Enough with the Balloon Boy Hoax!!

I remember being on line last week and seeing this story unfolding all over the internet. Then I ran to the living room and turned on the TV. An out of control weather balloon that looked like a flying saucer was spinning around in the sky and the last anyone knew, a six year old boy was in the basket that was attached to it.

It was horrifying because as you watched the footage, suddenly you were like "Where's the basket?" Now you feel sick because you're thinking "OMG, it's GONE! That boy is probably dead somewhere from falling out of the sky!!" I was near tears watching this drama unfold, holding my son close to me and thinking that I would never let him out of my sight again.

But then, miracle of miracles, the boy is found ALIVE! In a box! In his...attic?? What in the world? As it turns out, this whole thing was a hoax made up by the family who was desperately trying to get their own reality TV show! They had already been a part of one, and now they wanted one of their own and so what better way to ensure that than to create your own overly dramatized, grab the attention of the world, media stunt.

YOU PEOPLE MAKE ME SICK!!!

I mean, REALLY??? Now they are all over the news, it comes out that it was a hoax, the cops are pissed, the media is pissed and yet...they are STILL all over my TV. Now there's talk of the children being taken away and this sparked a HUGE debate in my home. Frank says no, I say yes. Why? Well, first their is contributing to the delinquency of a child. Frank says no. I say, if you teach these kids (who the youngest is 6!) that it is okay to lie and get the cops and the media involved just to get attention, who KNOWS what these kids will grow up doing! I know that none of us are the perfect parent, but for crying out loud, I don't know anyone who actually ENCOURAGES their kids to lie to authorities so that they can get attention!

Frank's theory is that the kids live in a nice home, they look well taken care of so we should just leave them alone. The parents should have to pay for all of the expenses utilized when they were "searching" for their child but other than that, let them be. Okay, fine. So the kids LOOK okay? Did we not just learn anything from the Duggard case? People SAW those kids, social services came to the house! And NO ONE seemed to notice that they were living in tents in the backyard and that their mother was a victim of kidnapping! But as long as the kids LOOK okay, well...I'm sure then they're fine! I know, I know, I'm over exaggerating here but I think that if these parents are so concerned with getting famous that they would go to these lengths, are they even paying attention to the kids except to prompt them to lie??

Don't we have enough dishonest adults wandering the earth? Most of which are running this country and the big corporations? Do we really need to keep feeding that beast?

Today's Examiner.com article is on volunteer opportunities while homeschooling. You can read it HERE. Thanks!