[Larry_OHF]

I came home early from college yesterday evening (nearly 6pm) and found my wife cleaning dishes and my oldest daughter doing homework. I saw the backdoor open and asked if my youngest (6yrs) was outside playing to which I received the response that yes, she's out there with the cat. I looked in the yard and saw the cat, but no 6 yr old. I walked outside and looked around and saw nothing but an open gate leading to the front. I walked around the house and did not find her, so I walked back inside and told my wife that she must be in the house. After not finding her initially, I let my wife know that I was beginning to worry that I was not finding her, and we walked around again, calling out to her. I ran across the street to see if she was at my father-in-law's house playing on the swing in his backyard. He had not been home all day and Caroline was not there either. I walked back to my house where I found my wife going to the neighbor's house because they have a cat over there and once they invited her over to pet it. Nobody was home over there except the lady who cannot leave her home for medical reasons. I saw my "bad" neighbors outside enjoying themselves and asked them if any of them had seen her, and two answered no, that they'd just come out, but one of them said he'd seen a girl walking up the road and pointed in that direction. I turned to look in that direction, feeling two things at once...fear that my life was about to change forever, that I could not imagine what things would be like without her...and anger beginning to boil that my wife had not monitored her better. I turn around just before running up the road to go looking for her, I thought in vain, and I see her turning the corner at the next block down and heading back home. I ran down to meet her with two more things going through my head...how lucky I was that I have her back...and how hard I was going to beat her in front of the world in the street. However, upon approaching her I merely asked..."what are you doing down here" to which she replied, "I wanted to walk around the block". This routine of walking around the block is done irregularly with my wife and two daughters, usually when my daughter wants to ride her bike and my 6 year old comes along and the three of them complete a nearly one-mile circle.
Don't miss my point on this...this neighborhood is not fit for a child to be alone. There are many bad people around here, and there are dogs I frequently see loose as well. It is nothing short of a miracle that she managed to go around for a mile with no adult in sight and make it home okay.

Yes, she's grounded for the rest of the time we're in this house from being outside without somebody else with her. That's the only punishment I can think of that suits the situation.