An August story: Yet another reason why kids don’t need 10 weeks off school each summer!!!
Two Minnetonka boys, both ages 12, get caught chucking crab apples at a car in the General Mills Credit Union Drive Up. Driver jumps out of car, grabs boys, scares the **** out of them and marches them to one boy’s house. Driver yells at the boys some more and then yells at the mom and then drives off to get a $150.00 estimate. Boys are sent to their rooms for the day and will have to each fork over $75.00 for the results of their “excellent adventure”. Boys are physically fine, but scared and worried. Grandpa comments: “Well, there are two lessons to be learned in this situation. The first is not to get caught and the second is not to chuck apples at cars.” Dad calls other mom at work and she chuckles until he gets to the part about the car damage and the money owed. Mom at work decides this would make a great blog post.
Any thoughts on appropriate punishments? Erik will lose two weekends of wages dog-sitting for his grandparents while they visit ill great-grandfather. Computer is definitely a good punishment tool these days - as in NO computer privileges. I also considering the fact that he is very scared right now and will probably never do THAT particular deed again.
Update: Boys were roughed up more than we first knew and the guys was trying to drag them into HIS CAR. The other parents are meeting with the police today to discuss pressing charges.
I’m glad no one was hurt. I guess I’m also glad the driver dealt with the situation immediately, or you would never have known about the incident.
The punishment he imposed together with the consequences you’ve decided on seem adequate to me.
I agree with Twylah. I’m sure that man scared them enough to keep them from doing that again, and with the reinforcement from home–well, that prank is not likely to reoccur!
the punishment sounds good, but the car thing is waaaay creepy! i would definitly press charges if it wasnt an innocent thing!
8-31-04 Update - Both sets of us parents and the boys met with a really nice police officer. He listened to the boys and gave them a kind lecture. He also listened to our concerns about the man. We ended up filing a report, but also told us that the city attorney probably wouldn’t prosecute. I just wanted the police to have this guy’s name and actions on record, because of the severity of his actions. The officer will meet with the man to hear his side and make sure he understood where he went wrong: He should have just called 911, he could have hurt Erik’s friend while DRAGGING him through the woods by the wrist and he shouldn’t have tried to drag the boys to his car). The man called last night to lower his estimate to $75.00, which I thought was interesting. The police officer also told us that we cannot force the guy to spend the money on repairs - that is his choice. All in all, the boys definitely were in the wrong, were definitely protected by angels and have definitely learned a big lesson. I’ve also learned a lesson - get Erik a job and more chores to keep him busy next summer!!!