Her children were not being "neglected" but this does seem like a long haul for 2 children. This report would be much better if the ages of the children was provided and if we knew the nature of the area where the children were walking (major thoroughfare, residential streets, sidewalks?). I'm on the fence with this one. The children won't fail to catch the bus in the future, I assume, but the distance they were required to walk concerns me. Besides, isn't it the parent's responsibility to see to it young children, which I believe they are given mom's age, get to the bus on time?

Zitat

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A 32-year-old Marion County, Tenn., mother faces an April court date on child neglect charges after deputies found her driving ahead of her young daughters as she made them walk miles to school on Valley View Highway.

The charges are linked to an investigation launched March 1 after Marion County sheriff's deputy Chris Ladd and another deputy responded to a call about the situation and spotted two girls with a dog "walking the fog line just south of Ketner Mill Road and a gold Cadillac parked on the shoulder, engine running, just north of Ketner Mill Road," Ladd's report states.

The mother, Lisa Marie Palmer of Chicken Dave Road near Whitwell, told deputies her daughters were being punished for missing the bus, Marion County Sheriff Ronnie "Bo" Burnett said.

There was no phone number listed on the report to reach Palmer for comment, and court officials said she doesn't have an attorney yet. She is scheduled for an initial court appearance on April 18 on charges of child neglect and driving without a license.

When they got to the area where the girls were walking, Ladd and the other officer observed Palmer and the children about 50 yards — 150 feet — apart with Palmer in the car ahead of them, the report states.

It "appeared as if she was driving ahead of the children and allowing them to walk and catch up to her vehicle and to proceed with that action until the children reached the school," Ladd states in the report.

Ladd estimated the girls already had walked about a mile and a half and still had about two more miles to go.

"Temperatures were cold, and traffic was beginning to become heavy with citizens heading to work," Ladd states. "Mrs. Palmer was in no position to reach her children safely in the event of an emergency."

At that point, Ladd cited Palmer for child neglect and began trying to arrange for the girls to get the rest of the way to school.

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http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local...-walk-s/358210/

"Young" daughters expected to walk 3 1/2 miles on a heavily-trafficked highway in the cold and the FOG?

I think Mom's a little overzealous here. I say this as someone who went on summer escapades with my brother, at ages 10 and 7, which included catching the bus to the uptown, rock climbing, fort building, etc...the usual Boomer childhood stuff.

It's the fog on the busy highway that nixes it for me. Well, and maybe because it is 2016 and not 1963 anymore...

Reason magazine, a Libertarian publication, has an article on this:

"Free country? Not if you think your kids are old enough to walk to school and learn a lesson.

A Tennessee mom, Lisa Marie Palmer, learned this the hard way, after she made her kids walk to school when they missed the bus.

Wait a minute—she made her kids walk? Outside? To school? How could they possibly do that, I’d like to know. It’s unheard of. Of course it must be a crime.

As the local Times Free Press reports:

It “appeared as if she was driving ahead of the children and allowing them to walk and catch up to her vehicle and to proceed with that action until the children reached the school,” [ Marion County sheriff’s deputy Chris] Ladd states in the report.

Ladd estimated the girls already had walked about a mile and a half and still had about two more miles to go.

Surely no child has ever walked more than a few houses down the street.

And if, as the mom claims, she was “watching” them—ah, that’s hardly an excuse. Because the very worst part was that Ladd could imagine something terrible happening to the kids while the mom was a few crucial yards away:

“Temperatures were cold, and traffic was beginning to become heavy with citizens heading to work,” Ladd states. “Mrs. Palmer was in no position to reach her children safely in the event of an emergency.”

There you have it. The deputy has put into words the precise crime of our era: Daring to let a kid out of reach, ever. Officially, children are only safe when their mom (or proxy) is near enough to yank them away from any approaching threat, because what if?

So, dear readers, I hope you weren’t planning to do anything else with your lives beside stand next to your kids anytime they are not in school. Do this, and you will be punished:

At that point, Ladd cited Palmer for child neglect and began trying to arrange for the girls to get the rest of the way to school.

Because both those moves were so extremely necessary. The kids need help walking, the mom needs help learning how to parent, and the state rushed in to provide both. It cares so much about making this family do things the right way. And of course there is only one right way."

http://reason.com/blog/2016/04/03/mom-wh...lk-to-school-is

Still not digging it, Cincy.

It doesn't sound like a quiet country road. Personally, I wouldn't even want an adult to walk along a busy highway in the fog, let alone - again - "young" daughters. (BTW, how young? Seven? Fourteen? Lousy writing.)

How do you think Mom would feel if one of those girls, quite possibly anxious and distracted, got hit by a car in that fog?

I doubt she would have felt the lesson worth it, but then that's just me.