Child detained at the Lego store in Chinook (11.5 without an adult)

[Regulator75]

The following is a letter to Lego regarding an incident which happened at the Chinook Centre Lego store on Sunday. My son, who rides his bike to school alone, goes regularly to stores to buy groceries, earns money for babysitting and yard work, and is passionate about Lego, is apparently not old enough to be at the Lego Store alone. This policy is not posted, and they had to sneakily ask him his age to even know how old he was. He has been going to the Lego store alone to spend his money since he was 9.

Full letter to Lego in the link.
https://coldbike.wordpress.com/2015/...at-lego-store/
Thoughts?

[Looch City]

I don't understand what's wrong with this policy. Stepping on a Lego can lead to death/amputation.

[Northendzone]

Please somebody think of the children.....wonder if any other stores in Chinook have similar policies. Store manager seems like a bit of a tool

[Oling_Roachinen]

I don't know, if you're not using whole numbers to express your age you are pretty young.

[octothorp]

I don't know, other stores aren't set up like a play area (except for, say, places like Ikea, which are quite strict on rules when you leave your kids with them). When you've got loads of small toys sitting out there that children are welcome and encouraged to play with, you need some sort of policy to ensure that if there is any incident, whether it's a conflict or a medical emergency, the children's guardians are there. Let's say a kid starts throwing LEGO... do you want the LEGO employee need to physically stop the kid from doing so, or do you want them to be able to flag their parent? Or a kid is putting pieces to their mouth. Or any of a dozen other things that some kids do with LEGO in their own home.

I'd be totally comfortable with my kid's ability to conduct himself in a decent manner in the LEGO store, unsupervised. But I realize that rules need to be made to account for the worst-behaved of kids, not the best.

[Anduril]

11 (and a half) year old child has over $200 on himself, has spent thousands already.

Man I was happy reusing the same pieces I had.

[White Out 403]

The managers behaviour and security guards behaviour were reprehensible if true

[photon]

Originally Posted by octothorp

But I realize that rules need to be made to account for the worst-behaved of kids, not the best.

Which is fine if they'd communicated the rule in that way I doubt there'd be such an issue, but to go on about child abductions and calling the guy a bad parent multiple times, that's horrible on both the security guy and the store manager. Customer service is where you make people feel ok even if you can't help them, not belittle them.

If that's a policy then it needs to be clearly posted, moreso for a LEGO store.

Though I doubt the veracity because LEGO is never spelled correctly

[Jacks]

I can't believe I survived childhood. My parents neglected me by letting me play outdoors, walk to school, go to stores, etc. Is it anymore dangerous today than it was 20 or 30 years ago? I doubt it.

[CliffFletcher]

I'd almost welcome something like this happening with my kids. Because I'm primed to go ballistic on the hand-wringing, hyper-irrational scaremongers who have decided that, contrary all human belief outside the last 20 years in North America, children are at terrible risk whenever they aren't with an adult. I wouldn't just send a letter. I'd start a campaign to embarrass Chinook Mall, the Lego Store, and the store manager. Media interviews, Facebook and Twitter campaigns - the whole nine yards.

It's time for rational adults to stand up to this insanity.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Jacks

I can't believe I survived childhood. My parents neglected me by letting me play outdoors, walk to school, go to stores, etc. Is it anymore dangerous today than it was 20 or 30 years ago? I doubt it.

It's less dangerous.

When I was 11, I was taking public transit all over the place with my friends. To movies, roller-rinks, the mall. I got myself to and from doctors and dentist appointments. We rode our bikes halfway across the city, from Elbow Park to Glenmore Reservoir to Fish Creek. Often didn't see or speak to an adult for the better part of a day.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by photon

Which is fine if they'd communicated the rule in that way I doubt there'd be such an issue, but to go on about child abductions and calling the guy a bad parent multiple times, that's horrible on both the security guy and the store manager. Customer service is where you make people feel ok even if you can't help them, not belittle them.

If that's a policy then it needs to be clearly posted, moreso for a LEGO store.

Though I doubt the veracity because LEGO is never spelled correctly

Yeah, and he probably calls LEGO bricks, Legos.

Agreed that the policy should be posted. Beyond that, I wouldn't want to enter into a discussion on the behaviour of the security guard and manager without hearing their side of it. Just from personal experience, people who are vociferous about demanding public apologies sometimes have a conflict-driven personality that has more than a little to do with the situation escalating. Not saying that's the case here, just that I wouldn't rule it out without knowing the guy personally or hearing the other side. Some people are just looking for a situation like this to overreact to.

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I'd almost welcome something like this happening with my kids. Because I'm primed to go ballistic on the hand-wringing, hyper-irrational scaremongers who have decided that, contrary all human belief outside the last 20 years in North America, children are at terrible risk whenever they aren't with an adult. I wouldn't just send a letter. I'd start a campaign to embarrass Chinook Mall, the Lego Store, and the store manager. Media interviews, Facebook and Twitter campaigns - the whole nine yards.

*Ahem*

[Ace]

maybe off topic...but Isn't there a rule that you can't babysit until age 12 (where this kid made some of his money)

Edit: found the answer: http://www.programs.alberta.ca/livin...0+9252&id=1765

[Eric Vail]

This kid is 11.5 and has earned thousands babysitting and shoveling walks? Who is paying him?

#####... If we allow kids that are 7 years old to be dropped off at the pool unattended... they should allow 11 (and a half) year olds to be able to shop by them selves. Is he going to choke on a piece of Lego?

[bc-chris]

when i was a kid, the thought of being detained in the lego store would be a dream come true!

[RedMileDJ]

nm

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Yeah, and he probably calls LEGO bricks, Legos.

Agreed that the policy should be posted. Beyond that, I wouldn't want to enter into a discussion on the behaviour of the security guard and manager without hearing their side of it. Just from personal experience, people who are vociferous about demanding public apologies sometimes have a conflict-driven personality that has more than a little to do with the situation escalating. Not saying that's the case here, just that I wouldn't rule it out without knowing the guy personally or hearing the other side. Some people are just looking for a situation like this to overreact to.



*Ahem*

According to the father:

The store manager then said, “For child safety reasons, we don’t allow children under 12 to be unattended in the store.” I asked what safety scenario made the Lego Store so unsafe that an 11.5 year old needed a chaperone. He then replied “If I have to explain THAT to you, then you shouldn’t be a parent.”...

The security guard then piped in and started making a claim that child abductions from the mall were a frequent event – which is a lie. I cut him off and asked “how many child abductions have taken place here in the mall?” The security guard then said to me, “if you don’t see how leaving your child alone in a store is dangerous, then you are a bad parent.”

Sure, we only have his version of the conversation. But if that is what the manager and security guard said, it should be publicly ridiculed and denounced. The hysteria and fear-mongering around child safety has had a toxic effect on our society. And it has been allowed to run unchecked because sensible, rational people have remained silent.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

Full letter to Lego in the link.
https://coldbike.wordpress.com/2015/...at-lego-store/
Thoughts?

Seems like the letter writer made it more about him that he did his child or even the policy.

Stupid policy, no question and if it really is a policy it should be posted.

Shows how the world has changed. When I was a kid (late 60's) I was allowed to go anywhere my bike or Calgary Transit would take me. Completely unsupervised.

The biggest incident I remember was being picked by the CP police on the train tracks downtown behind Robin Hood Mills.

Good times.

[Thor]

Its sad that there has to be a movement called "free range kids" in the US because of how hard it has become for parents to leave their kids outside unattended.

Kids are much much safer today than 10, 20, 30 years ago, yet the fear of children's safety is way up.

A good example of the nonsense:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...ates/26423187/

Two Sundays ago, Danielle and Alexander Meitiv of Montgomery County, Md., got a call from Child Protective Services. Police had taken their two children, ages 10 and 6, into custody three hours earlier and were holding them at the crisis center.

Had the children been abused? No. Were they lost? No. So what prompted this extraordinary intervention? A concerned pedestrian had seen the children walking alone and called 911. It was the second time in four months that the Meitivs' children were reported to authorities as they walked home from parks about a mile away.