He may be telling you what he thinks he’s supposed to say.
But even if not, at that age, ethics are quite black and white in the abstract. In practice, if Friend showed up at the door and wanted to hang out with Hallboy and watch TV, Hallboy might be much more amenable.
Contrast the adult perspective. Many of us would be more inclined in the abstract to see shades of gray in whether a friend’s conduct was actually criminal, but if said criminal were to show up at our door, we’d say “Oh hell no.” :dubious:
I agree. And my second thought was what Tom Tildrum said, so basically I guess I got nothing.
It is entirely possible friend is grounded at this time, which would be why he hasn’t contacted Hallboy. Sounds like Hallboy has made up his mind.
I grew up across the street from a kid who grew increasingly troubled as we headed toward adolescence. I gradually fell into a different crowd and though he still lived under a hundred feet from my front door, no thanks…I could sense the progression and where it was going to end up.
It could be that Hallboy has noticed an escalation. Maybe he’s not providing any details because he wouldn’t want to be incriminated or he wouldn’t want to rat the kid out or whatever. I always wonder…okay, so this time the kid got caught, but maybe he’s been pulling all kinds of crap and getting away with it.
If I were you I wouldn’t borrow trouble.
It’s good to prepare the what ifs in your family if your child does something stupid.
However, what is the official school, school board and/or school district policy with respect to making bomb threats, or similar actions? What is the attitude of the local police? The FBI?
It’s one thing to have anecdotal stories of when we were kids, but things have drastically changed. In this post-9/11 world with terrorism paranoia driving many authorities, things have changed. Making a bomb threat in school 20 years ago might have gotten you a criminal record and expelled from school. Today it still does, but the penalties may be more harsh, depending upon circumstances. Your child might have their name added to the terrorism watch list (forget flying), a record that might impact going onto college, problems obtaining credit as an adult, problems getting a job, etc.
In other words, what got us a hard hand slap for just being a jerk at that age now will get you adult punishment that may impact the rest of their life. It’s unfair but that’s the world today.