5 ms·

When Children Attack...

68 points by g-garron 15y ago

tokenadult 15y ago
Charity begins at home. The best gift any parent can give a child is a sense of responsibility for appropriate behavior, especially around visitors to the home. (Yes, I am a parent. I have four children. We don't have any pellet guns in the house.)
- Jach 15y ago
  Responsibility in general is a great thing to instill in a kid. I got a pellet gun when I was young for a gift, I always knew my dad had a shotgun and hunting rifle and even shot them a number of times before my double-digit years. It never occurred to me to shoot someone, though, even if I was mad. I was taught firmly that violence was Wrong, had many surrounding influences reinforcing that, and I'm glad for it. Some people shouldn't be parents. Can one as an outsider correct poor behavior in children without destroying the family that should never have been? Is it easier to correct poor parents? Even these types of stories of out of control kids discourage me, let alone the stories about child soldiers...
  - VladRussian 15y ago
    >Some people shouldn't be parents. it is obviously that the society is reaching the stage when procreation must be licensed (after appropriate education/exams, required professional/wealth level achievement and psychological/physical/aptitude tests) Once technology reaches the level when one just can't procreate without getting the permit - bingo!... well, we know the drill.
    - w1ntermute 15y ago
      The issue is that in the past, if the parents were bad, then the kids would just die (and the parents probably wouldn't live that long either), and so the problem would take care of itself. But now things have improved just enough that death isn't an issue, so we're stuck with all these people who (according to the natural state of things) should have died. Now you can debate all you want about whether these people have the right to live or not, but the fact of the matter is that their existence creates a new downward drag on society that did not exist before, and they threaten to bring down the rest of us if we don't do something about it.
    - fadzlan 15y ago
      Just because everyone in the world has the right has to be parents, it doesn't mean that it is right for them to be irresponsible. Of course, in that case, if you want to argue, they have all their rights to be irresponsible as well as long as they don't break the law. Now, if the society has come to this point that they value irresponsibility so much so that they argue for it, then we have gone a long way down then.
      - VladRussian 15y ago
        >everyone in the world has the right has to be parents are you sure? For example, the freedom of speech is in US Constitution, while reproductive freedom isn't there. Btw, the conservative right (churches, hillbilly morons, their elected representatives,...) wouldn't be that successful in limiting the reproductive freedom (in particular access to contraception and abortion and sexed (as education about a specific freedom is the key to advancing of the freedom)) if it were among the basic freedoms.
    - Prisen 15y ago
      The birth rates in the western world are already low enough that populations are decreasing excluding immigration. If your suggestion was implemented, they would literally go extinct in not that long a time span. Not sure I'd call that outcome a bingo!
- 16s 15y ago
  The pellet gun is not the problem. The child is the problem. Take the pellet gun away and he'll stab his victims with scissors. Take the scissors away and he'll beat his victims with a ball bat. The tool (pellet gun) is not the problem. Stop blaming the tool. Blame the attacker. The kid will probably grow up and sling sulfuric acid on his girl friends face. When he does that, will that be the acid's fault, or the shopkeeper who sold the acid, or the company that manufactured the acid... no it'll be the attacker's fault. I have a pellet gun and kids. They all use it responsibly and enjoy doing so. They would never shoot someone with it or threaten anyone... they know better.
  - mrmaddog 15y ago
    I wouldn't even argue that the kid is the problem, but rather that the kid's behavior is symptomatic of a completely dysfunctional family. At a certain age, responsibility starts shifting to the individual, but a 6 year old can hardly be considered the heart of the problem here. How to fix the deeper problem (having a mother that doesn't/is unable to care for her children) will always be an unsolved problem, but the best solutions I have seen so far involve beefing up our public school system so that the kids have a place that they can be given individualized attention.
    - DasIch 15y ago
      You cannot possibly beef up the public school system to the point that it replaces parental attention to children.
      - noduerme 15y ago
        Illiterate idiots can't raise responsible, intelligent children. Giving them free computers isn't the answer. What they need is to feel a constant sense of extreme shame for letting themselves and their situation degenerate to that degree. As it is, instead of shaming slothful, lazy, degenerate idiots, society shames itself into allowing them a free pass on the grounds that all else being equal, some people must be too stupid to figure anything out for themselves. Which turns out to be false when it comes to gaming the welfare system, cooking crystal meth or jacking peoples' shoes... but those kinds of smarts are what you get when you start coddling and nannying to the point where individuality and ambition are wiped out and the neediest and laziest survive. I hope none of my tax dollars went toward buying them a computer. In fact, I hope they eat each other. Great post, though.
- donw 15y ago
  Jesus... I learned about firearm safety long before even touching a pellet gun, much less an actual rifle. Can't even imagine as a child even pointing my BB gun at a person. Sounds like the mother in the original article was far more interested in herself than her children... sad.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
wicknicks 15y ago
This guy is a real hero. The work of going into such neighborhoods and providing services is a highly commendable one. Even if these kids are probably going to destroy this computer, there might be that one kid in some home like this who actually starts using computers the way they must be. Reaching out to such people is the best thing that can happen to them in the long run.
davvid 15y ago
I pointed my finger at him and told him firmly. "If you get up from that couch, I'm going to take the computer away." Really? I would have just slapped the kid ;-) It's quite effective.

68 points by g-garron 15y ago

Charity begins at home. The best gift any parent can give a child is a sense of responsibility for appropriate behavior, especially around visitors to the home. (Yes, I am a parent. I have four children. We don't have any pellet guns in the house.)

Jach 15y ago
Responsibility in general is a great thing to instill in a kid. I got a pellet gun when I was young for a gift, I always knew my dad had a shotgun and hunting rifle and even shot them a number of times before my double-digit years. It never occurred to me to shoot someone, though, even if I was mad. I was taught firmly that violence was Wrong, had many surrounding influences reinforcing that, and I'm glad for it. Some people shouldn't be parents. Can one as an outsider correct poor behavior in children without destroying the family that should never have been? Is it easier to correct poor parents? Even these types of stories of out of control kids discourage me, let alone the stories about child soldiers...
- VladRussian 15y ago
  >Some people shouldn't be parents. it is obviously that the society is reaching the stage when procreation must be licensed (after appropriate education/exams, required professional/wealth level achievement and psychological/physical/aptitude tests) Once technology reaches the level when one just can't procreate without getting the permit - bingo!... well, we know the drill.
  - w1ntermute 15y ago
    The issue is that in the past, if the parents were bad, then the kids would just die (and the parents probably wouldn't live that long either), and so the problem would take care of itself. But now things have improved just enough that death isn't an issue, so we're stuck with all these people who (according to the natural state of things) should have died. Now you can debate all you want about whether these people have the right to live or not, but the fact of the matter is that their existence creates a new downward drag on society that did not exist before, and they threaten to bring down the rest of us if we don't do something about it.
  - fadzlan 15y ago
    Just because everyone in the world has the right has to be parents, it doesn't mean that it is right for them to be irresponsible. Of course, in that case, if you want to argue, they have all their rights to be irresponsible as well as long as they don't break the law. Now, if the society has come to this point that they value irresponsibility so much so that they argue for it, then we have gone a long way down then.
    - VladRussian 15y ago
      >everyone in the world has the right has to be parents are you sure? For example, the freedom of speech is in US Constitution, while reproductive freedom isn't there. Btw, the conservative right (churches, hillbilly morons, their elected representatives,...) wouldn't be that successful in limiting the reproductive freedom (in particular access to contraception and abortion and sexed (as education about a specific freedom is the key to advancing of the freedom)) if it were among the basic freedoms.
  - Prisen 15y ago
    The birth rates in the western world are already low enough that populations are decreasing excluding immigration. If your suggestion was implemented, they would literally go extinct in not that long a time span. Not sure I'd call that outcome a bingo!
16s 15y ago
The pellet gun is not the problem. The child is the problem. Take the pellet gun away and he'll stab his victims with scissors. Take the scissors away and he'll beat his victims with a ball bat. The tool (pellet gun) is not the problem. Stop blaming the tool. Blame the attacker. The kid will probably grow up and sling sulfuric acid on his girl friends face. When he does that, will that be the acid's fault, or the shopkeeper who sold the acid, or the company that manufactured the acid... no it'll be the attacker's fault. I have a pellet gun and kids. They all use it responsibly and enjoy doing so. They would never shoot someone with it or threaten anyone... they know better.
- mrmaddog 15y ago
  I wouldn't even argue that the kid is the problem, but rather that the kid's behavior is symptomatic of a completely dysfunctional family. At a certain age, responsibility starts shifting to the individual, but a 6 year old can hardly be considered the heart of the problem here. How to fix the deeper problem (having a mother that doesn't/is unable to care for her children) will always be an unsolved problem, but the best solutions I have seen so far involve beefing up our public school system so that the kids have a place that they can be given individualized attention.
  - DasIch 15y ago
    You cannot possibly beef up the public school system to the point that it replaces parental attention to children.
    - noduerme 15y ago
      Illiterate idiots can't raise responsible, intelligent children. Giving them free computers isn't the answer. What they need is to feel a constant sense of extreme shame for letting themselves and their situation degenerate to that degree. As it is, instead of shaming slothful, lazy, degenerate idiots, society shames itself into allowing them a free pass on the grounds that all else being equal, some people must be too stupid to figure anything out for themselves. Which turns out to be false when it comes to gaming the welfare system, cooking crystal meth or jacking peoples' shoes... but those kinds of smarts are what you get when you start coddling and nannying to the point where individuality and ambition are wiped out and the neediest and laziest survive. I hope none of my tax dollars went toward buying them a computer. In fact, I hope they eat each other. Great post, though.
donw 15y ago
Jesus... I learned about firearm safety long before even touching a pellet gun, much less an actual rifle. Can't even imagine as a child even pointing my BB gun at a person. Sounds like the mother in the original article was far more interested in herself than her children... sad.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

wicknicks 15y ago

This guy is a real hero. The work of going into such neighborhoods and providing services is a highly commendable one. Even if these kids are probably going to destroy this computer, there might be that one kid in some home like this who actually starts using computers the way they must be. Reaching out to such people is the best thing that can happen to them in the long run.

davvid 15y ago

I pointed my finger at him and told him firmly. "If you get up from that couch, I'm going to take the computer away." Really? I would have just slapped the kid ;-) It's quite effective.