Have you ever gotten the cops called on you???

amother

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 8:22 am

amother wrote:

living in israel it's not crazy to have your 7 year old watch the kids at the park. I had to run home one evening for something and left my 1 year old, 3 year old, and 5 year old there, and returned about 5 minutes later....I figure we're all frum, if something happens, most of the people know me, we are all in this together, etc. Well, later I found out that people wanted to call social services on me. My children look a lot younger than they are. but others who knew us reassured them. now, I am petrified. The police love anything that is anti-chareidi. I walk around in fear of the police. For example, I used to leave kids sleeping in the stroller in the downstairs of my building...now, I will never do this, for fear of people calling the police. I often wonder now maybe it's me; maybe I really am not suitable for raising children. I've been told that it's not me, but I often wonder and due to my extreme anxiety over this, there are days that I just wait for the police to come and take the children away......I am not crazy, but with exhaustion and the feeling of being so alone and vulnerable, it can push me over the edge.

I agree with all the other comments about this. Not to increase your anxieties, but I think that your cavalier attitude towards the care of your kids is very irresponsible. Every neighborhood, especially in Yerushalayim, has robberies and break-ins. Knowing that there are such harmful people roaming our streets (and the robbers should be the worst ppl roaming our streets!), how could you ever leave your children alone? Scary...
And sending any younger children out with a 7 year old... I always cringe when I see children pushing a stroller when they themselves can barely look over the top of it. Maybe it is common in Israel, but that doesn't make it right or responsible. In my opinion, it's ridiculous.

greenfire

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 9:14 am

happyone wrote:

My sister was baby sitting at my house and tried dialing a 914- number, she by mistake dialed 911 and hung up when she realized her mistake. A minute later the phone rang and it was the police dept checking up, she sounded very young and flustered, and said she's babysitting. when they asked her the age and she said 14, they said they need to come down to check.
my sis called me crying and I rushed back home. (10:00) at about 12:30 a.m. my bell rang, I opened the door in my pajamas and half asleep to find a cop at the door. I asked him what he wanted and he said there was a young child sounding like she's in distress here and he was asked to check in. I showed him the clock and asked him if he thought the child was in danger what was he thinking showing up 2.5 hours later??!!!
If there was real danger the child would be long dead by now.... He apologized and blamed the 911 dispatcher.....

So much for the Brooklyn Police Dept.

well I was dialing my sister's # 917 also must have dialed 911 by mistake ... 60 seconds later the police were at my door ... I was shaken to say the least ... in my head I wanted to know why when I almost got murdered the week before they didn't show up ...

Mirabelle

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 9:21 am

My husband is very much the type to call the police right away if sees a child alone or in a weird situation....yes if I saw a baby sleeping in a stroller/carriage alone and the mother didnt come back in 5 minutes, I would wait with the baby and call the police and stay until the police came.

By the way, after all the threads that I have been reading on here recently about s-xual abuse, I feel like I need to be double careful to protect my kids, even in "safe" situations, like shul.

Chayalle

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 12:31 pm

When I see a small child left alone outside with no one watching, I am sometimes tempted to take them. At least the child would be safe with me, and the mother might learn a lesson.

Don't worry, I've never tried it....but I can't understand that kind of action at all.

I have seen people who load responsibilities on children, that are totally not ready for it (don't care how mature you think they are.) Even a responsible child will get distracted by meeting friends, etc...and will not be focused enough to watch their younger siblings properly.

Barbara

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 12:55 pm

Clarissa wrote:

de_goldy wrote:

I would probably call the police if I saw someone doing either of these things - children that young alone in the park, and a baby asleep alone downstairs of the building. Maybe this fear is good if its causing you to really take care of your children safely.

I agree. Even if people know you, they're not watching your kids every minute in the park, and one little kid can get away, or be taken, when people are distracted. Young children can't be left in charge of other children in public places. And a baby left downstairs sleeping in a stroller?? That's just crazy.

Reminds me of the story about the boy being killed in the park bathroom while his uncle stood outside, waiting. Yes, terrible things are rare. But who wants to be the one who has to regret doing something that "everyone does," if it might potentially be dangerous for the child?

I think anybody who calls the police in the situations being discussed is just trying to protect children. That's quite different from calling the police because you hear a kid making a lot of noise, or whatever.

It reminds *me* of Steven Damann

http://www.newsday.com/news/lo.....story

(It wasn't him, btw.)

The hotel situation was Madeline McCann.

Kidnappings are rare. I'd be more concerned about molestation, or simply about the baby being hurt by a stray dog or cat.

If I saw an unattended baby in a stroller, I would call 911, no question. In fact, I almost did a couple of weeks ago, but then dad, who was getting something from the car across the street, returned.

amother

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 1:14 pm

mama-star wrote:

just because you are frum and chareidi and live in a frum building doesn't mean you should leave your kid sleeping alopne in a stroller downstairs. it always kills me when all the williamsburg mommies (no offense to the willies here) leave their babies in strollers outside a store!! that is crazy!!! shock

I live in a nice, frum naborhood and a member of my shul is a registered relations offender. ive checked the registry and theres lot more in the naborhood. dont think youre safe just because your in a frum place

grin

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 1:58 pm

amother wrote:

well, I also live in Israel and I agree that it's irresponsible to leave children of those ages alone. I'm not even thinking about break-ins - what about fire ch'v or even just a playful kid who turns on the gas? a 7-yr-old really isn't equipped to deal with many daily-life scenarios.

amother

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 2:04 pm

amother wrote:

Im sorry but you must be out of your mind to leave a 5,3, and 1 year old with no supervision. Its shameful and disgraceful and I dont care if you live in Boro Park, Flatbush, Mea Shearim, or Lakewood. There is no excuse for Child neglect/and or abandoment. Nothing is more important, even if takes 5 minutes for you to leave your kids alone. Sorry. No Excuse. Period.

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 2:11 pm

amother wrote:

Ok - you probably got the point...
I live in israel though, and totally and completely agree with everyones reactions to what you wrote. besides, yesterday I almost had a heart attack - I was bringing my kids home from gan and saw my 6 yr. old neigbours daughter bouncing her new little baby sister down the steps outside the building in a stroller!! she could literally barely reach the stroller handles. I was all dan lekaf zechus like she was told not to touch, then her mom comes out and says (in hebrew) oh wow, youre doing such a good job - thank you!! whatever.....

He*Sings*To*Me

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 2:37 pm

To those who think there's more to the story, this is just a theory:
A restaurant owner would never treat patrons that way. They are in business to please the palate, and make money doing it. If people get a bad taste in their mouth (pun intended Wink

) about a business, they not only do not return, but they also tell their friends and family. It is just not good business--especially in today's economy--to not accommodate and please patrons, especially those who will go into anaphylactic shock from a food allergy.
This sounds to me as though it was some "flunky" employee's doing that had been put in charge. It doesn't even sound like someone who'd worked to deserve promotion, but perhaps a person whom the owner/manager may be quietly considering, to see how they'd do when put in charge. It sounds like a power trip gone awry on the part of whoever called the police. No one with any financial interest in the place would want to tick a restaurant patron off and lose their business and that of their family or friends.

manhattanmom

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 3:53 pm

greenfire wrote:

well I was dialing my sister's # 917 also must have dialed 911 by mistake ... 60 seconds later the police were at my door ... I was shaken to say the least ...

The same exact thing happened to me. I was calling my husband's cell phone in the middle of the day--a 917 number. I was also attending to my toddler and nursing a newborn at the same time so I slipped and dialed 1-911... Five minutes later the police came to see if all was okay.

manhattanmom

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 4:09 pm

amother wrote:

Quote:

u obviously don't live in israel is all I can say.

So do you think that in Israel it's okay? Just because maybe you see it more where people are lax about leaving their sleeping babies downstairs, I don't think it's okay at all. If I were to move to Israel I can't imagine suddenly "letting go" of my security and safety measures when it comes to watching my kids.

Kidnapping aside, say your baby who's peacefully sleeping 2 or 3 flights down from you rolls over and gets caught in some part of the stroller, or suddenly starts gasping for breath, or starts spitting up and choking on it because he's flat on his back? There's no way you'd hear him.

sarahla

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 4:21 pm

geemum wrote:

Neighbours called the cops on Purim because we had a "Haman on the gallows" hanging out the window.

thats horrible they called the cops for that!!! what about their yashkah hanging on a cross and we dont go around calling cops!!!!!!!!!!!

My 9 months was playing with our phone when I heard dialing...right away I hang up, 2 sec later police called saying they got a 911 called from us but hang up, they wanted to know if everything was ok. I was sooooo enbarassed and said that my 9 months old was playing with the phone and I didn't realzed he called 911 when I heard it dialed I just hang up. I apologies many times saying how sorry I was for bothering them. The men on the phone was real nice saying" its ok ma'am we just want to know you're safe" I said thank you ts really good to know that police care and even called. About 5 min later police showed up at the door and asked for my info, he wasn;t as nice as the one on the phone...I showed him our little "criminal" and apologized again. I was sooo freaked out, and was worried they would send me a huge bill for the waste of time for the policemen.
Now when I look back im laughting saying: another story to tell his kids!!!!! Smile

Clarissa

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 4:57 pm

sarahla wrote:

geemum wrote:

Neighbours called the cops on Purim because we had a "Haman on the gallows" hanging out the window.

thats horrible they called the cops for that!!! what about their yashkah hanging on a cross and we dont go around calling cops!!!!!!!!!!!

If someone actually had something that looked like an actual human being nailed to a real cross around here, I imagine there would be quite a few calls to the police.

I'm a Jew, and as I said above, I'd be horrified to see fake people hanging from fake gallows, and would certainly do something about it.

If they do it, it's disgusting, and if we do it, it's disgusting. I don't want my children seeing that.

If it's customary in your neighborhood, that has nothing to do with me, I don't live there. But your neighbors may feel as I do, and I wouldn't blame them.

Inspired

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 5:17 pm

Quote:

u obviously don't live in israel is all I can say.

I do live in Israel and although I may not call the police I think that both of those things are bad ideas and not responsible things to do.
I cannot imagine why you would think they are okay. If you knew everyone in the park why not just ask one of the women to watch your kids for those few minutes while you ran home? No safety issue and no social services.

shosh

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 5:29 pm

Ok ok, I confess!!!!

When I was in Gateshead, my three closest friends and I had this joke that the Swiss had no sense of humour and no brains. (Any Swiss pple on here - pls don't be offended. I was very young and silly at the time!) So we decided to play a trick on the girls who lived in the room below us, who were all Swiss. (We were a very close clique of three Brits and one Gibraltarian ...)

So we took a pair of tights, stuffed it with socks, and put trainers (sneakers to you Americans) on the end, and dangled it out the window directly above their room as if it was a dead body. Then we rushed downstairs hoping to hear all the Swiss girls get hysterical bc they'd seen a dead body.

Funny thing was - and as I cynically said at the time - the Swiss girls obviously lived up to their reputation. Much to our chagrin, no one even noticed!!!!! Twisted Evil

It was a great joke, but it was totally unappreciated. (But we do still laugh about it to each other, twenty years later!)

Ok Clarissa, sue me!!!!

And any ex-Gateshead girls from 1987 on here - hello! Yes, it's me again - the totally mad one ... Now you know who I am ...

chaylizi

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 5:38 pm

Merrymom wrote:

Clarissa wrote:

geemum wrote:

Neighbours called the cops on Purim because we had a "Haman on the gallows" hanging out the window.

You mean, there was something in the shape of a human being, hanging from a noose, like a dead man? And children walking by could see it?

Clarissa, if only you knew how common this is in our neighborhood. You see baby dolls hanging from nooses to represent the ten sons and then a figure of Haman too as the non-Jewish maids and delivery trucks, not to mention all the regular traffic takes this in. I always cringe from the chilul Hashem, that we look like blood-thirsty people. Not everyone knows the Purim story you know. If we all lived in EY it would be different but this is primarily a non-Jewish land, I wish people would think before they do this.

I know someone who makes 11 gingerbread men (haman & his 10 sons) & decorates them & hangs them from her house plant (which is not in front of the window. it's by the table they eat the seudah at.). I think I like that version better.