# Question to Parents **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 10, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162 "2003-12-10T16:45:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162/21 "2003-12-11T18:08:09Z")
> [@](#): > > But I still don’t get what they’re going to be charged with? Kidnapping, apparently, given that they took four children with them for more than two days. But I don’t see anywhere that the father is pushing for the charges, nor that he’s pushing them to be tried as adults. I’ve read all the stories and listened to the news, and haven’t seen that at all. However, the cops who questioned the teenagers have suggested that they could be charged with kidnapping. Whether or not they actually get charged, much less tried, and tried as adults, remains to be seen. > [@](#): > > This is a 12 and 13 year old - I’m not sure the pastors childcare woes are their fault. At all. Even remotely. Who said they were? I was trying to point out that the father wasn’t the moron that some posters seem to think he was, for leaving his children in their care. He had reason to believe that he could trust them. When they betrayed that trust once, he scolded them and believed the issue to be over. Teenagers screw up, but rarely this badly – I’m sure he thought the scolding would be enough. Turns out, it wasn’t, and they betrayed his trust again and much worse than the day before. In hindsight, he certainly shouldn’t have left the kids with them again, but they seemed contrite and were even helping around the house. So he went to church, and the rest unfolded as it did. > [@](#): > > _ **gatopescado** said:_ > Let me attempt to clarify: I would not leave my kid with anybody who can’t care for him at least as well as I can. OK. Different strokes, I suppose. I was mature and responsible at 11. By that age, and certainly by 13/14, I knew how to use common sense, avoid druggies, keep vicious animals out of the house, etc. Sheesh. Babysitting largely involves NOT LEAVING THE HOUSE, so being able to drive doesn’t even enter into it, nor do a lot of strangers or vicious animals turn up, nor would I open the door if they did. Good God. If there was any emergency at all, like all the parents and other adults I know, I would have called 911, their parents and my parents. Hell, maybe it depends on neighborhood. I was actively babysitting in a nice, middle- to upper-middle class neighborhood where I grew up and knew lots of people. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162/22 "2003-12-11T18:13:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beadalin \* > \*\* > Who said they were? I was trying to point out that the father wasn’t the moron that some posters seem to think he was, for leaving his children in their care. He had reason to believe that he could trust them. When they betrayed that trust once, he scolded them and believed the issue to be over. Teenagers screw up, but rarely this badly – I’m sure he thought the scolding would be enough. Turns out, it wasn’t, and they betrayed his trust again and much worse than the day before. In hindsight, he certainly shouldn’t have left the kids with them again, but they seemed contrite and were even helping around the house. So he went to church, and the rest unfolded as it did. \*\* ?!?!? The dude is a total moron. He leaves his four young children with 2 teen runaways. The teen runaways demonstrate they are incapable of caring for the children. So he leaves the kids with them again. He’s a moron. Period. And I don’t think the teens should be charged with jack shit. He should be charged with being to stupid to live. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162/23 "2003-12-11T18:41:54Z")
> [@](#): > > The dude is a total moron. He leaves his four young children with 2 teen runaways. Two teen runaways = one girl who he loves and treats as his own daughter, and who is a neighbor. He has known her most of her life. She has trouble with her parents, and turns to him for help more than once. The fact that he trusted her does not make him “too stupid to live” in my book. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162/24 "2003-12-11T18:54:21Z")
See, but the whole story doesn’t make sense. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beadalin \* > \*\*Two teen runaways = one girl who he loves and treats as his own daughter, and who is a neighbor. /B] He loves her as his own daughter, but wants her charged as an adult in kidnapping his kids? Bizarre. And one point that isn’t clear to me - did something _happen_ to his 4 children other than them spending an extended period of time at the mall? I realize that police time was waisted trying to find the kids, but they’re all ok, right? I’m not even sure why this is a news story. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162/25 "2003-12-11T19:39:21Z")
> [@](#): > > e loves her as his own daughter, but wants her charged as an adult in kidnapping his kids? Like I said in an earlier post, none of the stories I have read or listened to on the radio say that the father wants either of the girls charged. The police who questioned them suggested that they could be charged with kidnapping. That’s as far as it’s gone, as far as I can tell. If someone has a cite that the father a) wants to press charges and b) thinks the girls should be tried as adults, I’d like to see a cite. The _Pioneer Press_ article ends with: > [@](#): > > Addison said he harbored no ill feelings against Benetta “because she’s just a child.” The _Star Tribune_ article says only this: > [@](#): > > Prosecutors were considering charges against two baby sitters in their early teens who police say took four young children from a Minneapolis man’s home for two days. > > The matter, which garnered statewide media attention earlier this week, has been referred to juvenile court for possible prosecution, said a spokesman for the Hennepin County attorney’s office on Wednesday. So far I’ve been the only one in this thread to show any cites whatsoever. The father, as far as I can see, has not called for charges nor has he said anything at all about them being tried as adults. Or maybe I’m just reading the wrong newspapers. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162/26 "2003-12-11T19:50:52Z")
> [@](#): > > And one point that isn’t clear to me - did something happen to his 4 children other than them spending an extended period of time at the mall? The point was that they disappeared completely for two days. Here’s a breakdown of events: - Father goes to church Sunday morning. - Girls take children to Mall of America. - Father returns from church to find house empty. By 9 p.b., is seriously panicked and calls 911. Tells dispatchers that girls may have taken children to MOA. - Police tell father to call MOA security. - Father calls mall security. - Review of security camera tapes show girls and children getting onto city bus outside of mall. Bus route goes to Uptown and then downtown Minneapolis. - Girls and children do not return that night. - Father calls 911 again Monday morning. - Makes news headlines, man is on radio tearfully asking for the safe return of ALL the kids, including teens. - All kids have still not been seen by Tuesday at 5 pm. By around 7:00 pm, vigilant citizen spots them in an apartment hallway in Uptown. Calls police. - Police get kids, question teens. Suggest possible kidnapping charges. - State prosecutors consider charges. That’s how things now stand. This garnered such attention in that 6 underage people were missing but not considered by police to be in immediate danger, at the same time that local news is swamped with stories about the disappearance of a college girl who is missing and now presumed dead, by a convicted child molester who just got out of prison. So, no, nothing happened to the kids other than going on an extended adventure with two irresponsible teens, but it makes folks nervous. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162/27 "2003-12-11T20:32:33Z")
I babysat at age 10. For infants. They let me into the Red Cross babysitting class but couldn’t give me the certificate because you were supposed to be 12. Had a couple of Girl Scout merit badges in child care, though. I was incredibly popular because I was smarter and more responsible (and more available!) than most of the teens in the neighborhood. I hung it up at 14, though–I’d had my fill. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162/28 "2003-12-11T20:34:21Z")
P.S.–the father sounds like a grade A dimwit to me. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162/29 "2003-12-11T20:43:51Z")
Ok. So father isn’t trying to press charges. (Or he is, but we have no cite.) **BUT** , he still left his 4 young children with two teens that had proven themselves to be irresponsible the _DAY BEFORE!!_ I dunno, I think dad deserves the brunt of the criticism here. My vote still goes to ‘Moron’. You’ll notice the capital ‘M’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-parents/218162.md?page=1)