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Citizen complaint of the day: The little kid sleeping outside the Apple Store

Little kid outside the Apple Store on Boylston Street in Boston.

A concerned citizen complained shortly after 10 p.m.:

There is a child (maybe 8) who is sleeping on the street outside the Apple Store while his parents are in line. This is child abuse. Please intervene.

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Comments

So you see what you consider to be child abuse and you file a complaint on Citizens Connect instead of, oh I don't know, calling the police. Brilliant.

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but if they dragged him out to bear habitat and fed him beans from a can it would be a Rockwell-worthy boyhood moment.....

F off and mind your own

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..for something heroic. It's been going on since some old blind guy assembled a bunch of Greek fables into larger works.

Hell, we have cave paintings that are even older.

Each subculture seeks its version. The canned bean bear country version works for the flag flappers and a sidewalk flop for a hand held works for the cubicle prisoners.

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More like Aeschylus's stuff.....
The tragedy here is that this product is not American made, that its success is supporting a competing , conflicting economy.

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..that then buys us with the money we throw at them because the idea of paying more humans is something to prevent at all costs and I do mean ALL COSTS.

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My good man, I second that emotion. And I Have seen that first hand. It's because you can't depreciate labor.

"When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use."
- Joseph Stalin

"The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."
-Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Take your pick.....

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Yes, my version of camping involves 4 stars and indoor plumbing. But I'm not sure the lack of either for one night can really be considered child abuse. Not all questionable parenting rises to such a level of anti-social behavior...

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Thars called camping in the city..not child abuse and besides the new gadget wat ever it is is probaly for him anyway so they said u want it gotta earn it so sit outside in a windy 40 degree night for 12 hours n wait n well pay the 500 dllar bill...much respect

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And what about the entire families that wait in line to purchase special game tickets for the multitude of sports teams we have in this region. Many a kid has willingly, and with insistence, that they camp out with the family for game tickets.

I don 't think this is easily labeled as some form of abuse.

Seems society has taken to extremes of late pushing for clear black and white labels that fit their own view of the world. It's not that simple.

Let's also remember that these overnight cues are often patrolled by local police in what ever town they may be in. If they felt it was inappropriate they would have done something.

Please shine your virtual badge and place it back in the drawer. Thanks much.

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He's in front of a Sleepys! Oh the irony, they should take him in!

Have you ever heard of sneaker camping? A lot of young people around Boston have done this, but it never gets the coverage that Apple does. Teens, kids, families camping out for the new Nikes.

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Put him in a sleeping bag, add some plants and he is camping.

With his parents.

Where is the problem here?

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This is totally IRRESPONSIBLE parenting. The child is sleeping outside, it's cold. HE IS NOT CAMPING. HE'S NOT PRETENDING TO CAMP. Spin it however you like, but it is wrong!!!! The child is preparing to sleep outside and that is neglect, putting a child at-risk for a material gain.

I bet the reason the majority disagrees is because you wouldn't hesitate to put your wants before your child's welfare.

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You can disagree with the parents' choices, but it is none of your business how they raise their children. If the child did not have warm clothing or a sleeping bag on a cold night, putting him in danger of actual physical harm, I might agree with you that their choice was objectively wrong. However, that isn't the case. Its not up to you to say what values these people should teach their children or how they should raise them. Personally, I wouldn't take my kids to sleep outside the iphone store (or any store) because I think its silly. But when they are older, if they wanted to sleep outside some store to get the newest coolest thing, I'd probably go with them if it was really important to them, because I love them. You have absolutely no basis to say, or and no well founded basis to believe, that this is not exactly what is going on here. So go back to your knitting, and shut up.

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I just clutched my pearls so hard the strand broke, I'll get back to you once I round them all up.

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Someone call the cops! And DYS! After all, they need to police ALL HAZARDS to kids ... while they ignore some households altogether ... oops!

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is concerned.

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I've met a few 8 year olds who could beg their parents to let them camp out for a new iPhone.

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Kids have to sleep on the street every single night in Boston. Is this diligent, compassionate citizen petitioning the city to make sure every child sleeps in a warm bed at night, or just the ones on Boylston Street?

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But you clearly win the thread for the big picture award category.

You'd think this would a more significant metric.

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the kid was probably having fun and there were probably police officers near by because its an apple store on an iphone release day anyway lol.

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If the child is with his parents and appears to be part of the iphone nonsense (as opposed to homeless) then mind your own business. He is not in danger, and he's probably having a good time. The internet has allowed what we used to call busy bodies free reign to co-opt the police and other public authorities into their tut-tutting nosiness and, in the process, potentially ruin people's lives through 51A reports and unfounded allegations of child abuse. I think that before the police/authorities respond to any report of "child sleeping on street with abusive parents," "child left in car in parking lot with windows rolled up by abusive parents" etc. they should ask the caller if they have children. If so, proceed. If not they should be told to go back to their knitting and shut up.

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Is probably the same sort of busybody who would call the cops because a man was playing with a child at a playground - and taking (gasp) PICTURES! Or, the sort of police state minion who would have a mother arrested for letting her kid play outside in his own yard or at the park on his own (it has happened).

Why anybody ever listens to these TV-addled alarmist gits is way beyond me.

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Maybe it's the kid who wanted to sit in line, and parents obliged???

(How many CC complaints were issued when hundreds of 8 years olds were in bookstore lines at midnight for harry Potter ??)

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The internet has allowed what we used to call busy bodies free reign to co-opt the police and other public authorities into their tut-tutting nosiness and, in the process, potentially ruin people's lives through[...]reports and unfounded allegations of child abuse.

And those busybodies can hide safely away in the ensconces of Internet anonymity because if they ever were found out to be wrong, the cops would find them and arrest them for filing a false report.

These busybodies have no lives other than to scold. That's all they do: they see an eight year old (likely with his parents, likely safe with police at some distance), scream "child abuse" and expect everyone to run to "rescue" this kid, not realizing there are unintended consequences.

If this scold is so concerned about the welfare of children, there are plenty of agencies that are looking for volunteers to find nice homes for children who aren't so lucky - such as no families at all. That would actually require humility over typing a few smug phrases on a keyboard

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First, it is city camping. No big deal if parents are present. However, camping overnight on a weeknight is probably not so great for him being awake and alert in school. Eye raising but not to the level of calling the police.

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When you see families camped out in front of Apple stores like this around product launches (especially iPhone) it's almost always one of two things:

1. They're being paid by resellers to camp out.
2. They're resellers themselves, and make a lot of money sending them to other countries (often their native ones) where the latest tech is in high demand and not readily available.

I'll leave you to draw conclusions as to why they are willing to do it.

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on this disturbing incident. His response, "What? What do you want me to do? Put Ma on the phone!".

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Lemmings

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I'm on the fence about this. First off, the complaint on Citizens Connect is just uncalled for. As long as the boy is not in any danger what so ever and with his folks, what's the issue? I hear of more kids being sucked into far worse by the parents than city camping. (i.e Druggie parents, neglect, etc)

Now is it eye raising, yes. Child abuse, no.

Do I agree with the parents? No, call a freaking baby sitter if you want your iCrap that much. If you can afford a 600+ dollar cell phone, you can afford a babysitter. I'm sure the kid thinks its very exciting to sleep outside in the city but still.. hire a damn baby sitter.

Outside of the kid probably enjoying it, I personally believe, and this is my own opinion, that your life changes once you have kids and going out all night to stand in line to buy something is one of those things you need let go of once you have children. Especially if it isn't limited edition and/or "one night only". It's not like they won't be avaliable after that day or are in limited quantities (overall, not initially).

Sorry I just think this teaches a kid that it's OK to be materialistic and sets wrong priorities for kids.

But then again, I'm not this kids parent and they can do whatever they want (and deal with the ramifications of doing so when that kid gets to be a teenager and turns into a materialistic brat because of it)

Still a big *shakes head* thing.

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Post, about 3 up from yours.

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I know about place holders for people waiting in line (friend is one)

but how do you know this to be true for the families?

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I'm not sure what you mean by "'this' to be true" specifically, but I spent many years on the "other side" of the line.

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for citations.. just didnt know if you knew families who did this or not :)

But you've said enough to satisfy my curiosity.. like a snickers bar.

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The reality is, the kid is with his parents, and he is fine.

Take a bike through the city and you'll see a shocking number of parents yakking on phones while driving, which makes the lack of car seats for small kids even more dangerous! Car crashes kill and maim a lot more kids than hanging out with mom and dad on a mild night in the city ever did.

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No the reasoning does matter. Its called setting an example for your children. And we wonder why the vast majority of kids today are such materialistic brats. Its examples like these that tell us why.

You bet the reasoning is important..

But yes I agree with you, we can find parents that are doing far more stupid things with their kids. Like I said, he's with this folk so its more of an eye raising situation than anything else.

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"Its called setting an example for your children. And we wonder why the vast majority of kids today are such materialistic brats. Its examples like these that tell us why."

Or, if you just paid someone to wait in line for you, you'd teach your kids to be spoiled brats. Maybe waiting for something you really want teaches them that nothing comes easy and sometimes you have to put in a little "hard work" to get it.

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i dont blame this kid if he stabs his parents with an iphone someday.

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