12yr old boy arrested for opening christmas present early

[cindy0721]

Penalty for unwrapping gifts early: Arrest
After boy, 12, hides his Game Boy, his mom calls police
By Monica Chen · The Herald - Updated 12/05/06 - 12:50 AM

A mother convinced Rock Hill police to arrest her 12-year-old son after he unwrapped a Christmas present early.

The boy's great-grandmother had specifically told him not to open his Nintendo Game Boy Advance, which she had wrapped and placed beneath the Christmas tree, according to a police report.

But on Sunday morning, she found the box of the popular handheld game console unwrapped and opened. When the boy's 27-year-old mother heard about the opened gift, she called police.

"He took it without permission. He wanted it. He just took it," said the 63-year-old great-grandmother.

Both the great-grandmother and the mother asked the boy on Sunday where the present was. The boy replied he didn't know.

When the mother threatened to call the police, the boy went into his room and got the Game Boy, the report stated. She called the police anyway.

Two Rock Hill police officers responded to the home and charged the boy with petty larceny. He was charged as a juvenile and released the same day, said police spokesman Lt. Jerry Waldrop, who added the boy was never held at the jail.

"We wouldn't hold a 12-year-old," he said.

The Herald is not identifying the boy or his mother and great-grandmother because of his age.

On Monday night, the mother said she had her son arrested because she didn't know what else to do.

She had the child when she was 15, the woman said, and has been a single mother struggling to earn a business degree.

She said the boy likes attention and has a history of bad behavior. He has shoplifted from stores and stolen money from her, she said. The boy has also been inching toward expulsion from school, she added, and even punched a police officer last month. He was arrested for disorderly conduct in that incident.

She hoped the arrest would be a wake-up call for him. She dreads getting a phone call someday reporting he's been killed.

The boy "showed no remorse" when the police came, the mother said.

"I'm trying to get him some kind of help," she said. "He's the type of kid who doesn't believe anything until it happens."

Waldrop said the women were seeking help with a problem child. "He is a disruptive, disorderly kid."

Waldrop said he trusted the two responding officers to exercise discretion when deciding whether to arrest the youngster.

"In a case like this, if the parents and grandparents are adamant about it and they feel the child has a serious problem, I can't second-guess what the officers did," Waldrop said.

The mother told police officers that she would have the boy placed with the state Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia at his court appearance.

Waldrop said he was not aware if Rock Hill police have ever arrested a child for unwrapping Christmas presents early.

"Yeah, it's strange," he said of the case.

[Janet]

WOW That was something huh? I'm not sure I would have handled it in such a way to give my child a police record or add to the one he already had, but there are other ways (camps, juvenile programs..etc.) and counseling to correct this kind of behavior. I'm not in her shoes thank the Lord, but she probably thought she had no other recourse.

[cindy0721]

probably but WOW.. for the love of god it is Christmas..

[Marilyn]

I heard about this on the radio this morning and discussed it at work with some of the guys I work with. They said that when they were 12, their mothers were no longer able to physically discipline them. They were big enough to talk back and there was nothing that she could do to enforce punishment. Dad had to do much of the enforced discipline at that age. Doesn't mean he punched them or anything, but he was capable of it and they knew it. These two ladies don't have a man around to fill this responsible position. This sounds bad, but they may have done what they thought was best try to get this boy's attention. Like his mother said, better for him to have a wakeup call now than be dead later.

This situation is so sad. I'm so glad I have a husband around. Though we had girls, and they never gave us trouble like this.

I fully believe that if you punish harshly in the begining they end up better as adults. teach them morals and right from wrong. My kids got spankings that made them think twice about misbeaving. I didn't have to spank my kids very often at all.
this kid needs a harsh hand to get him on the right track. better it be someone who loves him than someone who doesn't care about his life. it is better for him to have a small police record than none at all right now. there are so many people that goes through the courts now that get a slap on the wrist for awful behavior because it is their first offense. it is not right. they know they are not going to be punished for doing what they know is wrong.
young people don't realize how they are ruining their life until they are too old to do anything about it. they live for the day. If they keep doing that they will not have any future to worry about.

[DianaB]

This is a case where the Mother hasn't been discipling her child properly and now expects the police to teach it to her son. If she would have been disciplining her child and making him mind her, starting when he was very young, then she wouldn't have to turn to the police. We have a lot of kids like this in our society. They're sent to school and the teachers are expected to teach them manners and how to mind and when that doesn't work then they're put on medication.

Teaching your child respect, for you and others, is the best thing that you can teach a child. Once a child learns to respect you then they're willing to learn from you. Too many parents let their children make all the decisions and their lives revolve around what the child wants. That's wrong!!! You are the parent and to gain your child's respect you have to enforce that you are the one in charge. This starts when they are very small and you can enforce that you are the parent, not when their teenagers and you can't control them.

I could go on and on about this subject because I firmly believe that our children's behavior is a direct result of how we parent our children.