Yup. My neighbor called the cops on me because my 4yo was riding a scooter at night on the sidewalk (like 9:30 PM). We’re pretty sure we know who the neighbor is, and we know everyone on our street (and they know us, and our phone numbers), so there was absolutely no reason to get the police involved. I was out there within 10 min (I had just put the kids to bed and was double-checking that they’re still there), and my kid was still on the sidewalk (we teach our kids as much).
This was an isolated incident as well, and our street is incredibly quiet (half the people are retired), so the actual danger is incredibly low.
I get that safety is important, but it’s also important to let people make their own decisions. I don’t want to be a helicopter parent, yet my neighbor seem intent that I do. It’s incredibly frustrating. I’m trying to raise independent kids who aren’t reliant on mommy and daddy to constantly be there to catch them, and I want them to learn the hard things in life as early as possible while the stakes are low. If they’re going to get hurt on their bike, it should be at 5-10mph near our house instead of 30-40mph bombing down a hill as a teenager. If they’re going to get into a fight, it better be as a 10yo with fists instead of a teenager with knives. We have rules, but it’s on them to follow them, I just explain why the rules exist (i.e. it’s not me being mean). Sometimes they get hurt, but they learn quickly.
Yup. My neighbor called the cops on me because my 4yo was riding a scooter at night on the sidewalk (like 9:30 PM). We’re pretty sure we know who the neighbor is, and we know everyone on our street (and they know us, and our phone numbers), so there was absolutely no reason to get the police involved. I was out there within 10 min (I had just put the kids to bed and was double-checking that they’re still there), and my kid was still on the sidewalk (we teach our kids as much).
This was an isolated incident as well, and our street is incredibly quiet (half the people are retired), so the actual danger is incredibly low.
I get that safety is important, but it’s also important to let people make their own decisions. I don’t want to be a helicopter parent, yet my neighbor seem intent that I do. It’s incredibly frustrating. I’m trying to raise independent kids who aren’t reliant on mommy and daddy to constantly be there to catch them, and I want them to learn the hard things in life as early as possible while the stakes are low. If they’re going to get hurt on their bike, it should be at 5-10mph near our house instead of 30-40mph bombing down a hill as a teenager. If they’re going to get into a fight, it better be as a 10yo with fists instead of a teenager with knives. We have rules, but it’s on them to follow them, I just explain why the rules exist (i.e. it’s not me being mean). Sometimes they get hurt, but they learn quickly.