I know things have gotten worse for a lot of people, and have dealt with a lot of the current situation while trying to get help for family members who have access to even less than single mothers with kids get. I know that a lot of people don't have friends and family to watch the kids, and some people have temporary…

I grew up very poor and remember spending quite a few hours in crowded, boring waiting rooms, waiting for boxes of government surplus food, and while my mother applied for benefits of various types. As a child, I would've preferred to be playing in a park instead. As an adult, I can see how dangerous something like…

Do you think that no poor parents can ever be bad parents in general, and that any crappy things they do are always the result of them being victims of one thing or another?

Nope. Some people are just crappy people who don't care for their kids properly, and some kids are just not mature enough to be left alone. Hell, even if I thought four kids eight and under were mature for their age, I still wouldn't be in favor of leaving them alone in a park for hours and hours with no easy way to…

I'd be willing to bet that she wasn't actually at a food pantry, and is just a crappy parent. There ARE some poor, single parents who are just crappy parents. Even if what you suggest was indeed the case, leaving four small, stupid children alone in a park (that's near a busy road, and had a lake in it) because you…

That certainly sounds bad, but still preferable to leaving four small children under eight alone in a park for hours and hours. I mean, as a parent, surely you'd prefer to deal with waiting in line with your children, and dealing with keeping them under control by a busy road than you would with leaving them alone in…

I'm sorry, but you're not going to convince me that most or even many food banks have a "no children" policy or would turn away a single mother with four small kids because of some policy that says only a couple family members are allowed in a time. I realize that may come across as rude, and I'm sorry if it is. But…

I don't think it would've been. It says the officer observed the kids playing earlier. They didn't get involved until the younger children had to get the officer to help the oldest one who was stuck. Even then, I wonder if the mother would've been arrested if she'd shown up shortly after, or if they kids were able to…

Exactly. Not only can children not fend off potential abductors, but most of them don't fully know enough to not go off willingly with a stranger who is charming and convincing enough and is saying their parent sent them to get them or something like that. The fact that stranger abductions are very rare isn't a reason…

I get the feeling that it wasn't an attempted scam on her part to try to get donations from strangers, but I kind of doubt that she was really at a food bank all that time. I'm guessing she said it to try to get sympathy for her situation/ avoid arrest. I have a hard time believing that food banks in her area don't…

I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing that. Or at least believing it is the norm at food banks, or that they'd turn her away if a single woman showed up with four children and said, "I know your policy is two family members at a time, but I have no one to watch my kids." I imagine that most food banks are set up…

I agree. And her kids weren't really fine, since they needed the fire department to be called in to remove one of the kids from the playground equipment they were stuck in. At the point where something like that happens, I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask where the hell she was. And yes, she said she was at a…

The article also goes on to say how the kids started playing near a road, in the water at the edge of a lake at the park, and climbing on a big concrete sign. Any of these kids could've been injured or even drowned. And the mother wasn't even somewhere where she couldn't have kids with her! She could've take them to…

The article it links to says the police tried to free the kid and failed, and the fire department had to remove the swing from the frame. They probably didn't want to risk injuring the kid if he was really tightly stuck, and I'm guessing the responders from the fire department had whatever tools one would need to take…

In this case, strangers made the call after one of the kids needed to be unstuck from a baby swing by the fire department, and were observed doing other potentially dangerous stuff like playing in the water at the edge of a lake/ climbing a large concrete sign. At what point should strangers just leave small,…

These kids in particular shouldn't have been left alone. The oldest of the group got himself stuck in a baby swing and needed to be rescued by the fire department. The kids were unable to tell the police where they lived. They had no way of contacting their mother. Later, when the police were watching the kids and…

Come on, I'm sure the food bank didn't have a "no kids allowed" policy. This is just bad judgement on the parent's part, and I don't think there's anything wrong with questioning the judgement of a person who thinks it's okay to leave a small group of stupid little children alone with no way of contacting them.

Is that unusual? It seems like it would save the hassle of going out and buying a bunch more child-sized clothing hangers to go with all the clothing.

I don't think it's that a lot of people are saying they're special or cooler somehow. It's just hard for a lot of people to get very upset over the death of someone they didn't know, even if they benefited from something that person did. But every once in a while they can get attached to someone they've never even met…

It's like that brief trend involving faux-fur nails. All I can think about is how their bathroom hygiene must be lacking. Wiping, washing their hands properly afterward, etc... Ugh.