parents have years of experience and maturity on their children. good parenting must utilize this experience and maturity. parents must trust their instincts. they should never indulge in fantasies.
there are times when an experienced parent can see an accident coming from a million miles away. this story was one of them. it was a simple parent math equation: a 17 year old boy + a lamborghini suv sportscar + los angeles traffic = accident waiting to happen
parental intuition, in this equation, was not whether a 17 year old would get in an accident with a sports car, it was just a matter of when.
teen related fatality car accidents are well known in los angeles county. a fellow attorney’s daughter tragically died as a passenger in one in 1988. her fellow youthful driver according to my friend had been provided a special model vehicle that he was driving at the time of the accident. four 17 year olds died in a fiery crash that day. latimes.
while encouraging my children to get drivers’ licenses as soon as possible, my knowledge of that particular incident was my impetus to make sure that my children were safe and responsible on the road. as a family, we devoted much time being in the car with our children as they learned to drive so that they were exercise good driver safety.
in a most recent story, a young woman, with her whole life ahead of her, had it taken away by a teen driver. ms. monique munoz was on her way home from work when she was struck and killed by the 17 year old who was driving a lamborghini suv.
as best put by ms. munoz’ mother with respect to the boy’s step-father’s apology “i don’t accept it. my daughter is gone, she’s not here, she’s dead because of what happened,” said mother carol munoz. “his son was being irresponsible, or even the parent being irresponsible the way he raised his child, didn’t give him any rules or morals to follow,” she added. ” foxnews. it should be noted, it is my understand that the boy’s mother was opposed to her son being provided the car.
the boy now had severe brain damage and will be facing criminal charges.
responsible parents all saw this fact pattern as an accident waiting to happen. while the accident’s severity may not have been fully envisioned, there was certainly enough data for a good parent to to take proper steps to protect both their child and the public from this tragedy. it is my understanding that the stepfather wanted to share his love of sports cars with his step son, there were many steps that he could have taken to make this a reality short of providing him the vehicle to use on the streets. instead, as it appears, he unleashed a 17 year old on the street in a machine capable of lethality.
parents must trust yourself. they must feel free to act in a risk adverse manner with respect to your children. parenting means saying “no” when there is a need to prevent future harm. parenting means taking the time and sharing these prophetic stories of tragedies with children. tragedies can be averted if parents acted like parents.
parents must be creative. while they may wish wonderful experiences for their children such as horseback riding or motorcycle riding. when doing so, they must employ management techniques such as taking safety measures and training.
be well!!
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