Parential Responsibility

[dascot]

Time outs !!!!!!!!!

I laugh when I hear that. Negotiating is for kidnappers and terrorists....NOT CHILDREN!!!

Oh nonsense. I mean, yes, if a kid is demanding a Merc in exchange for not wrecking the house, then there's bigger problems than can be solved with negotiation, but if a kid is upset about something or angry at something, you're just as likely to stop it with talking as you are with smacking them.

In this case though, the parents shouldn't have let the kid have the car. If they knowingly let the kid have the car, with his license suspended, then my feeling is their license should be suspended under penalty of being too stupid to have one. Seriosly, what kind of eejit lets a child drive a car that powerful anyway, let alone after prior experience proving child is not a careful driver.

 

[panthera]

count me in with the heartless darwinist crowd

At least, that is where much of my family puts me. I have (at last count, they breed like rabits) four nieces/nephews.
Two of the four are ok, one is still trying to decide whether the genetic defects (inbreeding, I said my family was red-neck) will win or he will and one is too dumb to pound dirt.
Unfortunately, the dumb one is also mean to animals.
First and last time I caught her trying to hit my cat, I disciplined her. Didn't smack her, but read her the riot act on treating animals properly. Was appalled, hell, I had to feed, water and walk the animals as a kid growing up before my own breakfast. Ditto after school. If I'd ever so much as teased a cat, I'd not have sat down for the next week.
Even the Rotweiler/Dobermann mix in the family RUNS from her.
So what is her parent's attitude?
I should not have corrected her and she just needs to 'express' herself.
This is the niece who a few months ago tried to reach into my running table saw (mummy couldn't be bothered to keep her out of my workroom...door closed, warning sign up...sheesh).
So when she wins the Natural Selection Prize of the year and either chops an essential body part off or abuses an animal which is not trained to be patient with 'family' whose fault will it be?
If you want to have kids, fine. But accept that for at least the next 18 years your life is no longer your own, you are no longer a free person, but a PARENT. Your responsibilities exceed your rights to freedom and just being you.
Grrr.