The sad part is the way the mom reacted. I think this will happen again with this kid? Unless dad really yanks his chain.

 

he asked the trooper for the name of the judge he was going to see, and when the trooper told him, his response was "oh no, not him again..."

 

Sounds like the odds are pretty even that they will see this kind of trouble (or similar) again in the not so near future! Sort of reminds me of what a coworker's dad used to tell her and her brothers... "If you're going to be stupid, you better be tough!!" My own father's version was, "Hard heads make for soft butts!!"

 

For sure. I asked the boy to please say Hello to the judge for me- he is an old friend of mine.

 

I by no means am old, 34 here. But after about 30 everything I see now is really irritating. When I was younger and did something stupid it was my *** on the line. There was no I can't do no wrong parents or anything along those lines. I got in trouble, I got hung by the courts or whoever it was, then I got hung by the parents when I got home. I see the younger people now, and I'm just dumb founded by all the disrespect, and the lack of discipline they have.

There is no reason that mom should have gave you any grief over this. She should have agreed with you and let him fix his mistake. Seeing this and hearing what she said to you brought a movie to mind that I watched the other day. It's called God Bless America. It's about an older man that is fed up with the stupidity, disrespect, and non accountability that kids on t.v. and in life have. The movie is over the top, but so many point in it I could relate to.

Just makes me wonder, if there would have been kids out there, and he did injure one, would the mom have acted in the same manner?

It's very fortunate that no one was injured, and I'd really like to hear the outcome he gets.

 

Glad it's not only me- 33 here, lol.

His truck stalled out at the intersection, and when the trooper asked him why he was trying to leave, the boy responded "I wasn't"...

Found myself having flashbacks as the state trooper shook his head listening to the boy make excuses. Then realized I was doing it too. Damn, if we would screw up in school, we would get swats- then get the ***** knocked out of us at home! those days are long gone.... but not for our kids!

 

David... stay the course with teaching responsibility to your kids... those days are not gone for my kids either. I'm 51, my wife is 49, and our kids are 23, 22, 20, 16, 14, and 12, and each one of them has a firm grasp on taking responsibility for their own actions/inactions. They know above all else that we will stand beside them and love them regardless of what they do, but they also know that they have to lie in the bed they make for themselves. Each of my kids knows that if they do something bad wrong and land in jail, we'll be happy to visit them but will NOT take them out.

They have worked to pay for their own vehicles, college expenses (aside from scholarship funds they have earned), vehicle repairs, vehicle maintenance expenses, auto insurance, cell phones, ipods, stereo systems, and any and all damage they may ever cause for anyone else while working/driving/playing. When the costs for their "toys" or mistakes exceed their income, we will generally loan them the difference, but they always pay it back under a strict record keeping system managed by my wife. We try to coach them and teach them how to do what they need to do and how to think things through rationally to make good decisions, and we are happy to invest the time to even show them how to do the things they need to do. These principles and the reasons behind them have been explained and taught to them ever since they were old enough to understand. The older ones have often thanked us for how much better prepared they are entering adulthood with some of those hard lessons behind them, and each of our six kids are more than happy to accept responsibility for their own "stuff".

It's sometimes very hard to watch them go through troubles of their own making, but it is equally necessary to let them learn, and we have often helped out when the troubles were NOT of their making. At this point, seeing my older three kids dealing with life the way they are with those lessons under their belts, I can honestly say that the hard investment of these principles is MORE than worth the time, energy, and heartache required along they way!

 

Damn, Pete, 3 kids drive us a little nuts....

You are 1000% correct, and it is a little shocking that our ideals are almost exactly the same.

 

I dare say, David, that there are more than several of us here in FTE who think along those lines. The more time passes, I find that to be true on a growing list of issues. You know what they say... birds of a feather...!

I don't mean to get preachy here, but since your children are obviously younger than some of ours, I feel the need to pass on something we have just learned which may be of help to you in the years to come. We have had a hard lesson which my wife and I have had to learn through the past 2-3 years as the older ones have grown into adulthood. Hindsight now tells me that we should not have been surprised to learn what we did, but we were. All the "old fashioned" conservative ideals and convictions we have tried to live by and train into our children are not necessarily really "caught" by each one as they grow up. Some will HAVE to learn those things the hard way. It is way beyond frustrating and sometimes very, very painful to see them go through some of that mess, and it requires extreme patience as they seem to be sometimes running in the opposite direction from where they should be going. When you're not in the middle of going through this kind of thing, it seems like a really obvious DUHHH! issue. However, when you're in the middle of it, which is a slowly progressive thing and not a flip of the switch, it sneaks up on you and it gets really hard to see the forest!

We have now seen two of the three older ones go down that path to varying degrees, make it through the stupid phase, come out on the other side, and now end up pretty much exactly where my wife and I are. One of them we honestly thought would take a lifetime to learn some things, and we consider both him and ourselves fortunate that he came around as quickly as he did. In fact, all six are still at home with the older one begin successful in his career, the second one still pulling a 4.0 in Speech Pathology in her junior year, and the third working full time waiting to finally start into the education for a career path he has finally determined to be where he needs to be (it simply took him a couple years to determine what he was passionate about and figure out how to best approach it).

This is where hindsight has revealed that neither my wife nor I got to where we are without having "paid the price" so to speak, and our convictions were planted, watered, and grown out of mistakes and screwups, which is exactly how our kids are ending up with the same perspectives. What made this so hard for us was that we sort of bought off on the false concept that "if we train our children up in the way they should go", they will not have to go through the same mess WE did as WE were growing up, and "when they are old they will not depart from it." - the middle part that is not in quotes is the false part of the concept. The good and proper training as they were young children does NOT exempt them from being either hard-headed, stubborn, or stupid, and they just might have to learn that same hard ways we did, and perhaps by even harder and more painful paths.

The truth of this does not exempt us from the responsibility to teach and train them well, so don't give up on that front. At the same time, be prepared to potentially see one or more of them ignore everything you've tried to instill in them while they strive into adulthood, and if they do... don't give up on them and don't give in on your standards and expectations... be patient and faithful. Most importantly, if your children do "stray", don't hang out on the fence of self-blame... they are completely individual people with individual wills and temperaments and perspectives, and they are accountable for their choices in adulthood... not you.

I'm sure that a lot of parents don;t have as hard a time as we did learning through this issue, but I also know that a lot of parent do have trouble with it. That's why I just wanted to plant the concept before you in hopes that it might give you some comfort if you do end up with a wayward child.

 

You are right, Pete, and I pretty much drove my parents crazy in my rebellious teenage years. My mom more so. Dad had the, "let the boy learn" approach most of the time.

One thing is for sure, Dad instilled the "you have to earn the things you want" mentality in me. By the time I hit 17 and had been out of college for a year (graduated high school @ 16, started college but stopped), life slapped me in face and I had that "WTF am I doing with my life" epiphany.... Went back to college, started my business at 19, and got married at 20. Bought a house at 25, and am now a father of three.

Seeing all the kids these days with their sense of entitlement drives me absolutely bat-*****. That, and all the social networking indecency drives me insane. So many people grab their phone to take a picture/video of a situation instead of using it to call 911 or jumping in to help. i.e. the guy who took the photo of the person who was pushed in front of that subway train.... 22 seconds went by while he took the photo..... I know, you can't change the world, you just have to make the best of it.


This video is the FIRST one we ever put online, and the only reason is so all our neighbors can see what happened and think about it when they watch their kids playing in the street. They are the only ones that can admonish their family about the dangers of being careless behind the wheel. Especially in residential areas.


FYI, the cameras are ~50ft from the road.

 

Is that video real speed? If the truck is 15 feet long he covers two truck lengths in one second equaling around 20-25mph.

 

Real speed, 30fps

2006 Ram 2500 w/ a Hemi

 

20 Miles per Hour = 29.333333333333332 Feet per Second

25 Miles per Hour = 36.666666666666664 Feet per Second


Now when you watch the video, pause right when the truck makes contact with the mail brick house, then forward to a second later in the video and estimate the feet traveled. It is right around 20-25mph.

 

more details on the cameras? CCTV or IP? I am running two dvrs and a dozen CCTV cams of various quality from $69 to $500. I am about to order my first IP cam, an Acti 5611. I too am always fiddling around with them and testing new stuff. Actually busted some neighborhood vandals with my footage.

 

He was probably going faster just prior and we are seeing him during heavy braking.