Parents who leave their children alone have more than a few "tsk tsk" to worry about. The lawmakers in the state of Rhode Island are discussing a bill that will punish parents who will be caught leaving their children under the age 7 years old alone in a car or at home.
These legislators have also suggested a bill that prohibits children under age 10 from being left alone at home and some preschoolers from going outside to have their recess in a temperature that is considered to be too cold for kids that age to tolerate, parenting.com reported.
Although the legislators' intentions are geared towards protecting children from possible harm, some parents are voicing their sentiments out and saying that it is too much and have decided to fight it. According to fox40, a mother from Smithfield said it's just impossible to pass a law on common sense and how to parent your child.
You can't legislate parenting, and you can't legislate common sense. I'm in one of those neighborhoods where the children run free. They all know their boundaries, and we keep an eye on them," Rhode Island resident Rema Tomka.
In other 19 states, there are laws punishing parents for leaving their children alone in the care and some of those specify how old a child must be to be left home alone. But according to people who oppose the law, it is not the government's job to tell parents how to raise their children.
According to Kids and Cars, there are at least 38 children who die from being left inside a hot car every year. Parents understand that the lawmakers only intend to protect the kids, however, there should be a fine line between preventing child cruelty and attempting to mandate how parents raise their children.
