is only taking a few weeks off after a C-section? I thought the standard leave after a C-Section was 8 weeks. </p>
<p>I don’t think it would be intruding if, as her supervisor, when she came back to work or called to say she was coming back you asked her how things were going for her. Is it at all possible to suggest a change in shift for her or maybe arrange a partial work from home situation? Does your company offer an employee assistance program? I think that it is not out of line to show interest in her well being with all of the things she has going on. You don’t have to be specific, just say you know it must be a lot with the husband finally getting back to work and young children to care for while working full time. I honestly think it would be appropriate to ask whether you knew about the children staying alone or not.</p>
<p>I am a mid level supervisor, so much is out of my control. Based on the type of work this employee provides, the needs of the higher level supervisors, and other current work factors working at home or shift change isn’t an option. I will show interest, b/c I am definitely interested in her personal welfare and well being, as well as that of her children… but you have to understand that oftentimes interest or questions from a supervisor triggers stress and concern by the employee. I’m not going to get a straight answer b/c the employee’s primary concern is keeping her job - she’s not going to let her guard down or give any information that might adversely impact her employment position. I understand that. Case in point - she insists she is only taking 2 weeks off, even though we’ve all said that is crazy, you need and should take more time. Bottom line, I don’t have the answers to this one.</p>
<p>Ugh - 2 weeks is a short leave even w/o C section and demands of older children. When I had my kids, standard (paid) leave at the corporation was 6 weeks or 8 weeks with C-section.</p>
<p>And what day care is going to take a 2 week old? When my infants were that age, I was told not to take them out of the house any more than absolutely necessary because their immune systems were not yet sufficiently robust, and day care centers are giant Petri dishes of germs. This woman sounds totally flaky. If he thinks she is coming back to work two weeks after a C-section, I have to wonder whether she has the judgment to determine whether her 9 year old can adequately look after her 5 year old.</p>
<p>The chances of something truly terrible happening are likely small. I don’t know what they are, but I agree with those here who say we do wrap our kids in a cocoon more than ever. If that “black swan” rare event does happen, something terrible happens to one of the kids, then those who knew the situation and did not report it will look foolish, cowardly, and not caring about the welfare of children. </p>
<p>As the employer, as much as I would hate doing this, I would quietly, privately tell the employee that there is a murmur going around that the children are being left unsupervised, and that the situation needs to be addressed, and that is all that i am going to say about this. </p>
<p>Some years ago, I was talking to a mom whose kids were not seat belted in the back seat of the car and were all over the place. I grew up in a time when my dad would haul a bunch of us in a station wagon and none of us would even be in seats, much less belted. Plus, I could tell that the kids were very much used to be loose back there, so it was probably a regular thing, and nothiing ever happened. So what did I do? </p>
<p>I just said that the kids should be strapped in, that it wasn’t safe and it was against the law. Said it matter factly and, though it was against the law, given the ages of the children, I didn’t report them to the police or social services. </p>
<p>Some months later, one of the kids was injured when that same mom stopped suddenly and one of the kids took a flight in the car… I don’t know if reporting her would have made any difference. Doubt it. I saw the kids still loose in the car months after that.</p>