Sad but overboard?
I frequently have the news on while getting ready for work in the morning, which then changes to the Today show at 7AM. A story came on that made me stop and listen. A girl in Ohio sent nude pictures of herself to her boyfriend's cell phone, who then decided to broadcast them to everyone at their high school once they broke up. The girl was then repeatedly harassed and eventually hung herself, apparently due to the harassment. Her mother was on the show on a vendetta to make someone pay. She wanted the school to be responsible for her daughter's suicide. Apparently sending explicit texts - photos and texts themselves - is a broadening thing in young kids. It's called "sexting".
Now I don't have kids of my own but I like to think of myself as able to see both sides of a situation. I agree that the school should have done something about the harassment the girl was getting from classmates but at the same time, what if they didn't know it was going on? If the girl didn't say anything to officials, how are they to know about it and how is it the school's fault she then hung herself? The mother also wants to charge those involved in the harassment with "distributing child pornography" since her daughter was 17 at the time. If that charge sticks in court, the kids (some under 18 already) could then have to register as sexual offenders! A 16 year old girl has to register as a sexual offender for life because she passed along a photo of a classmate. Hmmm. Losing a child, I'm sure, is probably the worst thing a parent can go through. You want someone to pay for taking away your offspring, for making them suffer. But is suing a school and turning underage kids into sexual offenders really going to make her feel better and make the situation right?
Kids can be absolute monsters, I can attest to this. I was teased a lot in middle and high school because I had glasses, was quiet and had no boobs...jackpot for bullies. I was in tears on more than one occasion. My mom knew about the teasing but I dealt with it on my own; I stopped reacting to the teasing and my tormenters soon realized I wasn't fun to tease anymore because they didn't get a reaction out of me.
I even had a good friend commit suicide a couple years ago so it's not like I'm insensitive to the suicide issue. It was hard to deal with and all of us were wondering if we missed signs or could've done something.
I just wonder if this country has gotten a little sue happy and too quick to point fingers.
1 comments:
Sounds like a parenting problem to start with. A. if the parent taught the kid that it was wrong especially at that age to take nude pics of yourself, then it would have never started. B. If the parent had more control over the kids cel phone privilages like limiting texting etc, or having checks on the phone weekly or something. C. If the parent let the child know that they can always talk about things and being open to all things without being judgemental then the daughter could have talked to her about what is going on. But so many parents would "freak out" if they knew their daughter/son took nude shots of themselves that kids are afraid to talk to them if this type of problem were to ever happen. D. If the mom were more aware that her daughter were distressed and getting depressed instead of being in denial like most are, then she could have at least gotten her help somewhere before she decided to end her life. I say be a better parent and not blame schools, etc. on their bad ignorant parenting!
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