Boy Wanders To McDonald's Drive-Thru in (Surprise!) Florida

**Valasca** · February 26th, 2010, 01:20 AM

A 4-year-old boy was found at the drive-thru at a McDonald's restaurant after wandering off from his home in Hallandale Beach Thursday night.

Employees at the restaurant, located on Hallandale Beach Blvd. and US1, called police. They in turn took the boy to police headquarters. According to preliminary reports, the boy lives with family nearby, and was supposed to be supervised by his 19-year-old brother. It's unknown how he made it to the restaurant on his own.

Police have turned the boy over to state case workers who are trying to determine if the boy will return with the family or will go into state custody.

Detectives have been questioning the family who showed up to the police station to figure out what happened.

http://cbs4.com/local/Boy.Found.McDo...2.1521458.html

No names yet, but will keep an eye on this.

**TwiztidAngel** · February 26th, 2010, 08:01 AM

awww lil man wanted a happy meal!...his bro better b thankful lil man survived his trip!...ugh...big bro's got some 'splainin to do!!

**Athena** · February 26th, 2010, 01:12 PM

When my husband was 5, he wanted to go to McDonalds, but his mom told him she had to take a shower and go to the store for a lottery ticket first.

So, when she got into the shower, he snagged some money from her purse and walked down to her work (Safeway) and asked the clerk at the customer service counter for some lottery tickets. The clerk had to call the police upon finding out that mom was at home, but the police simply dropped him off at home.

I always thought it was a cute story. I don't think a kid should be taken away for that unless there are some extenuating circumstances.

**Valasca** · February 26th, 2010, 01:31 PM

Yeah, but Athena, I bet when you husband was 5 it was in the 70s, right? (Gosh, I hope I'm not naking him older than he is.)
That was a different time altogether. Sure, crime happened, but not to the magnitude we see today.
Back in 1977, I was 6. I was a latchkey kid. I guarantee if i were 6 now, mom would NEVER let me be alone.

**Obsolete** · February 26th, 2010, 01:45 PM

Sure, crime happened, but not to the magnitude we see today.

I think that's because people were less likely to report certain crimes back in the day (spousal abuse, child abuse, ect), also we didn't have the same type of media access that we have today. I honestly believe people were just as devient back then as they are today.

I always thought it was a cute story. I don't think a kid should be taken away for that unless there are some extenuating circumstances.

True that sista. When I was 5 my family was leaving for a friends house and I wanted to stay at a neighbors house to play with my best friend. My mom sent me over to see if they were home and told me she would leave in 5 mins if I wasn't back by then. Stupid me decided to stand at their door for 10 minutes knocking before it sunk into my thick skull that they weren't home. I trotted back to my house but my mom had left already and the door was locked.

I figured I could find my way to my mom so I started walking down the road bawling my eyes out, did I mention I was also barefoot? Anyways, some lady leaving her job at the nearby nursing home saw me and gave me a ride to the police station. I was brought home later and my mom wasn't charged with anything. She is a wonderful mommy but someone from the outside looking in would probably assume she was negligent and unfit.

**koochie** · February 26th, 2010, 02:00 PM

my brother and I were 5 and 6 respectively and we ran away from home, went to the A&P stole some candy before police arrived and ushered us home...LOL...

**Silvahalo** · February 26th, 2010, 02:21 PM

I just want to know how long was he gone? did the brother notice he was missing or was he too busy on myspace or cell phone? was little one hungry looking for away to feed himself as there was only roaches about?

Maybe this was innocent enough, as kids can wonder out of sight in no time, but I do think questions have to be asked. I'm sure that's what they're doing now.

**Valasca** · February 26th, 2010, 02:25 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/video/local-15749667/18348497

The Department of Children and Families will not remove a 4-year-old boy from his home after he wandered to the drive-thru of a nearby McDonald's restaurant in Hallandale Beach Thursday night.

**thequeenofsorrow** · February 26th, 2010, 02:29 PM

that's cute athena. your husband was helping her out... heehehehe cute

**Athena** · February 26th, 2010, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by Amazon

Yeah, but Athena, I bet when you husband was 5 it was in the 70s, right? (Gosh, I hope I'm not naking him older than he is.)
That was a different time altogether. Sure, crime happened, but not to the magnitude we see today.
Back in 1977, I was 6. I was a latchkey kid. I guarantee if i were 6 now, mom would NEVER let me be alone.

Amazon, crime rates are currently at a 40-year low. Things are safer today than they were in 1985, when my husband was 5, AND in 1976, when you were 5.

Parents who think otherwise are painfully misinformed, largely thanks to the media. But the information is out there.

**TwiztidAngel** · February 26th, 2010, 04:11 PM

i think athena is right...think about it...were constantly surpassing former survival rates from diseases by research, more women and infants survive pregnancy and birth....just all around the population is larger....more population=more crime...just a thought

**Echo** · February 26th, 2010, 06:33 PM

I agree with Athena. Crime is at an all time low but we now have the internet AND 24 hour news which is the WORST. If anything it keeps everything front and center and constantly on our minds.

On another note, when I was about 10 years old my best friend and I asked to ride our bikes to the 7-ll to get candy, slurpees, and comic books. My mother said yes. The 7 /11 was literally the equivalent of 1 city block away. ( I lived in the suburbs in CT)

I will never forget that there was this man that watched us go into the store. He was sitting in his car and for some reason I noticed him and made eye contact with him. When we walked out he was pointing at me and then to the inside of his car. Over and over again.

Pointing to me and then to the passenger seat, as if to say......get in.

I never ever ran so fast in my life and my friend followed. We both ran from the parking lot , jumped on our banana seat bikes, and rode as fast as we could home. We were TERRIFIED.

I'm so happy we had the sense to run! My mother had DRILLED it into my head to never trust strangers.

**Athena** · February 26th, 2010, 06:52 PM

AND you lived to tell about it, Echo!

That's just it - parents have developed this fear that, if they let their little ones out of their sight for even mere moments, they'll be swept away by some boogeyman.

It's not that the boogeymen aren't out there and trying - they are. But children outnumber boogeymen 100 to 1, maybe even 10,000 to 1 depending on the specific type of boogeyman you fear. I was given what many parents would consider a ridiculous amount of freedom when I was a child. Day after day, I was exposed to the world, totally unsupervised. I encountered hundreds of thousands of people during my childhood, and you know how many tried to hurt me? Maybe 4. And, like Echo, I had the tools to escape their clutches.

Give your kids the tools to survive - help them understand that they should never go with anyone they don't know and to fight like hell if someone tries to take them. Most kids will never encounter that situation, but those who do and were properly educated will survive just fine, and those experiences will help them grow.

The fear we buy into - driven by "if it bleeds, it leads" media tactics - is hurting our children. We are stunting their development. We are stripping them of opportunities they can never make up. We need to remember that the overwhelming majority of people are decent, despite what we may see on the news or read on sites like this. It twists our perspective.

**Valasca** · February 26th, 2010, 07:02 PM

Eh, good points.
I mean, I was molested at age 6, almost raped at age 12. But also, thousand of thousands of people I have encountered, those were the only 2.

**AngelFire** · February 26th, 2010, 08:58 PM

At age 8, I had to walk myself and my 5 year old sister to school. We lived in the shittiest place in New Jersey. This guy followed us, and I ran into a Candy Store by school. I hid behind the display case with my little sister. She was so scared and kept asking me f he was going to kill us. At that age we saw so many horrible things that this was just one more to add to a terrible childhood. I told the clerk, and you know what that son of a bitch did? He told us we had to go hide somewhere else. I mean 2 small scared little girls, and he couldn't be bothered. I took my sis by the arm, and ran like hell to the next store...There they called our mom, and we were escorted to school.

**Lizard** · February 26th, 2010, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by Echo

jumped on our banana seat bikes

Right the fuck on!!! I used to regularly ride my banana seat bike several blocks to the local store to buy my mom her Winston smokes. I was such a dumb little shit that I didn't even smoke 'em. If I'd have a sturdier basket on that bitch, my mother probably would've tried to arrange it so I could bring her beer.

The boogeymen in my childhood were all known to me--people who were supposed to be safe.

**TwiztidAngel** · February 27th, 2010, 11:00 AM

i had a 'nana seat bike! and at age 9 i used to go 2 blocks to the quick stop and buy my parents marlboros...and i grew up on murchison rd...the worst of the worst in that area of fayetteville...the 2 other 'ghettos' were massey hill and bunce rd area

**Angelinfl** · February 27th, 2010, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by TwiztidAngel

i think athena is right...think about it...were constantly surpassing former survival rates from diseases by research, more women and infants survive pregnancy and birth....just all around the population is larger....more population=more crime...just a thought

The population is larger... there are more crimes committed... we hear about them because of more and varied kinds of media coverage.

I find society to be very rude out there. I'm 55 years old and the morals of society and of children are not there.

People feel entitled. They don't feel they need to earn anything. I hate society out there. I was raised differently. My mom was good to me as a widow..I grew up with morals and convictions and a sense of right and wrong. That is what I see missing in America today.

Life is not a video game that you get to redo. One has to be responsible for their decisions and I see more cases of bad parenting than good parenting. I don't see consistant parenting. I think the spare the rod and spoil the child has been taken too far and there is a huge difference between punishment and abuse after laying the proper foundation.

Respect is lacking in society... in schools, in homes and the shinning examples of morality cease to exist.

I'm disappointed with society. Standards are too low and too much is accepted as being OK when to me it is not!

**Echo** · February 27th, 2010, 12:47 PM

I hear you Angel and I definitely have days when I have those same feelings but then inevitably I will see a random act of kindness on the subway, in the store, or just walking down the street.

I do believe that good people still outweigh the bad and as a whole way more people help each other rather than hurt each other.

**TwiztidAngel** · February 27th, 2010, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Angelinfl

Life is not a video game that you get to redo. One has to be responsible for their decisions and I see more cases of bad parenting than good parenting. I don't see consistant parenting. I think the spare the rod and spoil the child has been taken too far and there is a huge difference between punishment and abuse after laying the proper foundation.

Respect is lacking in society... in schools, in homes and the shinning examples of morality cease to exist.

I'm disappointed with society. Standards are too low and too much is accepted as being OK when to me it is not!

i blame this on schools drilling into young kids heads at kindergarten level that 'if mommy or daddy spanks u it's abuse and call 911'...seriously more parents r scared to do 'an old fashioned whippin' (NOT a BEATING) therefore kids get away with more bullshit....example: my son at age 6 told his teacher he got a spankin and the teacher called on me...DSS investigated and since there was no marks it was deemed an appropriate punishment (he ran into the road after something)...i try to save spankins for major offenses...i'm prolly gonna get bashed now for admitting spank my kids...but i firmly blieve if all else fails (time out, grounding, etc) whoop that tail! (on the butt, with clothes, and without an object!)

**Angelinfl** · February 27th, 2010, 01:42 PM

I have no young children but know parenting has to be consistant from birth. Moral fibers laid down. Expectations laid down. I do believe in spanking a child and making a point. I do not mean any abuse. A child should only need a couple of spankings in a lifetime to prove a point.

When I was in school the Principal could paddle bad kids. It was good for the bad kid and the 20 others who had to watch it. Times were different. I think we would have less bad guys if we taught them better as young people. You know they always said spare the rod and spoil the child. Now you are all seeing the results of it.

Everyone may not agree with me but that is OK. To me there is a huge difference between discipline and abuse especially after laying the foundation for behavior and never striking out of anger, frustration or mental instability, drugs, drinking etc.

I wish we had a 1950's kind of life when life was slower and more polite and people cared about their neighbors and friends. I think life was much better in those days because of values and morals and behavioral codes and expectations and RESPECT.