The Fox link also had this information: Melissa Dean claims she has lost control of her four sons, ages 13,15,16 and 17, so she moved out to live with her boyfriend only going home to drop off food.
The mother:
Posted on 02/21/2008 7:54:03 AM PST by Pyro7480
OCALA, Fla. (AP) - Police say a mother of 4 teenage boys has been charged with neglect after saying she was going "on strike" because she was fed up with them.
Ocala police say 43-year-old Melissa Dean told the Department of Children and Families that she went on strike because no one would help her with the boys ages 17, 16, 14 and 13.
Police have gone to Dean's home 12 times since September 2007 due to the boys' misbehavior.
Dean tells the DCF that she thought there would be peace if she gave up her bedroom to 1 of the children.
She said she supervised them by making frequent calls and bringing meals to the house.
The Fox link also had this information: Melissa Dean claims she has lost control of her four sons, ages 13,15,16 and 17, so she moved out to live with her boyfriend only going home to drop off food.
The mother:
Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?
I guess it just plain silly to ask, “Where’s the father?”...............
Police have gone to the home 12 times since September 2007. Wright noted he has gone four times, and that the children know him by name. Before Dean was arrested early Tuesday morning, Wright asked one of the boys what it would take to stop the fighting and he told the officer he wanted his mother to spend more time at home.
Once, one of the boys was picked up by authorities and she wanted him held overnight at a juvenile detention center, but officials told her to come pick him up. After that, the report said, she took no further steps to get help for him or his siblings.
Police were called to the home Monday because two of the boys were fighting over a computer cord and one had run to the neighbor's home. The day before, Wright said, police went there because one of the boys broke a sliding glass door with his fist.
She admitted she spends nights at a friend's home because the constant scrapping kept her up at night and she works mornings as a manager at a Walgreens. One of the boys told Wright that she spends the night at her boyfriend's home.
mommy ping?
After seeing the “kid’s” behavior I would go on strike too...with a Louisville slugger.
Of course if she’d taken the measures that needed to be taken to prevent these boys from becoming “out of control”, they’d have been hauled off by DCF a long time ago, and would now be demonstrating their out-of-controlness within the Florida DCF’s notorious foster care system, instead of in the house they’ve driven their mother out of.
I seem to recall my mom doing something like this when my brother and I were in our teens. But we didn’t call the cops.
Children learn to respect and obey their parents at a young age, or they don't learn it at all.
I’m calling it guilty. ;^)
I watched the Fox report this morning, and those boys are out of control. They aren’t little kids. They are man-sized, and went after the reporter (on tape). IMHO, these ‘kids’ need a Drill Seargent to put them in line (and keep them there.)
“I had these 4 kids. Now who is going to help me with them? I’m waiting.”.
Another successful single mom story.
This is what happens when a single woman tries to raise four boys without a father. They will all probably wind up in prison.
43? Rough life!
In other words, the state government made it clear to her that they were not interested in helping teaching these kids a lesson that wrong actions have unpleasant consequences. And it's safe to say that the boys have been attending Florida public schools, where they've been getting the same message that wildly out-of-control behavior entails no negative consequences. And now the state wants to blame the mother because the boys behavior has gotten so bad that she can't live in the home with them anymore.
She admitted she spends nights at a friend's home because the constant scrapping kept her up at night and she works mornings as a manager at a Walgreens.
In other words, she wants to work for a living, and doesn't think the boys should be permitted to prevent that.
One simple question: where is dad?
This same sad story is repeated thousands of times in the inner cities of America every day.
My Catholic mother-in-law had 6 boys, and precious little help controlling them from their dad. One night (when they were still young), she was at her wit’s end with their squabbling. So she went outside to the freshly dug up septic tank, poured gasoline into it and lit it. She went back inside and told them the devil was on his way up to get them, just look outside.
The boys never forgot that, and laugh about it today. They turned out OK, too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.