NY Mom kicks kids out of car and drives off.

[honeychile]

Paluam, I so understand you! I had the wonderful opportunity to be in a restaurant when a little boy started to really act up. His father spoke to him once, and the second time, the fther marched him out of the restaurant, and we could see Daddy scold Bad Son outside.

Eventually, they both came back in, and the little boy stopped at all the tables near their table and said, "I'm sorry I ruined your dinner."

I happened to run into the father as we were leaving, and told him that there needs to be more fathers like him. He thanked me and said that if he didn't follow up on what he had told his son what he was going to do, the son would never learn to listen to him.

I wanted to applaud!

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by paulam

So "mommy dearest" is a high powered lawyer. Big deal. She is a total failure as a parent, the most important job she will ever have. How sad.

You're going a tad strong there with the "total failure" talk, aren't you? I mean, at most, she may have made a poor decision here. But to call her a "total failure" is ridiculous and exaggerated, at best.

[laurent]

I just want to add that I live around the corner from her and our kids play together...This was a disgusting act, but her kids are baaaaaaaadddd!!!! Disrespectful and totally out of control!

[nikki1920]

Kids don't become "totally out of control" over night. Put the fear of Mom in them when they are little and you will be ok in the end. Ask lilnikki: all Mommy has to do is drop her voice, and things get done.

DS: my mom is a certified spankologist as well. Hence, why I've never been to jail or been put out of a car. B/c M. Butler WOULD do that. And drive off.

[libramunoz]

My mother was definetly a certified spankologist as well.
Honeychile, you are correct, the need for discipline began years ago. This mother should have KNOWN how to control her kids, but then that would have meant that she would have to pay attention to her children to begin with.

[SydneyK]

I'm not going to try to defend this woman's actions, but I think it's a bit judgmental for anyone who doesn't personally know her to accuse her of not paying attention to her kids.

[oncegreek]

During the southern cal wildfires of 2007, my kids and I were all home. We were lucky- our home was safe, and we were in no danger. I took my 2 boys out shopping, and my younger one aka, "Thing 2" was being a real jerk, answering back, etc on the drive home. He was 9 at the time. Well, a block from home, I let him out of the car, and told him to walk. He met me at home, less than 5 minutes later. He had run the whole way, and two people had offered him to get him help, thinking that he was running away from a fire! Thing 2 has not misbehaved in the car since, and I have not put him out of the car either!

[Senusret I]

I wish the Goblin King really would take them away. Right now.

[Senusret I]

Greek Chat is so fucking ridiculous.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Greek Chat is so fucking ridiculous.

Of course.

Clearly, this would not be "news" if the police had not gotten involved. Many people who are over-the-top outraged may even find this ordeal humorous or a lesson learned by the children because there was no harm caused. So if this makes this woman a TOTAL FAILURE then 99% of parents are TOTAL FAILURES. Almost every parent has done something at home or in public that an OUTSIDER would consider completely inappropriate or a risk to the child. Things done in moderation like raising your voice, spanking, or allowing a 12 yo child to walk a few miles to school in the suburbs have been criticized as being potentially unsafe for kids. If the police and CPS were called, I wonder how many otherwise excellent parents with well-disciplined kids (most of the time) would be labeled TOTAL FAILURES.

I'm also amused how people in here are acting like parenting isn't a 24/7 job. You don't raise children with discipline and then take a vacation because these children will always act the way they are supposed to. There are plenty of well raised kids who act up at the most inopportune times. From the outside looking in, it's easy to say "you should start sooner and raise them better." There are a lot of badass kids in schools who were raised extremely well. Kids act out for reasons beyond a lack of discipline. Sometimes they act out for attention and they know that "good kids turned bad" get more of a reaction from the shocked parents and other adults.

As for the notion that when we were little, parents could make us walk but that could never occur now because "those were simpler times": Child offenders were ALWAYS around and they NEVER went too far from their residence to prey on children. The media covers child offenders more but there is no consistent data to suggest that child offenders are more prevalent now than in decades past. So that child who was left to walk those 3 miles in 2009 is in as much danger as that child in 1999...1989...1979...unless there is crime data for particular areas to suggest otherwise.