GA - Jonah, 3, & Nicole Payne, 2, Warrenton, 23 April 2005

[lisag]

I don't think the shoes on or off tell me anything.
I pick up my 2 year old from daycare at 3:00pm. As soon as we get home, I set him down and I go change clothes. He gets a snack (and mom gets one too!!) and then I may do a little cleaning or looking to see what I can make for dinner... ALl the while, my 2 year old has his shoes on. Then I take him outside and we go for a walk and play in the yard.. After we are done, we have to go pick up his big sister from her track practice. Once we all get home, I begin to make dinner. His shoes are still on, because he can't do it himself and I have been doign other things. While dinner is cooking, we may go back outside, we may not - depends on the weather and what I am cooking. On most days though, we go back outside after dinner and he plays in the yard. I am ALWAYS out there with him.. After we come back inside, we settle in to watch a lilttle TV or he plays with his toys... Maybe a little while later he will come to me and stick his foot in my face (his way of telling me to take his shoes off) - and if he does not do that, I sometimes don't even think about his shoes until I undress him for his bath, unless I know he was playing in dirt or mudd or something dirty.

 

[lady-eowyn]

I can understand your point... but two hours?? 6pm? That's close to dinner and little kids at the age of 2 and 3 running around all day with shoes on? I guess I'm making too much out of it.

I don't find a toddler out playing in a rural area at that time of day odd. When my kids were younger it wasn't all that unusual for them to play outside after dinner, especially when the time changed and it stayed daylight longer. The more energy I could get them to run out the better!!

 

[Timex]

so much depends on what the "norm" is for a family. What one family considers strange or dangerous, another may think nothing of. Heck, my daughter had her own motorcycle and raced at the age of 3..Im sure some would find that dangerous or strange, but it was the "norm" for us.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

I don't find a toddler out playing in a rural area at that time of day odd. When my kids were younger it wasn't all that unusual for them to play outside after dinner, especially when the time changed and it stayed daylight longer. The more energy I could get them to run out the better!!

gosh, I must be in the twilight zone! LOL.
I learn something new all the time from people on this board.
I guess I would just be overprotective then as a parent because I don't see kids under the age of 5 outside playing by themselves or consider it common at all. Maybe it's because I am very well aware of missing people and am scared to death for children. My poor kids would probably think I was annoying, lol.

 

[kimberdawn]

I live in NE Arkansas- very rual area, most children around here play outside til 8:00 or so in the spring and summer- it doesnt start getting dark til around 8:00p.m. Around here many parentsthat do not follow missing child cases closely or maybe aren't educated will allow their kids to play outside by themselves. Not saying it is a good idea, and I have never allowed my kids to, but that fact DOES not make them a bad parent. There are people out there that will snatch a child from their house , we all know that- therefore there are sick people who will take two kids. We should not be so quick to judge the parents , didnt we all learn that from Jessica Lunsford's tragedy?

And as for the shoes- my son is a very particular child- and at one time he wanted his shoes on ALL the time.....so nothing should be assumed from that

 

[Juliana]

gosh, I must be in the twilight zone! LOL.
I learn something new all the time from people on this board.
I guess I would just be overprotective then as a parent because I don't see kids under the age of 5 outside playing by themselves or consider it common at all. Maybe it's because I am very well aware of missing people and am scared to death for children. My poor kids would probably think I was annoying, lol.

Hopefully the posters are talking about kids playing outside in the evening with parents watching. My kids frequently stay out until 8:30-9:00 in the evenings on weekends, but only with adults present. I don't even let me 10-1/2 year old play basketball outside by himself. I keep my distance so I don't crowd him, but I just can't sit inside and read a magazine or something while my child is outside unprotected.

imo

 

[Casshew]

Cass, which one was that? I don't remember that one!

Jovin... at my local mall! where I go with Noel

They stopped the guy (shoppers) but he was so brazen as to grab this girl and tug her away from her Mom!

 

[Timex]

Jovin... at my local mall! where I go with Noel

They stopped the guy (shoppers) but he was so brazen as to grab this girl and tug her away from her Mom!

I once saw a man grab an infant right from the mothers arms in an airport. He was caught by others in the area, but the bottom line is, he still attempted to take a child in a VERY crowded place.

 

[lady-eowyn]

Hopefully the posters are talking about kids playing outside in the evening with parents watching. My kids frequently stay out until 8:30-9:00 in the evenings on weekends, but only with adults present. I don't even let me 10-1/2 year old play basketball outside by himself. I keep my distance so I don't crowd him, but I just can't sit inside and read a magazine or something while my child is outside unprotected.

imo

Actually, when I was younger I use to wonder a long way from home into the woods, by myself...never thought nothing of it. And yes, when my children were younger and I lived in a rural area I let them play outside by themselves in daylight. I usually had windows open so I could hear them, or was at watching out the window when I was doing dishes or something. Now grant it this was 15 years ago for my kids...30 years ago for me. But for some people that is still the norm. Some people still sleep with their doors unlocked because they think it's safe...it doesn't make it wrong, they just aren't as informed as some of us.

 

[kgeaux]

OK, I just spoke with my friend in Thomson. (I misspelled it in my earilier post.) She said she'd never heard of Warrenton! It's right down Hwy. 78 from her!! This may emphasize the "ruralness" of the area. These are like little country villages, sort of bedroom communities around Augusta. She did know about the missing children, it's all over the local news and the churches are all praying for their safe recovery. She was amazed that I had heard that the dad worked at a gas station in Thomson; they are not reporting that over there. I wasn't able to learn a lot about the search effort, because her husband has switched to Civil Air Rescue, so he is not directly involved. But she tells me that there was a large effort yesterday and today...ponds are being searched, by dive teams and dragging efforts. The search and rescue teams as well as volunteers are out looking.....all this from her local media, she has no other way of knowing what is going on.

She said she is so afraid that the mother is involved, but they are all hoping she was not. Of course there's talk that she is involved, but I think local news stories are stating that the mom and dad are in a long term relationship, no problems previously with neglect or abuse, and neighbors are saying the mom was a good mom, involved with her children. Not the media, but people in Thomson are talking as though it is equally probable that the kids let themselves out of the house and got into trouble at the pond. The timing a little tight for it to be an abductor, plus how many would take two?? People are wondering over there, just like we are here, about extended family....a grandparent, aunt or uncle who just didn't like the way the parents were raising them....

Praying that these little ones are found soon, and SAFE!

 

[Meech]

I'm Sorry rural area or not...My 2 year old son will not go outside without me or my hubby present.

 

[Timex]

News conference coming up on Fox

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

I still wonder why the kids still had their shoes on if they had been inside from 4 to 6....

Many people keep their shoes on all day until they go to bed; many people take them off as soon as they get home. I don't find that odd at all.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

gosh, I must be in the twilight zone! LOL.
I learn something new all the time from people on this board.
I guess I would just be overprotective then as a parent because I don't see kids under the age of 5 outside playing by themselves or consider it common at all. Maybe it's because I am very well aware of missing people and am scared to death for children. My poor kids would probably think I was annoying, lol.

My two youngest are 10 and 11. We've got three cops and an FBI agent in our neighborhood and my kids are not allowed to play outside by themselves. Kids disappear from every kind of neighborhood because there are child molesters in every kind of neighborhood. Its true that I can't guaranty that my kids will never be the victim of that type of crime, but it sure as heck won't be because I didn't watch them while they were out of my house.

 

[kgeaux]

I don't find a toddler out playing in a rural area at that time of day odd. When my kids were younger it wasn't all that unusual for them to play outside after dinner, especially when the time changed and it stayed daylight longer. The more energy I could get them to run out the better!!

Same here. My children were stairsteps....the first four were born in five years...we lived on a dead-end street, knew all our neighbors, had a fenced in yard, and my boys LIVED outside...I'd play out with them as much as I could, but when I was cooking or cleaning, I'd check on them out the windows. The whole neighborhood did this. We'd watch out for each other and for all the children. In fact, GASP!!! My boys played in the street!! Even when they were tiny! Every day!! By the time they were seven or eight, they could walk down the bike trail to a neighborhood store! Alone!!

So much depends on what is normal in the area you are living in. I'm not ready to cast any stones at this woman. I haven't seen a thing that gives me any indication that she is to blame for this. If I have to change my tune later, I will, but in the meantime, I'm not going to blame her.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

regarding them having been "taken"....it wouldn't be that easy, to grab hold of two screaming (maybe) kicking toddlers, rush out of the house or yard and open the gate and close it again, unless this person had alot more than two arms.

Even if there was no struggle, and the person said..."hey quick...I have to show you somethng...shhh....it's a surprise...don't let your Mom hear us..."

Good points. It could be that they wandered out and someone snatched them when they saw them. It seems more likely that if they wandered out, they could have become lost in the woods. They are so tiny & it's been so cold. It seems like one possibility is as bad as the next.

 

[lauriej]

I don't find a toddler out playing in a rural area at that time of day odd. When my kids were younger it wasn't all that unusual for them to play outside after dinner, especially when the time changed and it stayed daylight longer. The more energy I could get them to run out the better!!

i find it absolutely insane for a 2yr. old and a 3 yr. old to be playing outside at any time of day ALONE, especially with that huge 'pond' right there!

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

True, but a 2 and 3 year old go out to play after dinner or I mean after 6?? I think that's a far stretch.... I don't know though, I could just be old fashioned. I just don't see 2 and 3 year olds out playing after 6pm where i live... that's too little.

It's still daylight. It was a Saturday evening. I just don't see this as being at all bizarre. Especially out in a rural area. Perhaps they were going to hunt fireflies or grasshoppers or look for tadpoles, (like someone mentioned earlier). Or maybe they just didn't take their shoes off when they came in. My kids never do. I wish they would but they never do.

 

[luthersmama]

Same here. My children were stairsteps....the first four were born in five years...we lived on a dead-end street, knew all our neighbors, had a fenced in yard, and my boys LIVED outside...I'd play out with them as much as I could, but when I was cooking or cleaning, I'd check on them out the windows. The whole neighborhood did this. We'd watch out for each other and for all the children. In fact, GASP!!! My boys played in the street!! Even when they were tiny! Every day!! By the time they were seven or eight, they could walk down the bike trail to a neighborhood store! Alone!!

So much depends on what is normal in the area you are living in. I'm not ready to cast any stones at this woman. I haven't seen a thing that gives me any indication that she is to blame for this. If I have to change my tune later, I will, but in the meantime, I'm not going to blame her.

When we were kids my cousins and I had the run of the "town"...not that there was much "town" involved. We played in the streams, we hiked in the woods...caught frogs, it was great! Consequently, my daughters enjoyed a similar lifestyle, although they had somewhat more constricted boundaries that expanded as they got older. When they were very small we had a fenced-in yard. THen we moved and they had to stay in a certain area. They were very compliant. There were trees that they were allowed to climb, others that they had to stay out of. If they were going down to the stream they had to tell me and then stay together and watch out for each other.

Little boys might be more of a problem.....

I think everybody has to make their own judgment call on this one. My view is that the chance of a stranger abduction at my home is extremely slim. I would rather have the girls grow up with a sense of freedom and exploration that turn into little couch potatos that are afraid to be outside. Everybody's situation is different depending on where you live, what your yard is like, how well behaved the kids are....there's no "one size fits all".

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

I can understand your point... but two hours?? 6pm? That's close to dinner and little kids at the age of 2 and 3 running around all day with shoes on?

A lot of people would think that I'm crazy by the way I raise my children; I'm well aware of that. For instance, my two year-old does not have a bed time. If she falls asleep at 7:00, that's fine. If she can't seem to fall asleep until 2:00 A.M., I just make myself a lot of tea, and hang out with her until she's sleepy. I figure that she's only going to be a baby once. Someday she'll have to get up for school and then work and then her own babies will wake her. So for now, it's up to her when she wants to go to bed. At the same time, I have friends whose 12 year-old goes to bed by 8:00 P.M. every night, including weekends and summer nights, (except for the infrequent special occassion). And that's odd to me. So I think that we all do things differently regarding household rules.