Michigan is Dumb

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

Yup, totally agree This post read like a lot of places still in WV.

It can even happen in suburban Chicago. A few weeks ago when I suddenly had to go to the ER, my wife called around frantically to find someone to be in the house with our sleeping 1-year-old (it was past his bedtime at night) so she could meet me in the ER. Our regular babysitter (a next door neighbor) called another neighbor, who we don't know that well, who selflessly came over and stayed in the house until my in-laws could arrive.

Now, our neighborhood isn't necessarily as tight-knit as it sounds Ben's is, but we all mostly know each other and look out for each others' houses, pets and kids, because that seems the civil, common-sensical and neighborly thing to do. It's so sad that this is not true of so many neighborhoods.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I think it also depends on where you live. I'm sure I'm tilted in one direction because I live in a neighborhood where I'm fairly sure I know the name and parents of every kid under 8 or so on my street (maybe 80 houses), and they all know my family as well. We have block parties in the cul-de-sac; on holidays like July 4th and Memorial Day, we don't usually even leave our street because someone is hosting a street cookout. When my wife was pregnant, our next-door neighbors held just-our-street baby shower. So, yeah, if it's raining at the end of the street when my kid is taking the bus to school, I would just naturally assume that the couple living on the corner would have the kids in the house. But that's where the times aren't much different from my neighborhood growing up: we know that couple by name, know where they work, patronize the husband's business, and also happen to go to the same church. (I think seven families from our street go the same church, actually...) I would assume that's not the norm these days. My issue is that if such a thing happened on my street, it would be completely silly for the government to intervene. And granted, it's not the norm, but I also seriously doubt that my neighborhood is *that* unique, either.

Yeah, I agree the story is rather silly. My main point was the reasoning behind the laws. See, the problem with laws is that there doesn't seem to be a human factor involved in the decision-making process of any given situation. For example, the story at the beginning of this thread should really be interpreted by authorities for what it is (granted I am not there and don't know all of the details). If this is just a friendly neighbor helping out the local kids before/after school, why make it a big deal?

You are lucky to live in such a great neighborhood. We have moved too many damn times in the past few years to really have that experience yet.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

It can even happen in suburban Chicago. A few weeks ago when I suddenly had to go to the ER, my wife called around frantically to find someone to be in the house with our sleeping 1-year-old (it was past his bedtime at night) so she could meet me in the ER. Our regular babysitter (a next door neighbor) called another neighbor, who we don't know that well, who selflessly came over and stayed in the house until my in-laws could arrive.

Now, our neighborhood isn't necessarily as tight-knit as it sounds Ben's is, but we all mostly know each other and look out for each others' houses, pets and kids, because that seems the civil, common-sensical and neighborly thing to do. It's so sad that this is not true of so many neighborhoods.

You are indeed lucky to have such good neighbors.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

And granted, it's not the norm, but I also seriously doubt that my neighborhood is *that* unique, either.

I dunno, I think it's getting pretty unusual. Anecdote along those lines from earlier this afternoon that I think you'll relate to pretty well. I had to go to Commerce this afternoon where my son was doing the coach's film for the middle school game, but I hadn't been to a game up there in probably 25 years or more. I couldn't remember which street I should be on basically, so I stopped and asked directions so I didn't end up way off base. Only had to go through five different people before I found anyone who had the slightest idea where Commerce High School was even though I was already in the city limits at the time and you can probably throw a rock three or four times and cover the distance between their "now entering" and "now leaving" signs.

Tell me you could have imagined that scenario 20 years ago, kind of blew my mind & really emphasized the transient nature of society just about everywhere these days.

For those who don't know Commerce, it's a traditional Georgia HS football power in the smaller classifications and one of only a handful of small city (rather than county wide) school systems in the state. A large part of life in Commerce revolves around the Tigers, or at least has for the whole time I've been alive ... but apparently not anymore.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Michigan has heard the people and has seen reason on this issue:

Michigan Senate approves bill after baby-sitting flap | detnews.com | The Detroit News


Michigan Senate approves bill after baby-sitting flap

ASSOCIATED PRESS Lansing -- The Michigan Senate has voted to exempt baby-sitting from day care regulations after the state ordered a woman to stop watching her friend's children before school.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to sign the legislation approved 37-0 Thursday. The bill already has been passed by the House.

In August, the state Department of Human Services sent a letter to Lisa Snyder of Barry County's Irving Township, south of Grand Rapids. It warned her that if she continued watching three children for about an hour each day before they got on their school bus, she'd be violating a law aimed at the operators of unlicensed day care centers.

Granholm instructed the department to work with lawmakers to change the law so people providing free baby-sitting service won't need day care licenses.