Q: Child endangerment?
My daughter knows a young man with a 3 yr old daughter, and he intends to get the child an ATV for Christmas. At first his selection was one that maxed out at 40MPH, and now one that will go 21mph. In my daughters observation the child is developing a little slow - at 3 yrs old she has an understandable vocabulary of 4 words and does not follow direction.
The young man's actions appear to us to be inviting egregious harm to the child, but the State of Nebraska, as many, seem to not provide any oversight of these actions.
Thoughts?
A:
The Constitution protects freedoms including freedoms in parents raising their own children. Thus, it is legal and Constitutionally-protected for parents to allow their children to engage in activities that other people may not find safe enough for their own children. On the other hand, when an activity or act rises to a certain level of danger or harm, there can be laws that prevent parents from allowing their children to engage in these activities. For example, a child under a certain age cannot legally operate a jet ski even if a parent would think such is appropriate for their child.
If you have concerns that an activity rises to a level that it should have age-restrictions on it, you may want to contact your state legislator or other government official to raise awareness or request legislation to protect against an activity that you fear is harmful for children under a certain age.
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