South Carolina mother has son arrested for playing with Christmas present

[sanctus]

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A fed-up mother had her 12-year-old son arrested for allegedly rummaging through his great-grandmother's things and playing with his Christmas present early.

The mother called police Sunday after learning her son had disobeyed orders and repeatedly taken a Game Boy from its hiding place at his grandmother's house next door and played with it. He was arrested on petty larceny charges, taken to the local police station in handcuffs and held until his mother picked him up after church.

"My grandmother went out of her way to lay away a toy and paid on this thing for months," said the boy's mother, Brandi Ervin.

"It was only to teach my son a lesson. He's been going through life doing things...and getting away with it."

Police did not release the boy's name.

The mother said her son was diagnosed in the last year with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder but his medicine does not seem to help.

She said he faces an expulsion hearing at his school Wednesday. Rock Hill Police Capt. Mark Bollinger said the boy took a swing at a police officer assigned to the school last month. He has been suspended from school since then.

The boy's case will be presented to Department of Juvenile Justice officials in York County, who will decide what happens to him, Bollinger said. His mother hopes he can attend a program that will finally scare him straight.

"It's not even about the Christmas present," she said.

"I only want positive things out of it...There's no need for him to act this way. I'd rather call myself than someone else call for him doing something worse than this."

 

[Vereya]

It's absolutely insane! Arresting a child for playing with a toy! And that creature calls herself a mother!
I wonder, if every mother did things like that, would anyone reach majority without being arrested?
No, it's absolutely outrageous! Calling the police when you find your kid playing with a toy he wasn't supposed to see! Hide it better, if you know that your child is inquisitive. Kids are kids, they always want to find out what the parents are going to give them for holidays. I was like that myself, when I was small. Though I did stop doing such things by the time I was ten.
I guess that mother-creature is going to have still more problems with her son from now on. Instead of frightening the child into behaving she ought to have explained things to him properly.
Police is an institution for fighting crime, and not for fighting kids.
I wonder if the woman is mentally sane herself. It was not the reaction of a mature individual.

 

[tamarin]

Um, why wasn't the father asked to deal with the child? You know- the male guy in the household? Or is there one?
I pity the school system and the neighbourhood where this family lives. Such children are a huge burden on services and community property. And as usual the tad is diagnosed with ADD. Active, Destructive and Disobedient.
In the good ol' days he'd have had his ass whupped and that would be the end of it.

 

[Zzarchov]

I completely agree with the mother.

She is doing what a good mother should do. Teach her child how to live in this world. He isn't being abused, he isn't being beaten. He's a getting spend a few "Scary" hours in a locked room. Boo hoo.

The kid will hopefully learn that there are consequences for you actions, and if you keep this type of behaviour up, you'll end up in real jail, for a real long time.

 

[Ariadne]

I completely agree with the mother.

She is doing what a good mother should do. Teach her child how to live in this world. He isn't being abused, he isn't being beaten. He's a getting spend a few "Scary" hours in a locked room. Boo hoo.

The kid will hopefully learn that there are consequences for you actions, and if you keep this type of behaviour up, you'll end up in real jail, for a real long time.

It seems to me that there are more appropriate ways to make a point with the discipline a child without asking for the assistance of the police. This boy is only 12 and what he's going to learn is that the police, like the school, talk to him a bit and then send him on his merry way. Nothing will happen and there will be no consequences. He is learning that no level of society can touch him or prevent him from doing whatever he wants. He should have been better disciplined when he was young because it sounds like he hasn't had any discipline. He'll keep pushing the limits until he does end up in prison.

 

[hermanntrude]

police was not the answer here. i agree the toy should have been better hidden and once it was found, given to the child, and an explanation made tat since the kid found his present, he wont be getting anything as a surprise on christmas day. i expect to a kid, sitting around on xmas morning with everyone opening presents except you is punishment enough

 

[I think not]

She said he faces an expulsion hearing at his school Wednesday. Rock Hill Police Capt. Mark Bollinger said the boy took a swing at a police officer assigned to the school last month. He has been suspended from school since then.

The kid has issues. Don't rush to judgement from the headlines. The mother is obviously trying to figure out what will work.

Having said that, I'm glad she's not my mother.

 

[tamarin]

If the kid's got ADD he's got issues all right. And so will his neighbourhood, school and community. There's something in the air these days. Diagnoses of ADD, autism and asthma have skyrocketed amongst children. All I know is if you're a hardworking, taxpaying parent of well behaved kids the last thing you want in your child's classroom is an ADD student. Unless he's on meds. But I forgot - that's now child abuse in many PC books. Funny, having your kid's teacher's time being swallowed up by little miss or mr screwup doesn't constitute the same for your own child.

 

[Sassylassie]

I wonder is ADD as rampart as it appears to be or is it just a label for "Bad" or out of control youth? Personally I would of had Grandma march his sorry butt back to the store she purchased the Game Boy and returned it and bought herself a new outfit. Thus the snot monster would of learned what the word consequences means. The kid needs to learn, NO means no-not maybe, oh golly gee, or whatever.

 

[Dalreg]

I wonder is ADD as rampart as it appears to be or is it just a label for "Bad" or out of control youth? Personally I would of had Grandma march his sorry butt back to the store she purchased the Game Boy and returned it and bought herself a new outfit. Thus the snot monster would of learned what the word consequences means. The kid needs to learn, NO means no-not maybe, oh golly gee, or whatever.

I was thinking the same thing except his grandma should have returned it without saying anything. That way the next time he snuck over to play with it it would have been gone. Christmas morning would be a shock too when their is no gift to unwrap.

 

[selfactivated]

Im curious (no pun intended) what WOULD be an offense you would call the police?

 

[CDNBear]

I think she did the right thing.

All the bleeding heart replies here are a the very reason our society is going down the tube. Just look at the rise in Doc Spock drivel and molly coddling of kids and the direct rise in child crime and discipline problems.

Blah blah blah, the brat has issues that needed a stern response, he got it.

 

[northstar]

This mother obviously has deep rooted psychological issues to be so stupid as to put a child through this...and most normal boys are high energy [hyper] and like to attend to several things at once. This is called a normal healthy busy child...l doubt he has any real problems except for the resounding and obvious issue of having a very wierd parent...poor child, this mother should be institutionalized for stupidity, is there a NUCKLEHEAD WARD???

 

[northstar]

It's absolutely insane! Arresting a child for playing with a toy! And that creature calls herself a mother!
I wonder, if every mother did things like that, would anyone reach majority without being arrested?
No, it's absolutely outrageous! Calling the police when you find your kid playing with a toy he wasn't supposed to see! Hide it better, if you know that your child is inquisitive. Kids are kids, they always want to find out what the parents are going to give them for holidays. I was like that myself, when I was small. Though I did stop doing such things by the time I was ten.
I guess that mother-creature is going to have still more problems with her son from now on. Instead of frightening the child into behaving she ought to have explained things to him properly.
Police is an institution for fighting crime, and not for fighting kids.
I wonder if the woman is mentally sane herself. It was not the reaction of a mature individual.

-V.

You got that RIGHT! Hide it better, or just say, 'oh well' and give it to the kid, BIG DEAL. So one less present under the tree for Xmas...this Mother has no idea how traumatic this would be for a child, she is a nut case...

I was hyper and always needed several things going on at once, and it has served me well as l have used it very successfully in my career, but traumatizing a child this way and then tell the world he has problems is being damaging and non-responsible. Children are a reflection of their environments, and so l feel sorry for this child judging from the stupid and nasty irresponsible behaviour of the parent.

Being accepting is all part of being a good parent, regardless of mistakes that children inevitably make as they grow up and find out the rule of consequences. This woman has the problem, not the child.

 

[selfactivated]

Yanno Im so glad the judge I had to go in front of wasnt as judgemental as you people. Im sure this womans story isnt near complete and even if it is ........maybe just maybe this was her way of saying help. At 12 my daughter was causing trouble in school on porpose. At 14 she took a metal chair to my back causing 4 fractured vertibrae and a herniated disk, at 15 she kicked me so hard in the stomach my uterus proclapsed. Now at what time was I sposed to cry out for help? When she first started trouble and NOTHING I did as a parent help? I guarentee you theres much more to this story and this woman is doing her very best.

 

[northstar]

yikes....I guess we just draw from our own experience...and l can see where you are coming from,however, the police force is not to serve parents in parenting courses regardless...

l think this mom would have been taking care of herself and her son by enrolling in a counselling session at her community centre. In every Canadian and U.K and U.S. community there is such services and they can either help the parent and child together or separately.

The Police are crazy busy with taking care of our public safety and criminal behaviour so she was wrong to use them in this way and l still feel it was irresponsible parenting when other resources in her community are available.

 

[Nuggler]

I think if I had done the same thing when I was a kid, the same present would have been there on Christmas morning, just the way it was left, opened, no surprise. For me at least, that would have been worse than jail time.

Both the mum and kid have some issues which should be resolved before the kid gets old enough to work the action on a shotgun.

Anyone ever been to South Carolina?

Squeal like a pig!!:snorting:

YEEEEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!:grommit:

 

[tamarin]

Well, it's all just namby pamby to tiptoe around the issue of ADD. If the kid in question has it, he needs a helluva lot more than counselling. And if he can't get his act in gear he shouldn't be foisted on the school system and cheat other students of the classtime and lesson time attention they deserve. I'm unsympathetic. Those folks who follow the rules, who try to build community and support it come first. No excuses.

 

[Vereya]

I've read all of the replies here, and I feel like asking all of you a stupid question. What's the problem with your kids? Where did all these sophisticated-sounding diagnoses come from?
I have a lot to say about the society and the social atmosphere of my country, and few of these things would be complimentary, but no matter how bad the Russian society might be, we dont' have schoolchildren that have to take antidepressants or tranquilizers. We don't have parents arrest their children, because they don't see a way to deal with them. We don't have kids bringing guns to school and shooting their teachers and classmates. Now my questions is - is it something that you do very wrong as parents? Or is somehow the pressure on your young citizens so great, that they need a psychiatrist at a very early age? In my country if a child misbehaves at school or at home, it doesn't mean that the child needs medication, it means that the child needs discipline. From the medical and biological point of view people are basically the same everywhere, it is just the social/cultural setting that makes the difference. What do you think could be so very wrong with your social setting to bring forth these kinds of reactions?

 

[northstar]

oldnugly, you have a good point, South Carolina is a different type of community than here, although l just visited, it defiantely is different, l don't want to insult anyone but l was reminded a couple of times of the hillbillies...yikes...
maybe that explains the extreme response of this mother that she would use the police resources for parenting and traumatizing the child. Attention Deficite Dis-order, if this child has been diagnosed by someone other than his mother or some back-country medicine man, is very treatable, and their are support groups, and yes, counselling as well.

and l agree with you oldnugly, l would have had the same thing happen to me, just being told off for snooping around christmas time, and then it would be wrapped and put under the tree...l mean think about it, ALL kids snoop at Christmas, it is the fun, l can't wait, and the school ground, chit-chat of ALL kids prior to Christmas. We used to always talk about, have you found anything, and compare notes...it is the fun of the season, the anticipation and the knowledge that there is no such thing as santa and l will prove it by finding my presents.

Ooops, l just want everyone to know that l truly believe in Santa and l think he will give me what l want....

and this mom should get coal.