At least he was in the park and wouldn't have been in violation if they had a chaperone policy 

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2024/08/19/dad-leaves-young-kids-unattended-cedar-point-roller-coasters-sandusky-police-corkscrew-GateKeeper/74857410007/?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawEwx3hleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfuAAxYLBYFepp87-yJddilGEbgLakc-2MKDwjV6ZlpRe3ju0wCWFwvSVQ_aem_QR_3rXP0yJhYhJVXjrn0oQ

 

What was this guy thinking? Glad he's facing charges and hopefully he's learned his lesson. He's lucky nothing happened to the kids.

The world is full of too many predators and the fact that this man so carelessly left his young children unattended is awful. Anyone could have kidnapped these children in the blink of an eye. Not to mention the fact that since they are small children, they may have decided to wander off into restricted areas where they could have been hurt or killed. None of this is good. I agree, I'm glad the man is facing charges. There is literally nothing worth leaving your babies unattended for. I wouldn't even leave my dog unattended like that let alone if I had a kid. 

This is very unfortunate and I do agree that this guy is totally in the wrong here. An 8 year old is not going to be able to properly look after two younger siblings and if there was some sort of child predator in the park an 8 year old is not equipped to handle that sort of situation. The proper thing to do is either bring another adult to watch younger kids or if push comes to shove you all wait in the line together and when you get up to the gate you let the 9y.o. ride alone and you and the other children either cross over or go back through the que and meet her at the exit. I think CP does check height at the entrance to certain rides but I've seen my grandma take my younger cousins in line for plenty of rides at Kings Island and explain to the operator they were just going to walk across to the exit. Ops never seemed to have an issue with it and when me and my older cousins would get off the ride she'd be right by the exit waiting. 

I remember when they used to have a kids corral at some roller coasters; I believe The Beast had one at one point. Maybe The Racers too; can't recall for sure.  I'm sure at some point some lawyer said the liability possibilities were far too great for that to be worth the parks efforts.

Anyhoo, makes me wonder what is the proper age to leave a kid unsupervised just off the ride?  Obviously an 8 year old "watching" a 4 and 2 year old is far too young.  Would a 10 year old watching a 6 year old be OK if they waiting in line then stood at the exit while you rode?  I'm past that thought excersize as my youngest (8) will ride everything, so its really only my 12 year old daughter that occasionally has to wait in line with us then sit in the exit que while the rest of the family rides.  As long as she just stands by the exit gates I feel she is pretty safe.