MOM IN TROUBLE FOR LETTING 4-YEAR-OLD PLAY ALONE OUTSIDE

Sonya Hendren let her 4-year-old son, Tomahawk (*!), play on the playground of their gated Sacramento, California, apartment complex by himself. She felt her son could handle playing unsupervised 120 feet from her apartment’s front door, but her neighbor disagreed. The neighbor reported Hendren to Child Protective Services, and Hendren was arrested for felony child neglect and endangerment. The charges were later reduced to misdemeanors, but if Hendren is found guilty of even misdemeanor neglect and endangerment, that’s a charge that can carry up to six months of jail and three years of probation. Alternatively she can take an offer of just 30 days in jail and a year of probation. So far she has declined that offer. In the meantime, she has a case open against her and claims she will be in violation if she lets her son out of her line of sight.
* Oh, and she probably could lose the kid, too.
* Child Protective Services. Resistance is Futile.
* Ironically, you can avoid felony child neglect by letting your kid play games on a tablet 12 hours a day.
* I like how they say an offer of 30 days in jail like they’re being nice.
* Okay, the name Tomahawk is unusual, but you could call him Tom for short.
* Translation: The neighbors didn’t care about the kid’s safety. They just didn’t want him out there.
* And now here’s Cat Stevens with, “Where Do the Children Play?”
* PHONE TOPIC: Is 4 years old too young to play alone outside, within view, in a gated community?