These are awesome parents. This kid is going to be a total pain in the ass right around fourth grade, when all the other kids are just realizing that they can make decisions for themselves. This one is going to have a head start, and will likely lead a gang of miscreants in a game of “ask the teacher WHY”.
I don’t know that the kids an idiot (tho’ that was my first thought, really), but perhaps a bit simple. What I’m wondering is whether he’s terrified of his parents. Think about it: fundy parents, sheltered lives - I can see there being a lot of anger there. Not that they abuse him, no, but it’s possible that these are parents from which you learn your lessons, or else. Perhaps the boy was so terrified of reprisals if he didn’t follow his parents’ teachings that “don’t talk to strangers” overrode “find some help, already.”
I know some parents that this was the case with, certainly.
Same here. The quotes from the parents scream, “Overprotective” to me. I think this puts it into context:
It’s understandable that they’d want to be protective of the kid, but clearly they didn’t realize what a disservice they were doing him by being that way.
I know it has already been mentioned, but the local media (the kid lives about 15 miles from me) has mentioned the “immature” things but also something about the kid being “socially slow” and quite a bit behind his peers in maturity. I don’t know if it is due to his premature and difficult birth (maybe a lack of oxygen at birth, I dunno), codling parents, or a combination of both. If you feel the need to place blame, blame the parents for not raising him to your standard of child rearing (I agree BTW, they did him a grave diservice) or the scout leaders for not keeping closer watch on the kids.
I am very familiar with the Uintah Mountains. They are thick, dense, rugged terrain. It is not surprising to me in the least that the kid got lost. It happens every year – deer hunters, trained hikers, snowmobilers. . . people with a lot more training than this little boy who had absolutely none. Had he somehow got turned around and took the trail the wrong direction, it wouldn’t have taken long for him to be lost.
Holy Christ, he is an 11 year old boy. He was fed, given water, . . safe, and then he asks to play with a phone. Judgmental much?
I live smackdab in the middle of Mormonville, however, I am agnostic/atheist and personally feel their teachings are silly and naïve. I feel like I have enough personal experience with them to make the solid statement that I think you are, again, a judgmental, bigotted prick.
BTW, I probably missed it, but did the media even state that the family is Mormon? I don’t recall hearing one way or another. It maybe hard for you to believe, but not everyone in Utah is Mormon.
Yeah, cause that’s the dream of every little girl – to be kidnapped from your room, taken away to live in the hills with a couple of psychos, forced to live a transient/homeless lifestyle, and best of all, be sexually molested and raped on a daily basis, for months and months.
Okay, that is just bizarre. Do you honestly think a frightened, cold, wet, hungry, thristy 11 year old is going to hide from rescuers after being lost in the woods for days, just because he wants to see if he can find his own way out? Odd.
BTW, you’re right, the guy didn’t amputate his foot, it was his arm. His name is Aron Ralston and he was trapped under a boulder while hiking in Moab, Utah for days. In a last ditch effort to save his own life, he broke his arm then amputated it with small knife. Amazing story.
I really felt for those parents and was so glad to hear the boy was found!
I agree that something is up with the kid.
My son was both premature (23 weeks) and has Asperger’s, and what that boy did sounds just like the kind of bone-head maneuver my son would pull (Whynot- I don’t think his Asperger’s is directly related to his prematurity)- not following the ‘usual’ rules, inappropriate application of ‘rules’, asking for electronics, odd reactions to the searchers, etc.
I also felt for the other dad who helped search for the lost boy whose son was lost in the same area never found.
Not to pull a Bill Frist, but rigid, unreasoning adherence to rules. “Socially immature.” Prefering a video game to human contact. Sounds kinda like an undiagnosed case of Asperger’s Disorder (a cousin of Autism). I could be dead wrong, but I think we all agree [Hank Hill]“that boy ain’t right.”[/HH]
I’ve gotten myself pretty badly lost in the woods, and I was a trained soldier who was (and is) unusually sharp at using maps and compasses, and I have an excellent sense of direction. I got myself back with those tools, but until I did I got badly turned around and didn’t even realize it. Had I not had a map with me I guess I would have had to get help by firing my rifle in the air. Hopefully that would have worked.
I don’t think people sometimes grasp how easy it is to get lost in the wilderness. It takes one wrong turn and wham, you’re totally disoriented.
Trunk, you’re way off base on this one. If you choose not to like Mormons, that’s fine, but at least try to find out some of the facts before you go off half-cocked.
The LDS church has not practised or endorsed polygamy since 1890, and it is considered grounds for immediate excommunication. Yes, there are some breakaway sects, such as the FLDS group on the Utah/Arizona border, who maintain the practice of polygamy, but they are not in any way affiliated or recognized by the LDS church.
Elizabeth Smart did not go willingly with her abductor, and she was very happy to be back with her parents. Brian David Mitchell, the alleged kidnapper, is a deranged individual who spent his time before the abduction running around the streets proclaiming himself to be the Messiah.
Please do not make unsubstantiated statements about things which you obviously know nothing about.
If you’re going to seriously claim that Miss Smart was a willing participant in her own disappearance, I’m going to want to see lots and lots of cites.
What a completely jackassish thing to say. Are you proud of that post? Do you consider it to be intelligent discourse? Do you know what a total jerk you appear to be by making it?