How Carefully Do You Monitor Your Children?

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

07 Jun 2011 11:50 PM

Much has been made of the differences between overprotective parents, who keep their kids under lock, key and surveillance, and those moms and dads rearing free-range kids who are allowed to roam the world unsupervised.

Personally, I don't fit in either camp. I don't insist that my child travel with security detail, but I am a stickler for helmet-wearing and I'm not afraid to hover from time to time.

Regardless of which camp you find yourself in, you have to wonder if parents can ever get it right after learning about the tragic accident involving two Long Island teens. I know it gave me pause for thought about the way I supervise my child.

According to New York newspapers, 16-year-old Eduardo Vanegas-Fuentes and 19-year-old Edgar Calderon-Castro were fooling around in a friend's backyard last week when they fell into a cesspool and died.

Police say the bizarre accident happened when the boys were playing in the yard and stumbled upon a concrete slab. According to reports, the boys' curiosity got the best of them and they decided to lift the concrete off the ground. Little did they know that their decision would cost them their lives.

Emergency responders say the concrete slab was a lid to a cesspool which measured approximately 16-feet deep. The boys were reportedly so overwhelmed by the stench that one fell in. Police say Vanegas-Fuentes lost his footing and tumbled into the septic tank's three-foot-wide opening. Calderon-Castro then jumped into the cesspool in an effort to rescue his unconscious friend. However, he too was quickly overcome by the toxic fumes and went under.

According to reports, it took firefighters nearly an hour to pull the teens to safety using hooked poles. Both boys were rushed to the hospital, but later died after being exposed to the cesspool's high levels of methane gas.

Since news of the boys' death broke, some people have been pointing fingers at the cesspool's owners saying that the parents should have warned the kids to stay away from the concrete lid. Others maintain that the boys were just being boys and the tragedy could have happened regardless of parental warnings.

Personally, I think the boys were old enough to roam around in a friend's backyard unsupervised; they simply didn't know that their actions would yield fatal results.

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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