So did the adults find out what the kid did in the movie? If so it makes me wonder just how many movies there are where kids do horrendously dumb stuff that puts lives in danger and get no real punishment. Not movie punishment either, where they'd get killed by whatever they caused, but by adults to actually teach them something.
Saw Meet Me in St. Louis this past summer and the kids there have a giant fire in the street and almost derail a train. The two that do the latter actually do get yelled at(by their sister, not parents) and they don't even pay attention to her and the scene ends with everyone laughing and the kids have learned nothing and suffer no consequences.
Compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, re-watched it a month or so before St. Louis so it was fresh, and what I hope real people would do, this was just stunningly bad parenting.