An amusing story in today’s Courier-Mail (Brisbane)
The insurance claim form should make interesting reading.
Oh my. That’s touching, and sad at the same time. When I was that age my parents made me fear that automobile. I was afriad to touch the damn keys. Poor kid, no Christmas present for trying to help his mom out? I mean, it’s understandable from mom’s point of view, but at the same time there’s a chance that he might be scarred for life from the incident if it’s not handled correctly.
Por ejemplo, my frist time driving I ran into a mail box. My dad yelled at me horribly while in the car. I never wanted to drive again. On my defense, it was a rather large vehicle, and my dad was not very “instructive.”
I love that the incompetent, unfit parent who “must’ve fallen asleep or sum’thin!” is going to punish the kid for trying to take care of himself when she decided that she was unwilling to.
I don’t think his punishment fits his ‘crime’.
He did a wrong and very dangerous thing. But he needs to be shown that his intention of ‘helping out’ was not wrong, but his choice of action to do so was irresponsible and dangerous.
Two generic punishments like No Tv and No Christmas Presents (!) aren’t going to do that.
Did you miss this part of the story?
I saw it too, and I’m not sure what you’re getting at. “He’s been a good boy looking after me,” but now that he’s made one error of judgement, no soup for him?
Given that the mother believes the boy was influenced in part by seeing a television show about children stealing cars, I think the “No TV” thing makes sense. For all we know, this may not be the first time the child has done something foolish or wrong because of what he’s seen on television.
The “no Christmas present” quite likely ties in to the expensive damage done to the car, an expense the mother can’t afford. If she’s going to have to tighten an already snug belt to pay for what the insurance doesn’t cover, then having the one who caused the problem give up something valuable makes sense.
Then too, we don’t know how the mother framed these punishments in discussing them with the boy. She may well have tied them in specifically and reasonably to the causes and effects of what the boy did. I don’t think we have enough information from the published story to assess how appropriate her punishments are in the context of this particular family.
I think what Eddy was saying was that it wasn’t that the mother was negligent - she was ill.
Bingo!
Am I the only one who thought that the no christmas present wasnt because the kid made a bad decision, but because the repairs are going to cost 4,000 and the mom doesnt have enough money to pay for it and a christmas present?
No, of course not. It’s just that the wording is (I hope) unfortunate, making it sound as if Mom had told Grandma and Grandpa, and any other relatives who might give him something, to cross him off their lists as well. Hopefully it’s simply what you said, and not a case of little Travis getting coal for being so naughty.
Something else occurs to me, though. What do you want to bet that anonymous donations start coming in, from people who don’t want Mom to be carless because of this and don’t want Travis to be bereft on Christmas morning?
Also, question for the Aussies. Mom said he wouldn’t get A present, singular. Is it the norm for kids to get one and only one present? Because this makes me think of the Calvin and Hobbes strip where Dad said, “This year, I thought we’d just keep the tree in the garage…On Christmas day, if you get a present—” “IF I get A present?!”
I think it’s nice to see a young man taking some responsibility and helping out around the house.
No, it’s not.
The celebration of Christmas in Australia, and the attendant giving of gifts, are very similar to practices here in the United States.
The only time i’ve seen a kid get only a single present was when the gift in question was a very expensive one.
No Christmas presents? Christ, that’s just cruel.
Add me to the camp that reads it as the repairs making it financially impossible for her to be able to afford a present for him. Definitely not fun for the kid, but a reality for many kids.
Though, with a line like that showing up in the paper, my money is on a few generous souls helping her out and Travis getting a much better Christmas than he would have anyway.
As to the “no TV” bit, she’ll probably rethink that one, and hopefully just regulate what he watches. I had to stop my daughter from watching the news after she started getting extremely paranoid that she was going to be kidnapped. There are some ideas some kids just get from what might seem like innocuous TV.
Just wanted to add: she said the accident meant that he wouldn’t be getting a present, not the incident itself.
Add me to the camp of people who read the story and figured that the $4,000 bill was the reason there were no christmas presents. The mom said she doesn’t even know how she’s going to afford it, and now her means of transportation is ruined. I actually felt really bad for her.
I don’t know about Australia, I can only speak of my own experiences in England. For Christmas I would get a stocking full of small toys and sweets, plus one gift from each set of relatives. That’s one present from Mum & Dad, one present from my Godparents, one present from Grandma & Grandpa, etc.
Did other people get multiple presents from the same relative?
We always got multiple gifts from my parents - usually one or two “major” gifts and then a handful of smaller things, plus a stocking with the obligatory Lifesavers book.
Buying for my kids, they probably get about 5 presents a piece from me, (I have three kids) plus whatever presents their father and step-mother buy them. They make out pretty good.