You know, dialing 911 for emergencies is valid, but in this situation, it's not valid by any means. I don't find it is necessary to call 911 or the cops for a minor mishap such as this one. Calling the cops for just "getting her son to stop playing video games" is just plain stupid. I mean, hello, try SNATCHING THE DAMN VIDEO CONSOLE AWAY FROM HIM! That'll put a stop to the situation at hand. I don't get how parents can call the cops over minor things like these and expect the cops to take the role on as a parent guide. Now calling the police for domestic violence? That's a good excuse to call! But for this, hell no! The woman should first give the kid a warning and THEN snatch the video console away from the kid. Why is it now parents are letting their kids get away with murder and not disciplining them correctly? It makes no sense to me.
I don't even see what the big problem was. Staying up until 2am playing video games on a Saturday is hardly the worst thing you can do at 14 years old. Would she rather he be running around on the streets at 2am?
But if she was close to a cop buddy, she would call him or her directly not 911. I do agree there may be more to the story. However, I wouldn't let my future kids do this.
This has never been a problem in my household even when my sons were teenagers despite the fact that I was a single mother. My sons knew how far they could push me and it wasn't very far. When it came down to matetrs of discipline I was their boss, not their friend. Two of my three sons turned out OK.
Yeah! Or the kid could be KILLING PEOPLE! She should count her blessings. The fact that he could be doing something WORSE is no excuse for disobeying his mother.
I am not seeing the problem. If she was having a problem with her 14-year old son then what else is she suppose to do but call the cops. The story doesn't say, but maybe he refused to do as he was told and she did not feel like she was physically able to make him. Happens every single day. Sometimes I think you guys do live in a rose-colored world, where time out works.
If she wasn't assertive enough to get 14 year old to do as she asked than she is missing some important parenting skills. That said, I once called the cops on my eldest son. I realised he was shoplifting when I found empty Transformers packets in his room. Normally I would have dealt with this by taking my son to the store from which he had stolen from and made some arrangements with them for him to pay back the value of the items on top of the punishment he got from me. However he admitted to me he was stealing to fulfil orders from classmates. The children were all aware that Daniel was stealing the toys. As I thought that the parents of these children should know what their children were doing I contacted the police. The police went to the school and talked to the principal. The principal went into the class and told all the children who had recieved the stolen toys to stand up. Letters went home to the parents of these children. The department store that he had stolen from didn't lay charges because they thought that "the child's mother was dealing well with the situation".
My mother would never have called the cops for something like this. She wouldn't have wanted any witnesses.
The problem is that 911 is for emergency services. Calling it in a situation that is not an emergency costs time and money... possibly critical time that the police might have needed to respond to a real emergency.
^^^ That is a good point. When I phoned the police I phoned the local police station, not the emergency number. And I asked to talk the policeman who regularly talked to the children at my son's school as part of the Friendly Cop program as I knew that this policeman worked well with children.
Do you think domestic violence only occurs between couples? If you do you are sadly mistaken. When I was 14 I could kick most adult men's butt with no effort, so can my sons. I think you guys should really do some volunteer work with some troubled teens since you think every 14-year old can be handled with "parenting" skills. 911 is for whenever someone feels threatened. I have seen 14 year old girls that would scare the crap out of you. This all boils down to a lot of people here thinking that there is nothing wrong with a teen playing violent video games.
Most of the children I know who are violent are a product of poor parenting skills. If respect for rules is developed at an early age than it is easier to make teenagers obey rules. Where did he get the game from? And why didn't she take it away from him? I would never let my sons play violent video games until they were adults.
All I was saying is that I'm shocked that the mother figured that her son quietly playing a video game on a Saturday night warranted calling the cops. There was obviously more going on that the article isn't telling us, but given how batshit insane the mother is I'm definitely siding with the kid here.
If I knew my teenage sons were playing games that late on a Saturday night I would pull them out of bed at 7 in the morning and make them do the housework no matter how tired they were.
There is absolutely nothing in the article to support this interpretation of events, nor is there anything in what I posted to indicate what I think about domestic violence. I think you probably shouldn't make assumptions on events and people's beliefs without actual evidence.
I'm not a parent, but I don't see what's wrong with a teenager occasionally staying up that late. Assuming he's doing well in school and isn't addicted to video games what's so bad about the occasional late night gaming session? Given how crazy the mother appears to be I'm sure the kid has quite a few problems, but simply staying up late doing a quiet activity on the weekend is hardly a big deal.
I'm my rose-colored world video game consoles have power cords and cables which can be unplugged so I can remove the console before I would ever take the steps of either physically trying to remove the kid or calling the police.
So all bad kids are the product of bad parents? Gotcha. What if he got the game from a friend or just bought it on his own? What would you do if the teen took the console back? Would you physically take it back? What if they attacked you to keep you from doing so? How exactly would you react? What if this was her boyfriend or husband, same size as her son and she felt threatened, would you still say that she didn't need to call the cops? We don't know the details so stop acting like we do. I am glad so many of you live in worlds where you don't see this as a problem. I unfortunately do not and I know better. And yes there is something wrong with a 14-year staying up to 2 A.M. playing video games. Adults get to do what they want not children.
Actually what is being said is that most bad children are a result of bad parenting not all bad kids are. Yes, I would take it back. At 14, he should not have the gaming console in his room but it should be in the loungeroom where the mother would have more control over it. My children didn't even have a TV in there room when they were 14. Nothing in the article suggested that the child had ever acted this way. If he had, I would be suggesting that the mother gets much needed psychological help for the child.