This shouldn’t be illegal.
A UNH professor was arrested on Saturday for leaving his 16-month-old son in the car for 15 minutes on a 70-degree day while he was a few feet away outside a coffee shop. He was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Police said the baby was suffering from the heat.
This is just ridiculous. This guy did absolutely nothing wrong, let alone illegal.
First, the car was locked, so there’s no way anyone could have kidnapped the baby. Second, the baby was sleeping and would probably have rather stayed in the car than gone to the restaurant with his dad. Third, 70 degrees isn’t even hot. I find it hard to believe that it could be uncomfortably hot inside a car when it’s only 70 degrees outside.
This arrest is just a sign of overprotective, obsessive parenting gone too far. Our society expects parents to watch their children every single second, go to the doctor for every tiny cut, scrape, or cough, monitor everything they do on the Internet, go through their cell phones, diaries, and Halloween candy, and so on – it never ends. In addition to imposing undue burdens on adults, this is really bad for kids. You can’t develop a unique identity and sense of self if you are never allowed to make your own decisions or spend time alone. You also can’t enjoy your childhood if everything you do is supervised, organized, and monitored.
In any case, leaving a baby in a car on a 70-degree day is not dangerous. Even if he wasn’t within sight of the car and didn’t check on the baby (which is disputed), this dad didn’t harm his child. Parents should not be obligated to constantly watch their children. Leaving kids alone from time to time is absolutely fine – it’s monitoring every aspect of their lives that’s harmful.
See also:
Score one for neurotic nanny state – Margery Eagan (Boston Herald)
The real child abuse is by the Durham cops – Michael Graham (Boston Herald)