Family problems are not exactly rare. Every family has them. Some problems are obviously more serious than others, but since when did children start thinking that their options included killing one's parents?
Can we blame naivete, some children just not fully understanding the consequences of their actions? Can we blame the news media for providing ideas to unexperienced, emotionally distressed youths by reporting other such deeds? Can we blame entertainment for glorifying unacceptable and unethical solutions to problems faced by the story's hero? Can we blame the parents for not providing the direction needed to guide a fragile child into a harsh world?
Granted, I'm sure things similar to this have been going on throughout human history, but I think it's important that we look at ourselves as a society and wonder what went wrong and how can we stop this. Unfortunately, I don't think there's any simple answer.
quote: Beckrich told police he had heard Grant complain that his parents made him work "for free" for two years...There also were discussions between Grant and his parents in which he was allegedly told "that he wasn't really doing anything with his life," Fahey said.
Grant had struggled in school, said family friend and neighbor Marsh Halberg. He wasn't working. Tom Everson had asked Grant if he had been using drugs, the father told police.
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Regardless of what the parents and son discussed, Grant believed by last Friday that there was only one thing left to do: His parents "need to be out of the picture by Tuesday," Beckrich said Grant told him.
Disdain for his parents aside, there was another motive: money. He figured his parents' insurance would be enough for him to move and open a coffee shop in Amsterdam, Beckrich told police. It would be a place where they could sell marijuana without legal trouble.
Beckrich was lending more than an ear. He would be asked to be Grant's partner, he told police. He was to get half of the insurance benefits, or, Grant told him, in a "worst-case scenario," Beckrich would get at least the car, truck and 79-inch TV -- enough to sell for the $10,000 to $20,000 that Beckrich thought he needed to open the shop, he told police.
And the talk about killing parents apparently also included Beckrich's parents. Beckrich told police. But Beckrich said he couldn't do that; his parents were fine.
Some may find some of the descriptions slightly disturbing in the link below. "Head or chest?" Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:What's wrong with kids these days? - a disturbing thread
Children have been killing their parents for real or percieved ills for a very long time.
Posted by camus (Member # 8052) on :
Yes, but it still makes me terribly angry and frustrated.
The question was primarily rhetorical. I was merely trying to vent some of my anger.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
The other thing, Teshi, is that this is the third time this has happened in town in the last few months. Two were teens & friends killing their parents for money, the other was a mentally disturbed man who decapitated his step-mom. It just seems kinda like there's a rash of it here right now.
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
quote:What's wrong with kids these days?
Oh please.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
So at say a ratio of hundred parents killing their kids to one kid killing his parents...
And what the heck does one kid deciding to off his parents have to do with kids in general anyways???
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
The news is horrific, but there's a kind of stupid black humor to that news article. This kid and his friends have to be one of the stupidest people on the planet.
Posted by Silent E (Member # 8840) on :
Kids? Heaven knows what's wrong with these kids today.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
Why can't they be like we were ... perfect in every way!
*ahem* Sorry....
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Maybe it's time to put the icing on the cake and watch the movie Kids. Posted by camus (Member # 8052) on :
Well, the thread title was somewhat tongue in cheek, used because it was a phrase everyone was familiar with but wasn't as grotesque as "kid blows out the brains of his friend's mother as child watches." I wasn't making the generalization that children's feelings toward their parents are any different now than they were years or millenia before (eg. "Granted, I'm sure things similar to this have been going on throughout human history") but it is certainly alarming to hear more about it as information is spread much easier now than before.
Although, I do wonder whether more and more children are actually attempting and successfully carrying out these types of fatal solutions to their problems than earlier generations ever did. I'm not saying that children or youths in general are bad or worse than before, but since it is something that affects all families, society in general should be concerned. Even if it is not any more common than years ago, it's still a problem.
![[Evil Laugh]](graemlins/evillaugh.gif)