Times have changed. We've seen numerous attempted abductions over the last couple years, in areas we thought would be considered safe, and personally know someone who witnessed an attempted abduction of one of the kids at her daughter's bus stop. There's no way in hell I'd let my 7 y/o go to the park by herself. If she was 10, and going with friends, that's another story.

However, should this be considered prosecutable child neglect? I think that's going way too far. I think the decision itself also depends what the park is like - population density, urban/rural, how busy the park is, etc.

yes, if you don't attach a child to your hip, something could happen. but, if you do that, something else will happen, the child will never grow up. Unless the child is a special needs child or have personality disorders, a typical child needs a certain amount of independence. will have to learn to make their place in the world - now there is a 1/2 a mile in the town I live in, which is just like 2 blocks - our blocks are long, and there is 1/2 mile in NYC. From what I could see this story took place in a slightly more rural town than where I live. A child should be capable to walk 1/2 mile here. Now, I don't know where you live or how high your crime rate is, but ours is very low - the only missing children in this town have always been proven to be runaways, no kidnappings here ever. 1/2 the playgrounds in this town have supervised parks just because scared parents asked for it and us childless taxpayers have to pay for it. This child had a cell phone and knew enough to run when a strange man came up to him and asked if he was alone - sounds like a kid who is well prepared to survive to me.

The stranger and the police who think you have to spend every minute with your child are the ones who were nuts here. that would mean you lock your child in the house while you do house work, etc.

I wonder if this is an age thing where the younger people are afraid of their shadows and the older ones are used to being thrown out of their house to play and to not come home except for meals and to go to bed in the summer.

A number of child neglect arrests are gaining attention nationwide, with some onlookers arguing local authorities are overstepping bounds in arresting parents for childrearing decisions that wouldn't have merited notice a generation ago or which plunge families close to the poverty line into even more dire situations.

Cripes, at that age, I was routinely sent to the market to buy that one thing Mom needed to complete dinner, and the market was just about a half a mile away, that is, if I took the shortcut over the railroad tracks. Perhaps my mom should have been arrested for being such a shortsighted homemaker.

Police spokesgoon: "we can't really muster the energy to do the real police work required to get child abductors and and other miscreants off the streets; instead we are going to protect potential crime victims by arresting their parents."