Police Repeatedly Question Mom of 6 Who Let Kids Pick Up Litter Outside"There are no known stories of any abductions here," says Anna Hershberger.
By Lenore Skenazy
3.16.2022
Massachusetts mom of six Anna Hershberger has had the police called on her three times this past year. What has this recidivist been up to?
Last week, a cop came knocking after someone reported two of Hershberger's children, ages five and almost seven, walking a few blocks from her home in Reading—a Boston suburb—and picking up litter.
A few minutes earlier, Hershberger said in a phone call with Reason, a garbage truck had gone by, inspiring the kids. "They said, 'Can we have a trashabag?'" says Hershberger. "So that's what they were doing: walking on the sidewalk with a black trash bag, picking things up."
Because the kids are homeschooled, this was during school hours, possibly explaining why a call was made.
The kids came in saying: "Mom, there's police behind us!" A cruiser had followed them home.
"They were kind of enthusiastic," says Hershberger, "until the policeman got out."
The cop was not happy.
"He said 'Somebody could be texting and not paying attention, and there are also creeps out,'" Hershberger says. She didn't make a scene, but she was thinking that if a texting driver careened onto the sidewalk and she was with her kids, they would simply all be plowed down. As for creeps, "There are no known stories of any abductions here," she says.
Besides, she pointed out—to Reason, not the cop—"I know what's dangerous. I grew up in Russia."
This brush with the law might have been less disturbing for the economist-turned-stay-at-home-mom, were it not for two other recent encounters.
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Source:
https://reason.com/2022/03/16/anna-hershberger-childhood-independence-mom-kids-cops/
