Girl Let Off a Wrong Bus Stop NOT Molested and Left For Dead

Being skeptic isn't in vogue these days. If you're not with us you're against us seems to be the rhetoric.

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I know bad things happen to people but the media are like sharks circling around when something bad happens,it's what sells. Unfortunally we have become so used to all the negative stuff, that when something postive happens, it usually don't make the news. I'm so glad this little girl found a good person that helped her find her way home. I think all he parents should demand to know what kind of system is put in place for pickups and drop offs for the children so that this doesn't happen again. I know a friend of mine used to be a school bus driver and she told me that you have between 20 to 30 kids on a bus at a time and it's hard to remember where each child goes. I remember when I was a child, there was a subsutute driver for my bus route one time, and I told him the wrong place to drop me off at, because I wanted to go visit a friend. I got into serious trouble when my parents found out. I don't remember if the bus driver got into trouble or not. But I think it should be up to parents and the school system to figure out a better system to put in place to protect our children.

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Lol. I love whoever wrote this article. And I love how overly-dramatic those parents are, lol. Just because a nice, normal human being helped the child get home- means he could have potentially been a creep. Haha, yeah right. Media makes America seem like such a shitty place lol.

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All of this alarmism reminds me of my mother, who was all about bad news and usually had a horrible story to fit whatever topic was at hand, which never involved anyone we actually knew, but "the child of a friend of a friend", etc. Despite that, she still let me walk to school by myself, and when I had to be bused I was allowed to do that. These days I know people who are actually worse than my mother was-a neighbor who won't let her kids take the bus to school or allow them to sleep over at anyone's house; relatives who won't let their oldest daughter sleep at anyone's house but ours, and they freely admit that "they don't trust anybody" with their kids. Whatever happened to getting to know people around you? Had that happened with my child, I would have praised her for 1) speaking up to the bus driver (even though the driver didn't listen) and 2) finding someone to help her get home-that's street smarts. Yes, I would have complained to the school & transportation company, but I still likely would have made my daughter ride the bus to school, probably with a written note from me with our address on it in case it happened again. And that would be that.

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She had to walk four whole blocks? What a tragedy.

People need to chill out. I don't even see how this is an "incident."

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It sounds funny to even say this nowadays but when I was 4 (4!), I went to something called pre-kindergarten and took the bus. It dropped me off at the end of my residential street and I walked home (about 10 houses). Every day. This was in 1980 or so.

One day, I decided I wanted to be babysat and went to my neighbor's instead (she lived directly behind us across an alley). She was a foster mother who had cute babies in the house and lots of toys and books I didn't have, so it seemed like a good idea to me. My poor mom thought I was lost about 30 minutes before my neighbor and mom figured it out.

I was a smart, mature kid with a really good sense of direction, but I was still just four. So it's funny to me that a seven-year-old will never ride the bus again after she was dropped just four blocks away from a normal bus stop AND some other kid's dad helped her get home.

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The story, if it had to be a story at all, could easily have been about how another dad helped the child get home. You know, a nice story.

My son just started third grade -- he's almost 8. Our bus stop is up the street, a distance of about four houses and on a curve that I can just barely see from my front window. His brother gets home an hour before him, and I go pick him up. But I told the bigger guy he could walk home by himself. He was thrilled. You should see the joy in his face as I watch him navigate his way home (close to the curb, after waving to me from my perch near the door).

I feel sorry for that girl if her parents are indulging and abetting her "fear" of buses. They may rue that decision when she's in high school and they're still driving her to school!

Denise

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What a non-story! Yes, the guy could have been a pedophile. So could the guy next door. So could the bus driver. 4 freaking blocks? I grew up in a rural town, and walked 12 blocks to kindergarten. No one got bussed but the 'country' kids. I do have a vague memory of a lion-sized dog chasing me into someone's fenced yard, but other than that no incidents in my 12-yr walking-to-school career.

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Some days I feel like the only "non Helicopter Parent" out there. I wonder what those parents would think of my 9.5 year old walking her 4 year old brother ALL THE WAY HOME from school. Like, no bus at all!!! And they wonder why kids are overweight. We never allow them to do ANYTHING!

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I'm glad it was another kid's dad that walked her home and wouldn't make too much of it afterwards. But if this had been my daughter I would have been very worried if this had happened because there is quite a number of sex offenders living in our neighborhood, and about twice a year the school will announce that some children have been approached by a stranger. Additionally, I got the biggest shock of my life when my daycare lady showed me the latest picture of sex offenders in our area; it was a former friend's 16 year-old son who had been found guilty of 3 counts of child rape. And to think that my daughter had actually been on sleepovers at their house!
Aside from all that, the busdriver should have radioed his supervisor. I have driven school buses myself, and in a case like this that was standard procedure to prevent this from happening.

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I totally agree. I probably wouldn't say it with the tone of this article, but I agree.

If you look at crime rates (if you Google crime rates and FBI you should be able to find a chart that depicts crime rates over various amounts of time) you will notice that the rates have DROPPED significantly over the past 20 years. The only thing that has changed is the media's stories. If you hadn't noticed, they tend to focus on the especially awful ones. It makes it feel as though the world is spiraling towards doom.

As a 17 year old I can't comment on how I would feel as a parent, but I can comment on how I feel as a child. I think my mom would have liked to be a helicopter parent, but she did fairly well at restraining herself =p If I had been GPS tracked and never let out of her sight as a young kid I would have gone insane. Kids need to learn how to deal with situations on their own because you can't take care of them forever. Obviously parents want to protect their kids, but if you go overboard you are going to end up with young adults who cannot function on their own.

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Gia, really? Children are not abducted -- generally -- by strangers. They are abducted by parents, friends, family members. They are abducted, raped, murdered by those who are in trusted positions. Not by random people on the streets. That's why you see all these supposedly "lax" responses. Because most people are aware of the statistics. Children are at the highest risk from those familiar to them and need to be taught to protect themselves, not to fear everyone.

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Oy, gevalt. The media's motto is "What Bleeds, Leads". They make the news, not report the news. They affect our perceptions of reality. They make us frightened, fearful, paranoid, anxious. They do a huge disservice to us all But then "intelligent journalist" is an oxymoron.

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My 4yr old got separated from us this summer at a very popular tourist site. It took us about 5min to find him. He had simply stayed where he was. A lovely woman stayed with him and kept him company. She introduced herself and let us know that she was a teacher and very glad we were able to find each other again so fast. Yes, I was upset that my son was not with me when I thought he was. We were a group of 9 and everyone was busy talking/taking pics, etc. At NO time was my internal dialogue in the area of, "now he's kidnapped/dead", etc. People have got to have some faith that general society is comprised of good citizens. It was a scare and I expressed my gratitude to this wonderful person repeatedly. Thanks for the good will and compassion for each other just doing their best in everyday life.

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While it is true that there are plenty of people out there who are bad people, there are millions more who are good. Do some of you really walk around all day fearing that the next person is going to kill you? And you do all realize that the media plays-up the stories to make a simple "hello, how are you?" from a friendly stranger to: child approached by suspicious stranger. And Emma is right: rates have dropped. Also, how much can you believe a child when he/she says they were approached by a stranger. They are either making it up because they know they'll get attention, or they are misrepresenting the story (which can be intentional but also unintentional). If I were to guess, kids are unintentionally making things seem bad to their parents. If they're doing it intentionally, it's for attention or because their parents have taught them that any form of recognition of them from a stranger is cause for calling the cops, FBI and SWAT team.
Kids need to learn to take care of themselves or they will not be successful adults. I work very hard every day with my special needs kids to make sure they learn to do just that.

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Right on, Lenora; it is exactly the need for more and more sensationalism that drives almost all news today. And you are right; it wasn't "news" to begin with. Please keep writing and being one voice out there keeping us grounded in reality.

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Well, you can all comfort yourselves with lame excuses for not being better and more alert parents, but I myself was dragged off my street, only about 8 houses away from my home, while I was with a friend, and we were both about 12-13. A very pleasant, youngish man (30?) came walking towards us. Said hello. We said hello back and kept walking. Suddenly he was grabbing us both from behind - a knife under my throat. We both were paralyzed with fear. He took us over to the schoolyard behind our houses. It was winter break and empty. He molested us both terribly. We escaped only by the grace of God and my street smarts. He could very easily have slit our throats - and might have intended to - if I hadn't suddenly jumped up, thrown her up on the fence, and pushed her over it. I quickly followed as we rpwere chased through backyards until we could break through a fence opening.

You're all feeding yourself lies if you don't think there are predators everywhere. I am writing my story solely to tell you that a child can not defend him/herself against an adult - with or without a weapon. I have since studied the effects of stress on our brains, and adrenaline and cortisol pumping our of our adrenal glands stops us from being able to think. Your child will not be able to karate chop the predator, stab him in the eyes and run. Instead, your child will sink to the ground and whimper, "please don't kill me. I don't want to die!" If you don't mind that happening to your sweet, innocent child, then by all means, keep telling yourselves these lies. But if you want to truly protect them, do not ever let them be in a position to have to take care of themselves until they are truly equipped. You who let your older child walk alone with a 4-year old, for an incredibly long route, you are truly tempting the odds. Predator by nature means someone who is actively looking for the easiest victim. Two children, one 4, is a very easy target.

You're right, most people are not predators. But those that are will be out, preying for the weakest and most accessible victims. Don't let it be your child. Stop feeding yourself this pathetic rhetoric that excuses you from the responsibilities of parenting in this day and age. Evil preys around looking for its next victim. Do your job and protect your child.

I hope each one of you believe me. It was a horrifying experience for me as a young woman. The trip to the police to watch slide shows of convicted sex offenders that had:

1) already been caught
2) fit the description of the molester that attacked us
3) lived near my house
4) went on for HOURS

left a huge and lasting impression on me. There really are hundreds of thousands of these people. Many of them have not ever been caught. It is NOT SAFE for a child to walk alone. PERIOD.

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