Latest school shooting; parents charged

[Lilith7]

This has barely made a ripple here, perhaps because US school shootings happen so often now. But the parents of this boy are to be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
He seems to be quite disturbed but his parents weren't in any rush to get him counselling or help of some sort. 



https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/par...y-rcna7479


During Friday's news conference, the top prosecutor in Oakland County said that a teacher had observed Ethan Crumbley searching ammunition on his cellphone and alerted school officials. The school tried to contact his mother but could not reach her.

McDonald told reporters that Jennifer Crumbley did not contact the school but instead texted her son: "Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught."
On Tuesday, prior to the shooting, another teacher alerted school officials to a drawing found on Ethan Crumbley's desk. It contained a drawing of a gun pointing at the words “the thoughts won’t stop, help me," the prosecutor said.

There was also a drawing of a bullet with the words “blood everywhere” above it and a drawing of a person who appeared to have been shot twice and was bleeding. McDonald said the drawing of the person included a laughing emoji and the phrases “my life is useless” and “the world is dead."

[crafters_corner]

I'm all for charging the parents as well. They knew they had a troubled son, and did nothing. Shame on them.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Disturbed children are usually caused, rarely born that way.

[Lilith7]

They just don't seem to fully understand their son's state of mind at all, or they decided to simply ignore it. I think charging them is fair enough - & may even have a slightly deterrent effect on would be shooters there. Although that might require a massive change in mindset in America.

[Lilith7]

The parents have been arrested, found in a warehouse rather than giving themselves up.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/04/us/mi...index.html

[harm_less]

This movie portrays a couple try to deal with their troubled son. I remember seeing it as an in-flight movie and the enduring memory of it is that every scene has red in it. A very striking movie.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I agree these parents were seriously neglecting the care of their son, but I wonder if it isn't a precedent that might end up biting a lot of parents in the bum. Parenting is never perfect, every single one of us has some serious regrets about the way we did it if we are honest, but to blame parents for the actions of their child could lead to some interesting legal cases.

Where do we draw the line? Is it really our fault the child turns out to be a serial killer? Or the drunk driver? The recidivist burglar? The drug dealer? The prime minister? Or worse, leader of the opposition...

[Lilith7]

There IS no perfect parent, we all make mistakes along the way. And there does come a point when the responsibility is not the parent's but that of the child once they reach the 'age of reason' for want of a better term.
These parents thought it was a great idea to give their son a gun ( that may seem bizarre to us but not so much in America) & they ignored possible warning signs that all was not well with their son so I think they're culpable to some extent.

But there does have to be a cut off point where the responsibility is on the individual rather than their parents - & I'm sure that there's no convenient, hard & fast rule as to when that might be.
"Psychiatrists get rich, blaming mothers."

I do think most of us though can count ourselves successful in some small measure as parents, if our kids show no desire to enter politics.