"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...
I disagree Jonathan,
A responsible parent does not need to hide things from teenagers. A parent
teaching discipline, respect, and responsibility would solve alot more
problems. If he were mine he would not have to worry much about riding in
cars or planes for a spell..because the docs would be removing my foot out
of his butt !
But I am glad the young renegade did not kill himself, and more so did
not kill anyone else! But we all know how "today's " world goes, he will
probably be put in the time out chair for a few hours and then the parents
will wonder why he is a convicted felon in a few years.

There is lots of evidence that creating a felon out of a 14-year-old does
neither the boy nor society any good, but that's another arguement.

And I do agree the parents probably did not have a clue as to what this
kid did or does. But remember the good old days when parents could be
parents? When I was a kid if you went to a store with your folks and acted
up , you got your backside tore up right there in front of God and
everybody else.

Unfortunately, the net effect was for you to then try to spite them all the
more, the next chance you got.

Try to do that now and they send your kids to foster care and you to
prison. So maybe the whole blame just isn't on a parents lack of parenting
skills, but a combination of a lack of those skills and interference by
the government.

Now I am in agreement that parental discipline is being seriously eroded by
well-meaning anti-abuse laws, but there is something of a difference between
a "lack-of-discipline" , and "dangerous curiousity". The most well-behaved
child in the world, with all the right values, can still have a dangerous
curiousity that he just can't resist testing.


Myself I feel a 14 year old is old enough to take the blame for his own
actions..I blame this young fellow more than anything else. He is not two,
we should not have to hide the dish cleaners from him anymore, nor should
we have to hide our possessions...he should know right from wrong at this
point. If he doesn't he sure has a hard row to hoe.



At this point we cannot judge whether this fellow is truly a felon, or
simply a kid who could not resist a mis-guided curiosity. I suggest that
half the posters to this NG have participated in some dangerous activity in
their teens, lived through it, and became reasonably model citizens. Most
didn't get caught... many got lucky that they didn't kill someone...

As society got more complicated, it has become easier for mis-guided
teenagers to kill themselves or others, so extra education and caution is
necessary, sure. But a 14-year-old who did a stupid and dangerous thing
should not necessarily be labelled a felon for life.

Civil restitution is something else, but the *criminal* prosecution of a
14-year-old should be guided by his intent, rather than by a knee-jerk
because of the extent of damage caused.