A woman who said she strangled her 18-year-old daughter because she "pushed my last button" pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree manslaughter.
Her husband, who discovered the body, wept during the court session.
You can read the rest here.
Are our children really so defiant as to deserve death? That is the question that I first thought of when I read this article. I then quickly concluded that our children are only as defiant as we allow them to be. I would be curious to know how this girl was raised. Was she allowed to backtalk? Was she allowed to disobey without consequence? Did she only have to obey when the parents where so frustrated that they disciplined her in anger? Of course, I don't know the answers to those questions and it would benefit her not on this side of the situation. However, it should cause us to think about how we raise our children and the laxity of our current society's emphasis on discipline and the lack of weight given to any one set of morals and values. If you choose to teach your child that something is of value that isn't materialistic, you run the risk of being labeled extremist or intolerant. If you choose not to instill within your children any set of values or morals you run the risk of destroying your family either by the situation that played out in this article or some lesser form thereof, or by abdication and apathy corrupting the family bonds, but I digress...
My condolences to the father who now must endure the loss of a child and a wife.
Here are some questions:
-Is the state of our youth in the hands of their parents?
-Should the state enact legislation to help stressed mothers cope with undisciplined youths as a state funded service (similar to how Memphis responded to this situation)?
-How do we, as parents and citizens, remedy this epidemic of unruly teens or is it too late?
2 comments:
This behavior was most likely tolerated - dare I say encouraged? - when she was younger. I've seen too many times where kids, especially girls, are allowed to be sassier and act "bigger than their britches" while the parents sit back and laugh and talk about how s/he's going to be when they grow up. If they're not conditioned and properly disciplined on what sort of attitude is expected from them at an early age, how can you expect them to do anything but irritate ("push your buttons") when they hit the terrible teens?
Not to mention that somebody pushing your buttons is ANY excuse for violence. Period.
Some things in this world just scream sin nature!
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