The GEM Debate:
Should Disciplining YOUR Child Become A Police Issue?
Well these kids are off and running in 2013, I see. We as parents have our own set of goals, but some children are going over the top and putting our parental fortitude to the test.
Two teens in Rocklin, California have been arrested for spiking their parents’ milkshakes with prescription sleeping pills. Yeah. It seems the parents wouldn’t let the girls, one of whom was their daughter, have access to the Internet after 10pm. So what do the teens do to extend that curfew? They give the adults sleeping pill milkshakes and so they could have the Facebook marathon they so desperately desired.
Now the question we are asking today isn’t about the curfew, it’s about what the parents did once they found out their cuties were conniving on the level of some convicts. The suspicious adults took their drug tests to the police and had the girls arrested. That’s right. They didn’t place stricter curfews on the Internet, didn’t ban the other young lady from coming over for a month. This was no Brady Bunch special; the parents had the girls arrested.
But these parents are hardly alone. This story comes on the heels of another one out of Kansas City, where a mother, upon recognizing her son as a suspect in an attempted robbery, put him in the car and dropped him off….. at the police station.
So what do you think? Should parents take a harder line these days? The girls are only 15- and 16-year-olds and probably didn’t know that “willfully mingling a pharmaceutical with food” was even a crime, however, they are at an age where they need to know their actions have consequences. I’ve definitely thought on several occasions that there are some children that just need to be scared straight. We can’t wait until they are 18 to really start laying down the law. By then it is too late for us as parents to reign them back in. Good behavior is learned and, just like with a toddler you have to smack their hands when they do something wrong, when teens do something that could fatally harm someone they need to go to jail. I don’t even think you should think twice especially with these young people who go so much farther than crushed up sleeping pills and actually harm or kill someone.
I’d love to hear what you think about this. What would you have suggested to these parents? Have you ever had to make a very hard or surprising decision when it came to disciplining your children. Let’s hear ya!
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Ella Rucker is the mother of one of the smartest, funniest two-year-olds she’s ever met. She is currently assistant to the head GEM which means hats o’ plenty including writing, editing, and producing for Good Enough Mother. An Ohio native implanted in NYC for the last 13 years, Ella has achieved one of her many dreams by writing. Her musings (she’s amused they’d be called “musings”) can be found at other places on the web so make sure you follow her on twitter @ellalaverne so you don’t miss any of the fun.
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Let’s see….2 teenaged girls, poisoning someone so they can do what they want to??? I was actually in KCMO when the mom had her son arrested for the attempted robbery. When these young people participate or do things to harm someone or break the law, they should be punished. I’m sorry I would feel the same if it were my girls. Would I be upset? Yes and very disappointed, but I can’t make excuses for their actions. I will say this, I believe you know when your child is making the wrong turn, going in the wrong direction. I can’t judge, but in the end they need to be punished. They could have killed them…
I think there is a fine line to walk here. In this case, as well as when the mother turned in her son for armed robbery, there is an actual charge. It is illegal to drug someone else without their knowledge (obvious medical exceptions aside), so ya, if I found out what my daughter and her friend did, I’d be pissed, she’d lose whatever privileges she had and I would go to the police. She needs to learn that there are consequences for her actions. What happens if they had overdosed the parents?
But not every case requires police assistance. I have heard of circumstances where a child isn’t listening, or is arguing with his/her parents and the parents call the police expecting the police to set them straight. It’s not the job of the local police agencies to raise your children!
I love my kids and I’m their biggest cheerleader and advocate. I am very proud of their accomplishments and the path that they are taking in life and I take every opportunity to walk them through teachable moments when they occur. But, I reserve the right to beat the brakes off my kids when they do something completely stupid. I’d rather take that action to help deter them from making monumental mistakes when they are older. That way I will hopefully lower the percentage that they will make a guest appearance in the state penitentiary. Let me be clear my kids are generally well behaved and thankfully are free thinkers that make good decisions. If at any time my kids chose to partake in actions that are criminal I would do my best to get them a great lawyer to help with their defense and I would be there in their corner loving them through the process. Just my thoughts…