No, Emmet, Everything Isn't Awesome At The Lego Store

Sometimes common sense prevails, and sometimes there's this story.  Last week,  a mother in upstate New York was arrested for leaving her ten-year-old son unattended in a Lego store while she shopped elsewhere in the mall.  Yes, you read that right.  She was ARRESTED, and charged with child endangerment.  My first reaction was the odds would be stacked against any blockhead trying to build a case against this mom.  My colorful Lego puns aside, there are several layers of this story that bear exploring.  One may question the actions of the store staff, the actions of the responding officers, and whether or not the mom, Jia Fan, was wrong for leaving her son alone.

Without knowing every single detail, I have no issue with how the store staff handled the situation. 
From the Associated Press story: "Lego corporate spokeswoman Amanda Madore said store employees followed company policy regarding unaccompanied minors and contacted mall security."
A quick scan of the Lego Store website turned up no posted official policy.  Other stories on the internet claim that Lego stores have a posted policy stating children under twelve must be accompanied by a parent.  Whether a policy is posted or not, I do not fault the store employees for alerting mall security if they felt the child's safety was at all in question.  I work at a big box retail store that does not have a specific policy.  As managers we use our best judgement in a given situation.  If a young child (and yes, the definition of young is subjective and part of the problem) is wandering the store and/or misbehaving, we approach the child and ask them to take us to their mom/dad/adult.  We are not babysitters and should not be thought of as such.  I have been flabbergasted at finding toddlers wandering, looking for their mommy who was browsing a section half a store away.   I may not agree with the parent's choice to leave her child unattended in the kid's department.  I may find it irresponsible or troubling.  But I can assure you I have never considered calling the police over such matters.  Nor would I consider it particularly worrisome to see a ten-year-old wandering our store.  Given all that, I still have zero issue with the Lego store staff alerting security.

What happens next is more bothersome.  It sure seems like the mall security guards could have simply stayed with the child at the store until the mother returned.  Unless it is strict mall policy to call the authorities in this type of case, I don't see why the police were even involved.  Once involved, the police have discretion over what further action need to be taken.  I'm no lawyer, but nothing reported in this case, in my view, rises to the level violating New York's child endangerment statute.  Perhaps there are unreported circumstances that would change my mind.  If not, this seems like overzealous policing to me.  Chastise the mom, lecture the mom, put a little fear into the mom if you must. But arrest her?  I just don't get it.

As a parent constantly considering how to govern a growing eight-year-old, this story cuts to the heart of the issue.  At what age am I ready to let Grace do various things on her own?  What factors am I using to make that decision?  What do I need to see from her to help make the call?  It is easy to go the extremes on this issue.  "Free range" parents would find it laughable that this poor kid was kicked out of the store and his mom arrested.  "Helicopter parents" may not let a ten-year-old out of their sight in a store.  I like to think I'm right down the center, but the reality is I lean towards hovering helicopter parent.  As I wrote in my recent post about the ocean, relinquishing control is not easy.  I always tell Grace my number one job as a parent is a tie between loving her and keeping her safe.  The idea of keeping her safe and letting go as she gets older often clash. At age eight, Grace, according to Maryland law, is allowed to stay home by herself.  Deep down I think Grace would be fine by herself.  That doesn't mean it's going to happen anytime soon.  I let Grace walk to my mom's house down the street by herself, but I won't let her walk alone for the four blocks to school.  (Even though I made that walk all the time at that age.)  I don't like her wandering off in a store, but will sometimes let her retrieve an item from a specific aisle.  It's a sliding scale that I don't have a good handle on.    It is no secret that I am an anxious, worst case scenario kind of guy.  I'm overprotective because I don't trust the world.  Also, I sometimes don't trust Grace.  Even though we discuss stranger danger and what to do in certain scenarios, I can see her being lured in by the guy who "needs help looking for his lost puppy."  It's shit like that that scares the heck out me.  I want to tell her to go play unsupervised around the neighborhood like I did, but would never forgive myself if something happened to her.  I know this is way more my issue than hers, yet I'm going to err on the side of caution every time. 

So, I don't know what the right age is to let go.  I do know it is different for every parent-child combination.  That's what drives me crazy about the Lego store arrest.  If Jia Fan knows her kid is okay in that mall by himself, common sense should have prevailed.  Instead she faces a court appearance.  No word on whether her punishment will be walking barefoot across a roomful of Legos.