Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

On Sunday, here in our area, two children went missing---ages 8 and 9, a brother and sister. They told their parents they were going to their local library. Instead, they hopped on a light-rail train and headed for a huge mall.

I was sick when I heard this story, imagining and hoping against the worst.

There's been a happy ending in that the kids were found---at the mall, 24 hours later. Dozens of police and volunteers scoured the area, spending hours searching. Time and energy and worry and fear spent in those 24 hours. No one is sure where they spent the night. Though they had little money with them, they were found wearing different clothes than they left in. So many questions and different stories being told.

And now coming to light is the fact that these children are often out until sometimes 10 at night and they'll call their parents, saying, "We're out. We're at our friends'. Come get us." They often roam unsupervised and are often at home at all hours unsupervised. Indicative of something unsettling is this quote from the father, given after his children were found: "They're very active, they're very social, very smart kids---they're firecrackers." Firecrackers?? They're kids!! They're 8 and 9! Why are they ever out past dark? Why don't their parents know where they are at all times? Why did the parents not even report them missing until 7 hours after the library had closed? Because they're firecrackers? Because they're too savvy for their age? And that changes the fact that they're only 8 and 9?

I guess I'm just really old-fashioned, but this appalls me. When I was a kid, we would roam our neighborhood, we would be out until suppertime. But it seems like the world was different then. I lived in a small town (not that bad things don't happen in a small town; they do. But that's another story). Our neighbors knew us. People kept an eye out. In a bigger city area, it's not the same. It's not the same sense of community. There aren't dozens of look-outs, people saying, "Get on home; it's time for you to be home."

And even so, they're babies still. Why do kids have to grow up so fast now? Is it really better to be so independant so quickly? It makes me sad. While I'm glad these kids had the street smarts to be okay, I think mostly they were just lucky. And while I'm glad they're fine, I feel like there's a whole bunch they're missing out on and trading for being firecrackers---namely, parents who want to shelter them, keep them safe, know where they are, covet them. Maybe secretly they'd trade the freedom to come and go as they please for the burden of concern and care and weighty parental questions, like "where are you going?" "where will you be?" "here's when you have to be home". Maybe I'm way off-base and too protective. It's hard to say.