(Nebraska) :( My son and his friend were playing outside and thought it would be fun to throw rocks...urrrr. They threw rocks at an old school bus in the neighborhood and broke about 5 of the windows. A neighbor called the police, and they went to the scene. After LOTS of tears and attempts to cover up their actions (they were absolutely terrified), they both finally admitted that they did it. They other boy's parents are saying that their son didn't do it, but he told the police officer that he did do it. Although my son has never been in trouble before, I have no doubt that he did it (I'm not in denial like the other parents). We are going to find out on Tuesday whether or not he will receive a citation.

Can anyone here give me an idea of what to expect as a result of his actions (both for him and for us).

Thank you so much for any advice you can give me.

Sincerely,

Felicia S.

This being a first offense, maybe some type of counseling and repayment of a share of the damages. Counseling may be kid alone and/or family counseling with kid and parents.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. Have a great weekend. Felicia

Well, today my husband brought my son over to the bus owner's home (I currently live out of the state). He had my son apologize and he apologized as well. My son broke down in tears and said he'll never do something like that again, etc. The bus owner was very nice and said that he wouldn't press charges against our son and that he would get an estimate next week for the cost to replace the windows and would work with us to make payments for our half of the damage. He is also going to have our son help him clean up the mess and will probably have him work for him in his yard to help pay back some of the bill. The parent's of the other child went over to this man's house and cursed him out...told him there was no way their son did this and refused to pay for any of the damages, etc. Quite obviously the bus owner was very upset with them and is determined to press charges against that boy (and his family). (Why would a parent do that?? What are they teaching their child by trying to cover up his crimes? Especially after their son told the police officer that he broke three of the windows?) My husband made our son write a letter of apology to the police officer for not telling the truth right away. Needless to say our son is grounded for foreseeable future!

You cannot imagine how relieved I feel. I was so worried.

Thank you again,

Felicia

Felicia, as a former "neighborhood/domestic terrorist" <a-hem> when I was that age, I can telly ou that you and your husband did what I think is admirable. The other young man, his parents show a prime example of what has gone wrong in this world today. Too many parents think their kid is perfect.

My parents knew I wasn't perfect and they knew that most of the time I did what I was accused of doing. They also knew there wasn't much they could do, with the circumstances we were faced with, to stop it. The term "kids will be kids" is true. Kids will be kids, but they will also become holy terrors if left without supervision.

And the other kid is going to experience that, it looks.

At least your kids has good parents! I think that's beautiful!

I can't wait until he's an adult! :p The ultimate payback will be when he has kids of his own! hahahaha ;)

Well, I'm off to bed.

Take care,

Felicia