OK, so I have neighbors that moved in about a year ago, it's a grandmother and grandfather raising their 6 grandchildren.  The first day they were in the neighborhood the boy Hunter came into my house, just walked right in and wanted to play with my kids.  I had no idea who this kid was, so I sent him home. 

This boy is all over the neighborhood with no supervision at all, walks into any house and asks for food, has been suspended from school 3 times and he's only in Kindergarten. Today he walks up to my door with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice.  At first I thought it was lemonade in the bottle so I asked to try it...nope.  It was the real thing.  He said his grandmother let's him drink it.  I said "Let's just go and see what she says.", so we started walking back to his house, he said he was probably going to get into trouble.  I felt kinda bad for him but that didn't stop me.  We got to his house and he ran off, I went into the yard, all the adults were drinking and I held up the bottle and said "Is anyone missing a drink?".  The grandmother comes running out and starts yelling for Hunter, he decided to hide because he knew he was going to get into trouble. 

The grandmother says "Hunter, you're in timeout, go sit down!" and I'm thinking timeout?????, I would have done more than that to him.

I just don't know what I should do, do you think I should call someone? 

OK, so I have neighbors that moved in about a year ago, it's a grandmother and grandfather raising their 6 grandchildren.  The first day they were in the neighborhood the boy Hunter came into my house, just walked right in and wanted to play with my kids.  I had no idea who this kid was, so I sent him home. 

This boy is all over the neighborhood with no supervision at all, walks into any house and asks for food, has been suspended from school 3 times and he's only in Kindergarten. Today he walks up to my door with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice.  At first I thought it was lemonade in the bottle so I asked to try it...nope.  It was the real thing.  He said his grandmother let's him drink it.  I said "Let's just go and see what she says.", so we started walking back to his house, he said he was probably going to get into trouble.  I felt kinda bad for him but that didn't stop me.  We got to his house and he ran off, I went into the yard, all the adults were drinking and I held up the bottle and said "Is anyone missing a drink?".  The grandmother comes running out and starts yelling for Hunter, he decided to hide because he knew he was going to get into trouble. 

The grandmother says "Hunter, you're in timeout, go sit down!" and I'm thinking timeout?????, I would have done more than that to him.

I just don't know what I should do, do you think I should call someone? 



Call child services.  This is a horror in the making, a kid with a bottle of Smirnoff, wouldn't take much for a kid like that to die of alcoholic poisoning.  In his way he is reaching out for help to you! Acting the way he does, his life and the life of his siblings is somewhere in the area of living hell.  If you don't call services then when he does come to your house, let him in.  Oh, the kid isn't very, very, bad, what he is is 6 and abused.

Call child services.  This is a horror in the making, a kid with a bottle of Smirnoff, wouldn't take much for a kid like that to die of alcoholic poisoning.  In his way he is reaching out for help to you! Acting the way he does, his life and the life of his siblings is somewhere in the area of living hell.  If you don't call services then when he does come to your house, let him in.  Oh, the kid isn't very, very, bad, what he is is 6 and abused.


Thank you...I knew I should call I guess I just needed someone to agree with me.  That's what I'm going to do right now.

Thank you...I knew I should call I guess I just needed someone to agree with me.  That's what I'm going to do right now.


Let us know what happens

I'm with Danoota on this. You should call and please let us know.

I called social services on my neighbors one time. They have a daycare and I used to see a whole bunch of kids outside with no adults in sight. Several times there were something like 8 kids on the trampoline and no adult. One day, one kid was driving one of those little motorized cars and banging into the swingset (which had kids on it). The swingset wasn't very steady and I thought it was going to come down. That was when I called. To my surprise, about 3 weeks later or so, they (the agency) called me back to give me an update on the situation. I thought, once I called with the complaint, that was it. Over the years, they have improved. Several years ago, it was discovered that the house was full of lead. Once they got the lead out, they became human.  :o :o :o  We are now on a more friendly basis with them. I wouldn't say we are friends but we say hi to each other and last Christmas, we bake them a pie and they gave us a bottle of wine and some venison.



Cat

I don't think you need it, but here's another vote for calling CPS (or whatever it is called in your area).  That is just the child you know about....what is happening to the other 5 kids?  I also agree that this child isn't so bad as abused/neglected.  You have to wonder what their living environment was before the grandparents starting raising them and what prompted that.  Hopefully all the kids will get counseling in addition to a more suitable environment.

I hope you will keep us posted, too.

There were people who lived down the street from me, who used to let their kids run ragged.  One day, I was driving home, and I nearly had to swerve to avoid some little kid in a Power Wheels car who almost drove off his lawn right into the road.  I saw no adults in sight.  I think that family might have been a little messed up though, cause on several occasions while I was walking home at night, I'd hear yelling and arguing, and several times I'd see police cars in their driveway


Some people just shouldn't be allowed to be in the care of children ...

When I was about 3 years old, my mom used to take me and my brother to this babysitter, whom she found through an ad in the local paper.  I was too young to remember, but apparently this woman used to smack me around if I wouldn't eat my food.  It apparently went on for a few days before my brother said something about it to my mom.  She then confronted the babysitter (who denied everything) and threatened to go to the authorities if she continued to see the ad in the paper. 

MmmHmmm - I'd vote on calling Child Services.

Everyone deserves a chance and he clearly isn't going to get one in that sort of environment.

Well, I called...I didn't have to give my name, so I didn't.  I'm sure she'll know who called...Oh well.

I feel bad for the kids, I mean the parents aren't able to raise them and apparently neither are the grandparents. 

I'm just happy that my daughter didn't go outside without me today because he might have given her some.

It's good that you called, Carol....that is just insane. These kids clearly need some positive supervision. :-\\

You know what's real scary about that? Wasn't it, what, a month ago a little boy in Georgia was living with his grandparents, playing outside and got taken and raped by a pedophile family?  (That sounds weird just saying it). . .Does anyone see, don't put the opportunity out there--if the opportunity isn't there, then the kid will be safe. . .no reason for a 6 year old to be ANYWHERE unsupervised. . .I mean, I have already in other threads said what I think about the Sex Offender Registry, but that aside, the truth is their are Pedophiles out there-even if no one is on the list near you, Estimates say most Pedophiles are not registered Offenders, so that said--thank goodness you called CPS, because honestly, that's putting a worm on a fish hook, and the beer?  Talk about underage drinking . . .I mean at 6, I didn't even know what a beer was, much less run around with one. . .that's amazing.

do your kids go to the same school? If you don't want to call child services Tell the school  they can't ignore his behavior and can get the school district psychologist or someone to help the grandparents see they need help or need to change their ways.  being the youngest ?? he probably gets minimal attention, and so doing all these outrageoius and awful behaviours at least gets him attention but it's probably negative punishing attention at best.  definitely not healthy for the kid and all the rest of them 2. :\'( 

Well done Carol. I agree with Danoota, the fact that he walked into your house with the bottle when he knew it was wrong is a cry for help even if he's too little to realise that. I can't even begin to imagine waht it must be like to try and bring up 6 kids at the time in life when you think all of that is over. I went to school with a lad called Philip who behaved in the exact same way. Basically his Mum didn't like boys and his Dad had no interest in children fullstop and they both ignored him more or less. So his behaviour got worse and worse just to try and get ANY reaction out of them.     

Well, I called...I didn't have to give my name, so I didn't.  I'm sure she'll know who called...Oh well.

I feel bad for the kids, I mean the parents aren't able to raise them and apparently neither are the grandparents. 

I'm just happy that my daughter didn't go outside without me today because he might have given her some.



Good for you-and karma. Let us know what happens (if you find out anything).



Cat