I need to share some words from women who have been under attack on social media the past couple of days.
These women are Mama Bears. If you’re a mom…then you are probably just like them…you will protect your children with every fiber in your body.
These women also protect the children around them. And if you would read the detailed police reports of the sick stuff that happens to children around here…you would too.
This is in response to the “Cookie story” that’s popping up in newspapers and other media all over.
When I first read the headline, I admit, my first thought was “well that’s awful! Why would anyone want to stop a little girl from selling cookies?”
My first thought was wrong.
Their voices have been drowned out and ignored…and they’re getting destroyed on social media. We can all have opinions…but why it has to get to a nasty level I will never know. As someone who has been on the receiving end of some hateful BS and bullying on social media…I felt compelled to take a stand for them.
Neighbor 1:
“We live in a great neighborhood but it has become a circus because the Courier printed a story that was false. This was never about a girl selling cookies. It was about keeping our children safe. That girl sat alone for hours a day on a busy corner to sell these cookies. She’s 10! Strange men approached my child to ask where the cookie girl lived? I draw the line. My friend Melissa was being a mama bear and her child almost got hit! No one would ever call 911 on a child selling cookies! I have lost sleep over this. Please stop sharing the story. It simply isn’t true. You got a fraction of a story that was twisted to make us look like terrible people.
I hope she has a ton of success with her cookie business. The reality is we live in a sick world and we can’t even find a college student right now or a teenage boy. I have to let this go but I just hope people can see the big picture here. I will always be a Mother first and a voice for our children!”
Neighbor 2:
“I was approached by a reporter asking about the 10 year old girl selling cookies on the intersection of Union Road and Paddington just hours after my daughter was nearly hit in my driveway. Had I known the headline that the Courier was planning to create, I would have rethought my willingness to comment on record. This reporter took my statement, in addition to the information they received regarding several other calls made to police about the safety and welfare of this child and others in the area. To spin the story in a way that sends the message that a neighborhood banned together to crush this little girl’s dreams, is so sad and misleading. Our neighborhood supported her efforts from the beginning and only wanted her and the other children in the neighborhood to be safe. Even if it wasn’t the intent, the moment that it was clear the story had taken a turn towards reflecting that message, it should have been addressed. It was irresponsible reporting and has resulted in unfounded threats to people and property in retaliation against a neighborhood and specific people that were only looking out for the safety of the children that live there, Savanah included. My concern for child safety made me the villain and sends a really bad message in world where we are told ‘if you see something report it’.”
I know things like this can be a “draw your own conclusion” type of deal.
But from everything I have seen it’s this:
A community wants to back a young girl’s dream and business…that same community also wants to make sure she is safe.
When it comes to making sure children are safe…every child is our child.
Thank you so much for sharing this-I am totally blown away by the way the W/CF courier twisted this story. I absolutely agree with the neighbors point of view-too bad it wasn’t reported word for word-or at least accurately. I know that everyone is entitled to their freedom of speech, but in my opinion, that’s extremely crappy reporting. Thanks again for sharing the truth.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Amanda I myself am somewhat of a mamma bear and believe for the most part we all are and I usually agree with you but not this time. I feel like the Paddington moms message has continually been “you don’t know the story”. I think the story has been made clear but some of us still disagree. I know Kara Watters and Oh my goodness she is one dedicated mother.
What about these women who have painted her as this neglectful mother to the point the cops needed to be called on her? She just like all of us was caught up in the decision of do I intervene or let my daughter go for this? And these “neighbors” paints her as this child slave driver and that all they wanted was for Savannah to “be a kid and then joy her summer” balogna, that was her enjoying her summer!
I think we can see by the many opinions swarming around this issue that there’s a spectrum of beliefs as to how tight a leash we should hold, and at the end of the day we have to respect the decisions of other mothers. That is a the real story here and that is where you and the Paddington moms are wrong.