Parenting Old School

Vancouver Sun Sept 1st, 2011

It is staggering how stupid some people can be but apparently it is not an isolated human condition. It seems to run in families, a trait handed down from parent to child.

Two cases in point, occurred near my home this past week, one involving 13 young drivers (all 20 years or younger) and the other involving two teens 17 years of age. In both cases these fine upstanding young people were caught speeding on city streets, reaching speeds in excess of 200 Kilometers or 125 miles per hour.

Their reckless disregard for the safety of others was simply appalling by any measure, yet these young drivers seemed to feel their fast and furious behavior was no big deal. One of the young people involved in the first incident, was even quoted saying “We were just going for something to eat” as if they were driving Miss Daisy to Sunday brunch

It is simply mind boggling how disconnected these kids seem to be from the gravity of their inexcusable behavior. Sure if they were doing this on a closed circuit race track and happened to kill themselves, I could accept their cavalier attitudes but they weren’t. They were on public roads where people should have the right to drive without risk of getting run down by over testosteroned morons.

Without question, what these kids did was amazingly stupid but what about the other part of the equation? What about the parents of said stupid kids?

I would assume that a young person of 20 or less hasn’t the legal means to buy any of the vehicles involved in either of these incidents. The collective value of all 15 vehicles involved was in excess of 2.5 million dollars. In the mix were three Lamborghini’s a Ferrari, two Maserati’s an Aston Martin, Audi A8, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes and a list of other luxury cars that is almost as impressive. In addition to the massive price tags these cars carry, to insure some of these cars for young drivers (in my neck of the woods) is estimated to be as much as twenty thousand dollars for the year.

It begs the question, why in gods name would a parent give their child access to one of these cars? It is beyond words. I don’t care how wealthy somebody is, a kid does not need or deserve one of these vehicles. What could these parents have been thinking or has materialism in today’s world really gone this far?

What ever happened to your first car being a piece of crap you and your dad found in someones back yard buried under a mess of brambles and scrap wood? Back in the day when I asked for a car, all I got was a kick in the ass with a frozen boot and told never to ask again. I cannot imagine taking my 16 year old to the local Lamborghini dealer and saying “Pick one!”

The final obscenity is that these kids will hardly get a slap on the wrist. A fine, some driving prohibition and they will be back on the road before you know it. It is unlikely they will have learned any moral or practical lessons of any kind. They will not be repentant and will continue to risk the lives of others with their reckless behavior. The parents, well… Lord only knows what bonehead parenting maneuver they will make next but chances are it will be an epic fail.

In Parenting Oldschool’s opinion, what should be done is that all cars should be impounded and taken to the wreckers where the young drivers in question and their parents are forced to watch as their luxury automobiles are reduced to scrap. Alternate to that, all cars should be impounded and sold at auction. All proceeds would be given to the food bank or a variety of homeless shelters in the Vancouver area and then perhaps some good can come of these two incidents and some lessons learned.

Related Post: What a Riot – Youth off the rails