Tennis star Anna Kournikova’s mother, Alla Kournikova was put in jail on Tuesday on charges of child neglect. Police were called to Alla’s house after a neighbor saw 5-year old Allen pacing around in front of their Palm Beach house soaking wet and looking distraught. The neighbor called the police who arrived on the scene to find out that Alla had left Allen at home alone for roughly 50 minutes while she ran some errands. Bored, Allen decided to jump out of a second story window, about 15 feet from the ground. Upon landing he smashed his feet in the the sidewalk (no shoes) and decided to alleviate his pain by jumping in the pool. When the police tracked down Alla, Allen was already in recovery mode at the hospital. Alla says that Allen was left home alone on the couch with the television on and he stayed home because he didn’t want to go on the errands.
Now, I don’t know what the statute of limitations is on child neglect, but let me blow your mind for a second: My mom used to leave me home when she ran errands all the time. As early as age four, I believe. Like Alla, my mom was a single mom and it doesn’t always make a ton of sense to call a baby-sitter for a fifty minute trip to the bank, and no one was going to pry me away from my Punky Brewster. Let’s not blame this whole thing on little Allen because he does sound adorably rambunctious, but jumping off the roof and then in to the pool kinda seems like a quintessential little boy behavior, not a sign of neglect.
What angers me about this story is the neighbor. Are things so unfriendly now that the neighbor didn’t say “Hey, Allen, come over here! Where’s your mother? You want to come inside and watch TV? You want a Fig Newton?” Since when are neighbors not friends enough to do this? It’s pretty gross that it’s someone’s prerogative to have the police intervene before they talk to their neighbor’s face, that’s all I’m saying. Especially when there’s something like “child neglect” possibly going to be on someone’s record. Maybe we’ll find out that this Alla Kournikova is a horrible mother and that Allen’s roof-jumping is just the tip of the iceberg, but I’d say she did an OK job with her daughter.
Sorry, that called being an irresponsible mother. You can’t a assume a four or five year old is going to stay put for an hour, hell even ten minutes. And the fact that nothing happened to you, well that’s just called luck.
It is ILLEGAL to leave a child that young home alone, and this is why! Leaving a small child unattended, especially when you have a POOL, is complete and total NEGLIGENCE. It doesn’t matter if the child is well fed and cared for in other respects, it’s still child neglect. And it is not the neighbor’s job to take care of someone else’s child, especially an injured one! I absolutely would’ve called the police. I don’t care about the mother’s excuses, I’m sure she has plenty of money to hire a fucking babysitter, but even a decent, poor single mother would not leave a 5-year-old home alone for any length of time. Molls you repeatedly amaze me with your complete stupidity. What planet are you living on, seriously??? You are my Mischa Barton, I just freakin’ can’t stand you! BRING BACK WENDIE!!!
I agree with the neighbor about calling the authorities since the kid was injured after JUMPING OUT OF A WINDOW! Yes…neighbors should be friendly and all….but if you see a kid who has injured himself, you should in fact call for help.
The mom is a moron by the way. You don’t leave a 5 year old alone in the house for any reason.
I agree. The police did need to be called because he was injured and alone. Five year olds should never be left alone in a house. That was bad parenting.
Her parents sued her. I’m not sure they have such a good relationship.
And leaving your kid home alone, especially when he’s prone to jumping out of windows and then swimming unattended, not a good idea.
Remind him you’re the parent, drag his ass off the couch and go run errands.
Anybody who’s letting a 5 year old decide whether or not he should stay home alone has got some serious parenting issues to begin with…
Alzaetia…I was just about to say that. Sounds like the parent is in need of a backbone. Since when do you let a 5 year old tell you what to do???!
Every parent makes mistakes, Alla just had incredibly bad luck. She could have just as possibly been inside the house while her son jumped off the roof. Would that have been called child neglect? Certainly he isn’t the first child who has attempted to fly.
Although it may have been irresponsible,, I highly doubt she anticipated her child would do such a thing. And as a single parent, I bet she was just tired. No you don’t let your kid decide what he wants to do, but sometimes you’re just so incredibly exhausted mentally and physically that you slip up. I’m not justifying her behavior, I’m just saying that’s real life.
It’s not unlucky for something to happen to your kid when you leave them home alone. It’s bad planning and bad parenting. And if your kid can jump out of a second story window and then into a swimming pool (why wasn’t it gated?!) without you noticing when you’re home, yes, that is neglect.
I am a parent. I was a very young single parent for many years. Never left my kid home alone, always paid attention to her. I wasn’t lucky. I was attentive.
You must be kidding. My son is almost 7 and there is NO WAY IN HELL that I would leave him at home alone for even 10 minutes to run up to the grocery store and I live in a small town of less than 1000 people that is completely safe. Yes, there is such a thing as friendly neighbors; those are the ones that call the police when your dumb ass is ignorant enough to leave a child at home by himself.
It would never, ever, ever occur to me to leave my 5 year old home alone. I have a 4 year old son and would NEVER leave him home alone. The maturity level to take care of himself is not there. For goodness sake, he isn’t even considered old enough or mature enough to attend kindergarten.
SERIOUSLY? At 4 years old I had started school!
in the US, anon? Because the starting age for Kindergarten is 5 years old and you must have turned 5 before Sept 1st of the year you start school. Maybe you were in pre-k?
I started school when I was 4 as well…but I live in the UK.
Depending on the state, you could start Kindergarten as long as you turn 5 by the end of the calendar year (11:59 PM of December 31st).
The starting age in my state is 5 years old.
Hi I think it is terrible…however it is not uncommom….please check out APalmBeachNanny.
I wanted to add that sadly most states do not have laws governing what age a child can be left home alone. Many only have guideline ages. But, as you can see here, for those that do have laws the age is nowhere near 5!
http://www.latchkey-kids.com/latchkey-kids-age-limits.htm
Well! It’s good to know that I was a perfectly well-behaved child.
Molls, it doesn’t have anything to do with being perfectly behaved. My kids are extremely well behaved. At such a young age a child isn’t developmentally able to make the best decisions about what is safe.
I disagree. By 5, my brother and I both knew what was acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Don’t open doors, don’t play with electrical sockets, don’t touch the stove, etc. My mom was ok leaving us home along because we wouldn’t DO anything other than watch tv and play with legos. I do have to say that my parents ruled with an iron fist and probably molded us through fear hahah. Like we would get smacked on the hand or wrist for doing something bad.
But that doesn’t mean you can speak for all 5 year old’s or small children in general, just because you were an exception doesn’t make your experience the rule.
Au contraire mon vpea – the Molls is more than qualified to speak for 5 year olds.
Honestly though, vpea – That is the reason most places don’t list a static age for leaving a child alone. They develop differently and parents know their children better than a law would. I don’t know what happened with this particular case but bad parenting can definitely occur with a parent in the next room and good parenting with a parent leaving a child while they run to the store. Just saying.
Could you get yourself out of the house if there was a fire? What if one of you fell and hurt yourself? What if one of you started choking? I’m sorry to say that if your parents left you alone in the house when you were five you (and they) are just lucky that one of you didn’t get serious injured or dead.
How do you write a post about a 5-year-old jumping out a window and injuring himself after being left alone, and then finish up by saying you see no reason why a kid his age shouldn’t be left alone?? You just answered that in your post! I have a hard time deciding if you are just so incredibly tongue-in-cheek sarcastic that your jokes are too sophisticated for mere mortals, or if you are on the slightly unfortunate side of dumb. Jury is still out.
lol! That was prob the best thing I’ve read all day! I’m going with the unfortunate side of dumb! This Molls chick should probably stick to gossip columns and not editorials b/c she is WHACK!!!
Because I know plenty of mothers who can run out to get some milk and return a t-shirt to the Gap without their kid jumping off the roof? Kids do stuff that surprises the hell out of their parents. I don’t think this woman would have left him alone if she knew he was going to take a 15 foot dive.
There’s a reason why we don’t leave 5-year olds home by themselves. You NEVER know what they are going to do. A good parent understands that.
I’m guessing the mom’s you know are all huddled together sharing 1 small brain w/ Mrs. Kournikova b/c I’ve just polled about 15 women in my office and not 1 of them would make that decision. Not 1. That fact that you & your friends find this common-place is quite disturbing to say the least…
Precisely. She didn’t know what he was going to do if left home alone, and a 5-year-old is still clueless enough to think that jumping off a roof is a good idea. Supervision is the thing that stands between kids and catastrophe. You know plenty of lucky mothers if they are all running out leaving just-past-toddler aged kids home alone even for a few minutes. Somebody’s luck will run out eventually, and you may sing a different tune when it does. Kids can get into dangerous situations, and big trouble, faster than you would ever believe possible.
OMG…you keep MAKING the point you are refuting. Yes, kids surprise the hell out of their parents all the time…which is exactly why you don’t leave little ones home alone! I understand you don’t have kids (yet) yourself, but your inability to connect your own dots here is sort of funny and scary at the same time.
If you know anything about psychology or child development you know a child this age cannot make a sound, accurate decision. They do not understand cause and effect. They do not understand that jumping off a roof will result in severe injury. Hes lucky he didn’t drown too. This kid could be dead all because his mother is a incompetent moron. People, you don’t leave a baby at home, a toddler or a preschooler. Christ.
Imp of the Perverse
Evilbeetdouche… Are you,perchance,a teenage brain surgeon,the butcher of hellhouse?
Well Molls, I sure hope that when you have kids, that you wisen up. Anything can happen at anytime, even when you are in the room with the kid. There is absolutely no reason to leave a child at home to run an errand. So what if you have to take the extra 5 minutes to put the child in the car and strapped in the carseat. If this is your mindset, I just hope that for any childs sake, that you are unable to procreate. And if you do, I sure hope that there are tons of nosy neighbors around to turn your ass in for child neglect, endangerment, and abandonment.
that’s just it though, you DON’T know what your kid is going to do. which is exactly why you never leave them alone!
Molls, I agree with what you said about the neighbours. If I saw my neighbour’s 5 year old wandering around outside, I definitely would bring him into my house to if it was apparent he was alone. They were wrong to not do that.
Leaving a child that young alone is irresponsible, plain and simple. He’s just 3 years out of diapers for chrissakes! If you’re being honest about your mom leaving you alone when you were that young, she was irresponsible too. If you can’t get or afford a sitter, YOU TAKE YOUR KIDS WITH YOU. You don’t leave them alone in the house or locked in the fucking car when they’re that small. You and your mom are both lucky that nothing terrible happened to you.
And seriously how hard would it be for her to, I don’t know, ASK her neighbor to watch the kid.
THAT’S WHAT I WAS THINKING!
where does it say that they left him alone to still wander around outside while they called the police from their home? You’re telling me that if you saw a 5 year old wandering around outside, screaming, wet & bloody as some reports say you WOULDN’T call the police & invite him in for some milk & cookies instead?
If I saw a five-year-old Russian kid wandering around my neighborhood, I’d sic the dogs on him.
Wow! HORRIFIED! Did you really just DEFEND leaving a 5 year old home alone and blame the neighbors for being responsible? Ever assume she called the cops b/c this wasn’t the first time? Clearly you don’t have kids (and based on your post – probably shouldn’t). I have a 5 year old boy whom is EXTREMELY well-behaved. It doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be scared out of his mind if I left him home alone and probably make a bad decision – like run out of the house and down the street to try to find me. It honestly makes me sick to my stomach to even think about leaving him alone for 1 minute, let alone 50. I agree w/ the other posters here, you have errands to run, they come w/ you or get babysat. You don’t hire SpongeBob Squarepants via Nickelodeon.
I’m with Sarah.
Molls? You are one dumb bitch, and so is your mother. Yes, I went there.
OK, so I shouldn’t have said that.
But, damn. Leaving a 4/5 year old in front of the TV b/c you’re too lazy to bring the child along… that’s some bad parenting, there.
What happens if you get in a car accident on your 10 minute errand?
molls, i don’t mean any meanness towards you, but i do think that your wrong. just because a parent raised a child who became successful doesn’t give them a free pass for their next child. the neighbor did exactly the right thing in calling child services and for all we know, this isn’t the first time they’ve witnessed something bad happening. it’s not the neighbor’s responsibility to care for a child that was left on their own, which should never happen. i was alone a lot as a kid, but i was one of the few, like you molls, who didn’t get into trouble. but that’s not most kids. kids need supervision and you can’t leave kids at home alone. either bring the kid with you or GET A RELIABLE BABYSITTER. that’s the responsibility of being a parent and you just don’t get to opt out of it. it’s tough for you as a single mother? it’s tough all around the world. either take care of your children properly and with care or don’t have them.
had mother korny left this kid in a car during the summer, i don’t even think we’d be having this discussion. it’s the same thing.
and yes, i spelled you’re wrong. such is my life without coffee. brew faster, dammit!
Irresponsible, lazy parenting, plain and simple. Pathetic that she’d figure the kid had the attention span to stay on the couch for an hour. Kids are easily distracted.
Kids do stupid stuff. Most at that age haven’t fully grasped the concepts of cause-effect or action-consequence. As parents its our responsibility to protect them from themselves.
When I was five I climbed out my ground floor bedroom window for shits & giggles when I was supposed to be in bed. It was summer and still daylight and I’d done it before and climbed back in successfully– fully clothed and wearing shoes. I didn’t have the common sense to think that maybe barefoot in a nightie I wouldn’t be able to scale the wall and get back in. I had to walk around to the front door and knock. Mom=not impressed.
There are all kinds of variables that could have made that stunt end in disaster. A 5 YEAR OLD DOES NOT HAVE COMMON SENSE.
I bet the neighbor called the cops because they’d seen it too many times before.
Insightful
How can anyone justify this? Seriously? Shes an idiot. End of story.
As a mother my heart stopped reading this post. The neighbor absolutely did the right thing. The fact is that boy could easily have been seriously injured or killed, end of story.
Yes it’s sad that people aren’t as close with their neighbors as they used to be. But if you can’t find a babysitter then take the kid with you.
Personally, I don’t have anyone to watch my daughter during the week so she comes with me everywhere. Sure it makes errands take longer but that’s part of being a parent.
“As a mother my heart stopped reading this post.” Instant classic.
I hope when/if I become a mother that my organs don’t go changing jobs like that!
Mostly because if my heart is doing the reading, it would be gross to see my eyes pumping blood. Then again, I guess my heart would be the one seeing as it has obviously become the thing that sees, so it wouldn’t seem gross to it to see my eyes pumping blood.. it might even get nostalgic.
Alright, alright, point taken. I was clearly too hopped up on motherly hormones to think about punctuation.
Still my point stands and most readers seem to agree that mother was totally irresponsible.
Thankfully he didn’t drown jumping into the pool. This story is absolutely sickening.
Exactly. You just cannot leave a child that young alone. Its complete irresponsibility and I’m surprised its not illegal. It is where I’m from. Anything could have happened. What an absolute idiot, and even more moronic to suggest that they’re overreacting. I would also call the police, I can’t believe you criticized the onyl responsible adult in the whole scenario. sickening.
Hard to drown jumping in the pool. After maybe.
What if there was a FIRE while she was away??? Why didn’t she just call a nanny service? She lives in Palm Beach, it’s not like she’s poor.
Wow. I agree with the gazillions who have already said that it is inappropriate to leave a 5 yr old unattended.
As for the neighbor inviting a child inside? Well–these are ugly times. You let a kid into your home and maybe get sued or falsely accused of being some perv etc. (especially if you are a man) If there are ANY men reading this, do not offer to have a child in your home without some other witnesses in your home to verify that you are not a perv. Besides, if the kid were injured, he would need immediate medical attention. I hope he had an exam and xrays.
If some kid is wandering around soaking wet and crying, you find out if there are parents around. If nobody answers the door you call the cops or 911 especially if there’s an injury. It’s a pretty straight forward situation.
Congrats Molls, your Mom was a crappy Mom! I know it sucks to find out all these years later, but come on! Do you even have any kids? Once you do you’ll realize it’s totally unacceptable, and neglectful to leave a child under the age of 13 home alone!
I agree completely. My under 13 children will never, ever, ever be home alone. My eldest is almost 13 and I’m hesitant to leave him any time soon.
It takes only a second for a child to find something dangerous to do whilst unsupervised.
You people are raising kids that are a bunch of douche bags in the making.
At least my kids will make it past the age of 4 without trying to kill themselves, or you know actually succeed killing themselves when they jump off the roof…
Also, here in the state of WA it is illegal to leave kids that young alone, and leave your car running with a kid under the age of 16. The car one is a little over protective, but I agree with the other one.
What if instructions to “stay inside the house” were remembered where the 4 year old set the house on fire and then he didn’t know he could leave.
ahh.. i love what-if games.
like what if the kid landed on his head and not his feet when his mom had gone to “just run a few errands!” and what if the neighbours hadn’t been snooping and didn’t notice..
well, i guess he wouldn’t be alive. end of what-if game.
Molls. Where the hell is my rant?
It doesn’t matter how well-behaved or street smart a five-year-old child is. They do not have the same sense of logic, problem-solving skills or level of maturity of a 13 year old. That’s just plain ol’ brain development.
I don’t leave my almost 10 year old in the car if I have to run into a store to grab a gallon of milk. Leaving a child at home? Unconscionable.
Forgot to say, I was a single mother for years. It’s super hard to drag your kid on all your errands but still exponentially less difficult than having to deal with a dead or injured child.
How were you a single mom? Did you eff yourself? Just asking.
I agree with Wendie, she just said it a lot nicer than I did.
You don’t work here any more.
If she still worked here this post wouldn’t have contained any “The kid jumped out the window, but that’s fine” nonsense.
Well, I was left home alone when I was really young too. I remember when I was in 2nd grade I stayed home with my little sister while my mom ran errands, but the thing is, I was one of those kids who were people say were born an adult. I have always been responsible and my parents said that I never really acted like a child. The rest of my siblings did though..
“but jumping off the roof and then in to the pool kinda seems like a quintessential little boy behavior”
…..so….if you figure this is *typical* boy behavior (which it’s not) do you leave the kid alone in the house????? I say drag that child to the store with you! He’s 5! He doesn’t get a say in something like that.
What your mom did was wrong and dangerous, left alone this little boy slash madman jumped off a roof on to concrete, then through himself in a pool unattended in clothing, he’s lucky he didn’t drowned, lot’s of adults can’t swim in clothes. My guess is allen is as big a wingnut as his mom and nobody wanted to help him.
Please don’t have children until you understand what is wrong with the article you just wrote, there is no excuse to leave a child alone in this day and age. It’s very dangerous, google how many kids left alone in the last 6 months are dead, I can think of 8 off the top of my head.
Parents leaving five year olds home by themselves because they “know” what they are supposed to do…..Jesus! There are animals who take better care of their young! If this is what qualifies as good parenting then it is a sad day indeed. It kills me when parents whine that they it is too hard to take their kids on errands or whatever. If you cannot make & take the time to be a good parent, then don’t have kids. Once that baby enters your life, your priorities should forever be the safety and well being of that child. Smart people think ahead at what MIGHT happen and act accordingly. Stupid people fly by the seat of their pants and hope everything will be fine. A child is a precious creature that needs the supervision and protection always. It’s your damn job! Any parent who leaves their young child alone because it is too inconvenient to take the kid along IS A BAD PARENT. Sure usually it will be just fine when you come home but, like someone in the local news, leaving for just a few minutes can go horribly wrong. A little boy was left alone for about 15 minutes and mom came home to find he had pulled their new big television onto himself….killing him. There is nobody on this earth who will EVER convince me that it is OK to leave a BABY (and, yeah, a child that young is really incapable of adult rational thought so I say he or she is still a baby) home alone just because the parent is too G..damn lazy to take the kid(s) along. What a crock! Just because you CAN breed does not mean you SHOULD.
Well said
Not to sound too condescending Molls, but you don’t have a clue in regard to this. Call me jaded and misanthropic, but not only do I not trust my six-year-old to correctly make emergency decisions that her life may depend on, I don’t trust other people to do the right thing regarding my child, either. Do I believe that my child is extremely mature and well behaved for her age? Yes, yes I do. But I’m not willing to put it to the test and risk her safety and well-being. Shit happens. Nor would I take the chance of leaving her vulnerable to any twisted POS who would mean her harm. That is what you are doing when you leave a young child like that alone without protection. I was a very young latchkey kid myself, and it bothers me to this day that my mother was that self involved that she would jeopardize my safety like that. I think back to alot of the scenarios and close calls I had back then, and I cringe at what could have happened and how extremely fortunate I was that nothing did. I am also a single parent, and do I have times when I absolutely wish I didn’t have to drag my child out to run a mundane errand? Hell yes. But I do, because it would kill me if something happened to her. Period.
When I was five, after I finished using the bathroom and was washing my hands, I started looking through my parents medicine cabinet. Just out of curiosity. I saw my father’s razor and I had seen him shave probably every day of the week for as long as I can remember. But I didn’t know what shaving was or really understand why he was doing it so again out of curiosity I began to shave my chin just like I saw my father do. I ended up slicing my chin open and needed stitches. Where was my mother? In the kitchen, cooking dinner. If things like that can happen while a parent is like 20 feet away, just imagine what could happen when there’s no one around to help.
And how do you know the neighbor didn’t ask a few questions first? I imagine the neighbor probably asked the kid why he was outside, what happened, where was his mother…I’m sorry, but if the neighbor’s kid told me he’d jumped out of a window without even having a pair of shoes on, I’d call the police immediately. Not just to cover my behind (I mean, really, how many people would believe you if I you them you picked up a kid off the street because they looked distraught?), but to make sure the kid hadn’t been abandoned or something and to make sure he received whatever help (medical, etc) he needed.
Predators dream of Moms like this!! Even a kid who’s well behaved and well warned doesn’t have the social skills to recognize disguised danger. “Stranger Danger” lessons don’t do shit when someone has all the time in the world to convince the kid that he is their new best friend. Molls you are an idiot! Even if you were positive your kid wasn’t going to jump off a roof or go for a swim (which is impossible to know for a 5yr old) how do you think he would do against a perv who has spent his whole life learning how to manipulate kids.
And as for the pool – Where I am pools have to be fenced and locked so WTF is going on with that? I know there are already a ton of comments but Molls was sooo ridiculous I had to post.
all i have to say is yeah, i get how u should never leave your kid alone, i get it, i wont do it. but the way you no-life people are here ranting about what molls thinks is ridiculous. i started reading the comments and i coudnt stop laughing, you are a bunch of retards. go check on your kids
Thanks for stopping in on the to your MENSA meeting to add that insightful comment.
LOL!!!!
lol what? i still think youre all a bunch of idiots.
I think what Molls is trying to say is that people sometimes slip up, and its understandable for tired and harassed single parents to make these kind of decisions. She isn’t saying “Yo, leaving kidz home alone is da’ bomb.”
That’s what I’m reading from it anyway.
And I get it, super responsible perfect parents would NEVER do that. ( I love all the declarations of “I WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO MY CHILD OMG”) Jeebus, relax. You get your gold star.
well, once again Molls proves how ignorant, close minded & clueless she really is. You were raised by a single mom, boo hoo so was I and believe me when I settled down to watch some P. Brewster if my mm had to go somewhere she picked my ass up and took me with her no matter what. For 50 minutes or 5 minutes. Across the street or across town. Once in a while she’d ask a neighbor to watch me with the promise of some russian meatloaf as payment b/c back then we couldn’t afford a babysitter as I’m sure the mother of a millionairess most def can.
What if he had been eating grapes & choked? What if he landed on his head & not his feet? & your telling me that if you saw a kid wandering around, screaming, wet & as some are reporting, bloodied, you wouldn’t call 911? Oh I don’t know, so maybe he can be checked out for injuries considering he FELL OUT A WINDOW or is that something milk & cookies could cure? I’m all for saying what you feel but when it’s someone spewing verbal caca 95% of the time I’d rather you didn’t.
Um, Molls. I’m sure your mom is a great person, but what she did back in the day was incredibly irresponsible and illegal. What Anna’s mother is alleged to have done is incredibly irresponsible and illegal, as well. You can’t leave 4- and 5-year-olds home alone because they get it in their heads to do crazy shiz like JUMP OUT OF A WINDOW. Also, for all you know the neighbor is a mute wheelchair user who relied on her companion dog to call 911 and communicate what the kid was doing. More likely, the neighbor has seen that kid home alone time and again and finally got tired of the BS.
Well, Molls can’t type, spell, or raise children……you wanna keep adding to that list Molls? Not very impressive my dear!
If you think this is OK because your Mom did it…it’s not!
I was alone at home after school till my mum or dad got home from work when I was 7. Don’t, never thought about that. Was just normal. Anyways, interesting article on parenting in Scandinavia: They let their babys sleep outside, even in winter:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/babies_below_zero.php
I think parenting-styles are at the discretion of the parents. Sure, 99% of you disagree, but things happen whether you’re super-protective or super-lax. I’m not saying I would personally ever leave my child home alone or leave them in a hot car, but pretty much every single thing you guys are saying about parenting are opinions. You guys can try to pull out the brain-development argument which is true, but every kid is different. The last time I checked a hell of a lot more teenagers get seriously injured or killed than 5 year olds.
I don’t think Alla or Moll’s mother were bad parents at all, they just did it differently from you people.
I’m sorry but just because your mom left you at home at 4 from time to time isn’t OK with me. I could be wrong but the kids i grew up with when left alone at that age burned down houses, cracked a skull open or stayed on the couch and would keep up with the show they were watching. You can never know whats going to happen. That is why you NEVER leave a child that age home alone.
Wow… what an irresponsible comment. You are fortunate that your mother’s reprehensible parenting didn’t result in you seriously injuring yourself, being raped, kidnapped, murdered, etc. Supporting this type of parenting is appalling enough but attacking the actions of the neighbor –who was willing to call for help- and suggesting that they should have stepped in to cover for the mother in order to spare her from the stigma of having a neglect charge on her record is truly revolting. You are defending behavior that places children in harm. I refuse to believe that you are an evil person that would wish harm to children; as such it is my hope that you will recognize your ignorance.
UM….
neighbors see an injured kid, dazed and confuzed, wet and bloody, and they should ask the kid in for milk and cookies? And wait for the parents to come home? Let the kid sit in pain, slip into a coma, even die first, just don’t get him help if it means it might get the parents in trouble?
Because it’s more important the parents get a chance to explain themselves to you, then getting the injured kid medical help right away, and letting the LAW do their JOB, and CHOOSE if the parent should get a record or not.
WTF
Oh Americans are soooo stupid with those child-overprotecting laws, squealing neighbors and total control.
But if she lives in America she must to obey their laws.