Eight year old boy raped.

[MissMistletoe]

While walking home from somewhere 'at around 5 p.m.' It's dark then. This always saddens me, why do some parents let very young children out on their own, and especially after dark? Apparently the rapist was a 20 something cyclist who dragged him into woods. Very sad. Poor boy.

And in fact, more recently, we've had a poster on here who's child was involved in a well publicised incident. I bet she's overjoyed at having this thrown up in her face.

But you go on, garner the moral outrage......

I think its a GIVEN that we feel deeply for the family. How could we not? Particularly those of us who have an insight as to what this family are going through. How twisted of you to try and imply otherwise.

This is fact - this happened to this little boy. To be honest i am not concerned about what has happened to other people at the moment, more concern about HIM.

To me abortion , death , mental health are senstive subjects but I will not stop people posting about it in their title.

I agree sensitivity in thread titles is helpful for those who are upset by them (which doesn't include me, but I understand it bothers lots of people greatly) - but don't be too hard on MissMistletoe - she may not have read the recent threads asking for more circumspect thread titles.

I'm sure that now she knows how people feel about it she will tread more carefully next time.

Who is the title going to offend? rape victims? I'm one and trust me, after that a word will not ever be hurting me.

People in their cosy cocoons? You don't have to click on the title.

Poor kid, poor family.

Well, having experience of this, I'm trying to look at the bigger picture here, since I know pretty much how other people are going to feel about this.

Doesnt detract at all from how much I feel for this poor boy. I have a great deal of empathy for him and his family.

Quite frankly - at this point in time I dont think his family give a flying fuck whether a bunch of strangers feel sympathy for them. They probably just want to nail the bastard to a wall and never let their boy out of their sight again.

But hey - if you think bandying around things like this will help....

QV I'm not after moral outrage just perspective. Apart from the inappropriate comment made about the parents bit all the OP has done is highlight a very sad thing. What's happened afterwards other than shock at the inappropriate comments and people acknowlegeing that boy, is how uncomfortable they feel about the title - and that's what I'm trying to say. In the grand scheme of things and in light of the thread's subject, is that really the important issue here within this thread? This thread is not the arena for that discussion hence the reason someone started a new one elsewhere.

I agree mummydear.

We're all sensitive about something but unfortunately these boards would be blank if we tried to please everyone.

WHY POST this

WHY Not ?

Well, the OP appears to post this with no apparent reason..no question asked, no comment made, no assistance requested required, no 'entertainment value", no humour, no..well...anything...soo..why DID you post it MissM? etc...

What was going through MissM's mind as to why it seemed a "good idea" to post may remain a mystery.

must admit to failing to see quite why we are talking of this...can see utterly why people are annoyed and angry/upset.........it's bollocks. It reads like unfulfilled emotional space being flouted across the www, and the indignant of Sevenoaks are invited for a gore-fest, AND get all judgemental about other's sensitivities in the bargain....

horrible incident. Do hope this man is caught. That endeavour won't be assisted by this thread.

She did make a point though. She said she thought it was not a good idea for eight year olds to be allowed to walk alone in the dark. I certainly didn't read it as blaming him for the attack in any way. I tend to think, personally, that I wouldn't let my children out alone but I also think that attacks happen just as frequently in broad daylight, so suspect the time of day made little or no difference. I agree perhaps the title was too brutally explicit, but I also tend to agree that where a child has been brutally assaulted, getting so outraged by a mere thread title seems a little bit out of proportion to me.

Oh, here we go, yet again the reaction of many MNetters never ceases to amaze me. I haven't logged on since my OP, so have just seen all these posts. Time to set a few things straight. Firstly, I didn't intend to upset/annoy/sadden/inscence anyone with my thread title, and am unaware of recent or not so recent threads concerning upsetting titles. But.... do none of you open a newspaper? The wording of my OP was exactly how I had it smacked in my face when I opened my paper yesterday morning. I have a ds who's recently turned 8, so this subject struck a chord with me, and I thought it was very sad, as it would be if the child were older/younger or a girl, indeed. I hold firm with my belief that the boy in question shouldn't have been out on his own at 5 p.m. It is dark then, and just not safe. I don't agree that 8 is old enough to walk the streets alone. I have only just started to allow my dd to walk short distances alone, and she will be 11 in February. I don't even like letting her do it, but am trying to build her confidence in preparation for starting secondary school in September, when she will have to walk to the bus stop etc.

I don't blame the parents, and agree that the only person to blame is the attacker, but I do think that it is an unwise parenting decision to allow a young child out alone after dark. Am I really wrong in having that opinion??

For whoever it was who commented 'oh yes, it's the boy's fault, he was asking for it' is sick, IMO.

Yes you should be safe to walk where you want and when you want but in reality it's just not possible. I don't think MissMistletoe was attacking the parents, she was just pointing out that at 5pm it's dark outside. As for the title and why people post these threads, it's in the news and that's what this forum is about.

Thank you, good to see some common sense.

good to see this thread title back in activve convos

and pop!

there it goes again

Since it has been bumped just now anyway, I just wanted to say that I wish this would drop off the list. I can't explain why, but somehow discussing it on an internet forum just feels wrong and like it is trivialising it in some way.

given the furore, you couldn't have opened a new thread under a less gruesome title? it's a completely worthy discussion, missmistletoe, be a shame to see it upset people when it's not necessary.

err, I didn't predict the furore I don't agree with the trivialising comment either. To be perfectly honest, I think it's just best to drop it altogether now. I'm a fairly recent visitor to MN and am really going off it tbh. I find that so many people are taking too much advantage of the 'safety net' of a nickname and nobody knowing their true identity etc. I think people are using the anonymity to be confrontational when it's really not necessary. I often think that if all of us were sat in a room together rather than conversing over the internet, our responses to each other's opinions and discussions etc would be different. I feel that you're not given true opinions, just people trying to 'big it up' and it's starting to really bore me.

Back to the original subject, no offence was intended, but I've already said so, and don't need to apologise for myself any further. I wonder how many other threads have caused such a reaction? I have seen a couple, but not looked in on them, about paedophiles etc. At the end of the day, the news is sadly full of this stuff. I think it's a shame when you can't discuss matters with other parents without people completely blowing it out of proportion.

Well, that's fair enough mistletoe. I feel kind of uncomfortable discussing it, but I suppose I don't have any right to tell you what to do, so live and let live is my conclusion and I apologise if I have offended you by that.[sheepish emoticon]

Close the door on your way out

Wow Greensleeves - are you this bitchy in RL too?

When it's merited, yes.