So you think you've seen everything... /Runaway Balloon

[Ursa major]

Thank goodness he's safe.

[Teresa Edgerton]

People are making a big deal over the bizarre behavior of the family. The kids are spoiled and have no manners (that's newsworthy, since children in general, as we all know, are particularly well-behaved these days). And they're storm chasers.

My family dresses up in medieval costumes and goes camping on weekends; then my sons put on armor and hit people with sticks. So, um, I'm not really in a position to judge the strange habits of other families.

[dustinzgirl]

My kids build bows and arrows and crossbows and then shoot at small animals (um, not real animals. Painted ones that my daughter paints.). My oldest wears spandex and fights boys.

So T, I guess we are both terrible parents.

[Teresa Edgerton]

My husband builds crossbows and arrows (actually, for the crossbow, they're called bolts), too! He mostly only shoots at regular targets these days, but every so often somebody paints an orc for one of the competitions, and I once made a giant spider. (My sister called up the night I was working on it. My mother asked her to ask me what I was doing. "Stuffing a spider." That did startle her a bit, although she wouldn't have blinked if I had said, "Making the head of a humongous dragon out of cardboard boxes and paper-mache," which I've also done.)

This outlandish upbringing may explain why, even as I write this, my youngest daughter is embroidering cobwebs on the costume she's going to wear this weekend.

So, chasing storms if you happen to be a storm scientist, that's not really so strange. Neither is making giant balloons not actually intended to carry small children.

Mind you, if it really was a hoax cooked up by the father -- although what he's supposed to be trying to publicize I haven't yet heard -- then it's not odd behavior but very bad behavior.

[dustinzgirl]

I doubt this was a hoax, or done on purpose.

[dustinzgirl]

Originally Posted by dustinzgirl

For some reason, I thought that spending time building a balloon with your son would be a good thing.

And, I'm not entirely sure that this is the same family in Miami, considering that there are lots of Heene families and this Heene family lives in Colorado.

I was incorrect, this is the same family.

However, I personally see nothing wrong with appearing on a television show, or being a storm chaser, or building a balloon.

I would love to be a storm chaser. There's nothing as awesome as a big storm. I don't have the guts to do it tho!

I let my kids use power tools, and its likely that one day one of them is going to hurt or kill themselves or the other sibling. But since we can't raise our kids in a bubble, we have to let them learn and grow.

[Vladd67]

Out of the mouth of babes?
Uncomfortable Moment: 'Balloon Boy' Tells CNN They 'Did this for a Show' [Updated] - LAist

[Dave]

Originally Posted by dustinzgirl

However, I personally see nothing wrong with appearing on a television show, or being a storm chaser, or building a balloon.

How about wasting Police time? Never mind the time of the other people searching. Some people aren't satisfied with their 15 minutes of Fame, they get addicted to it.

[Teresa Edgerton]

The question remains: When he said, "We did this for a show," who is "we"?
Him and his brother? Him and his parents? Maybe the kids liked being on the reality show so much, they thought this would be a good way to get on TV again. Or maybe the parents were the ones who thought that way.

But as hoaxes go, this was a pretty lame one for adults to think up, considering the inevitable discovery that the boy was not on the balloon.

Originally Posted by Dave

How about wasting Police time? Never mind the time of the other people searching.

Well, there's the thing. It hardly seems that the parents could have been stupid enough to think there wouldn't be legal repercussions when the truth came out. As they must have known it might, because who could rely on a six-year-old to stick with the planned story? Of course, people do things it hardly seems like they could be stupid enough to do, all the time.

So I'm on the fence about this one at the moment.

[Vladd67]

Not only did he say "We did this for a show" he said to his dad "You guys said* We did this for a show" which seems to point towards the parents being involved.



*My emphasis

[Sparrow]

dustinzgirl ~And, I'm not entirely sure that this is the same family in Miami, considering that there are lots of Heene families and this Heene family lives in Colorado.

uhhh, how many Heene families have a child named Falcon?!?!

And wife swapping is not the same as storm chasing.
Swapping one's wife and involving young children in the practice, even on a reality show, is immoral.

I hope emergency services hands them a big fat bill for their afternoon adventure.
Thank goodness the good samaritans and emergency workers who frantically chased down "balloon boy" weren't injured in the process.

[Ursa major]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Only in America.

And another example of wonderful parenting from the UK:

A mother is facing jail after she admitted persuading everyone, including her son, that he had fake illnesses.

The 35-year-old from Devon, who cannot be named, even forced her healthy son to have surgery and use a wheelchair.

She admitted cruelty against her eight-year-old son, who is now in foster care, and perverting the course of justice.

She was told by the judge at Exeter Crown Court that she would face jail when sentenced in the new year.

The scam started after the poorly newborn boy was put in a special baby care unit.

But his mother continued to pretend her son was ill for the next six-and-a-half years.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Devon | Mother forced son into wheelchair

Certainly not picking on you here, Sparrow; it's just that you've provided a useful hook for stories like this.

[dustinzgirl]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

uhhh, how many Heene families have a child named Falcon?!?!

And wife swapping is not the same as storm chasing.
Swapping one's wife and involving young children in the practice, even on a reality show, is immoral.

I hope emergency services hands them a big fat bill for their afternoon adventure.
Thank goodness the good samaritans and emergency workers who frantically chased down "balloon boy" weren't injured in the process.

I later quotes myself and retracted my statement, thank you for your due diligence.

I also really just can't believe that people would make their child lie like that.

[Sparrow]

Ursa ~Certainly not picking on you here, Sparrow; it's just that you've provided a useful hook for stories like this.

No problem.

It's nice to see we haven't completely cornered the market on bad parenting.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Yes, it does look bad for the parents. Six-year-olds don't always tell the truth, and they can get mixed up in what they are saying -- which is why they say such funny things that their relatives repeat over and over -- but it's hard to put any other construction on what he said.


As for the show Wife Swap, although I've never seen it, my understanding is that in spite of the racy title it is fairly innocuous. The husbands don't switch wives, the families switch mothers. No sex is involved. In fact, since the producers match families for their dramatic possibilities, I think there is usually such a degree of instant dislike that sex would be out of the question anyway.

I think it must be stressful for the children to have a stranger help parent them -- although maybe no worse than children experience on being left with a babysitter or a relative they don't know while parents go on vacation -- but I can also see the possibility that it might have some small benefit, in that once the families are reunited they have a better appreciation for each other.

On the other hand, the reasons why people get involved in reality shows often escape me.