Keep your nose out of it

When I was a kid during the summer, I would hop on my bike and ride all around my home town.  I'd ride up into the parks, on sidewalks, in places I had never been before.  No one paid any attention to me and when I got home late afternoon/evening, sometimes my mom knew I was home, sometimes not.

Then there was the field behind our house.  Back when I was a kid, the other kids and I would play in the big field behind our house.  We'd play army guys or cowboys and indians (back before politically correctness existed).  Sometimes we'd take lunches and eat in the field amongst the mice, snakes, coyotes, and gophers.  Sometimes we'd cook weenies and make smores under the stars (suck it, michelle obama).  Our parents kinda knew where we were but no one thought to check up on us and no one called the police to make sure we kids were OK.

Then there was the abandoned house up the street.  Darn near every day ALL the kids in the neighborhood would go play at the house.  We'd play hide and seek, we'd run all around, and we'd hang from the broken rafters.  No adults bothered us.  We kids had the run of the place.  Police were never called.  Parents didn't care where we were.  We were having fun and were sad when the home was bulldozed.  When it was, we played kickball on the empty lot.

Of course, all of these memories are brought to you care of the crazy story I read today.  Seems an 11-year old boy came home after school to find that no one was home.  Because no one was home, boy starting shooting hoops in his backyard until mom came home.  While boy was shooting hoops, a nosey neighbor (the worst kind) called the police.  Police came and when mom came home, mom was arrested for felony child neglect.  Wait, what?!?  Boy was in his own backyard and mom gets arrested?!?!?  Clearly a sign of excessive police authority gone wrong.  Heck, they should have arrested the nosey neighbor for being a butthead.  For the record, the police said the fact that 

1. the boy had to stay outside (the front door was locked) and, 
2. had no access to a supply of food and water (because no one can last more than 5 minutes without either) and,
3. had no access to a bathroom (even though he had no problem relieving himself in his backyard - like every boy has done for the last 12 centuries!) 

that that constituted FELONY neglect.  What a crock!  

The problem here is that Florida (where the "crime" occurred) has no law saying how young a child can be to be left alone.  If, in fact, you want to know the law in your state as it relates to how young a child can be to be left alone, check out this link on how young a child can be to be left alone.

The moral to this story is if you're looking to be nosey for the sake of being nosey (and not to help anyone), mind your own business.  When you stick your nosey nose in other people's business, odds are you're going to eventually be looking at the business end of a lawsuit.