My heart was in my throat when I first heard about the little boy that had supposedly floated away from his backyard in an oversized home-made balloon.
MSM was all over it with dramatic minute-by-minute live coverage. The six-year-old boy had somehow loosened the tether to the inflated balloon. His older brother told his parents that he had seen him climb inside.
My seven kids are all grown now but I well know from experience how children can and - if left to their own devices.- absolutely will do some incredibly stupid things. I said a prayer for the boy's safety and for his parents and family as they witnessed the out-of-control Mylar mushroom-like flying through the skies far above the ground. I felt guilty about the growing resentment I harbored towards the parents for not watching their boy more closely.
Relief when the balloon landed gently and unceremoniously in an empty field, rescue personel quickly scrambling to release the boy from the collapsed balloon. But he was nowhere to be found. Now there was a report that someone had witnessed something falling from the aircraft not far from where it was inadvertently launched. I prayed that the boy had run off and hidden out of fear after releasing the aircraft and never was in the balloon to begin with.
On my commute home I saw the first of dozens of posts on Twitter saying that the boy had been found and was safe. Thank God! A happy ending!
But that is not the end of the story. The boy had indeed been hiding in his own home. I can't imagine how his parents had not checked every nook or cranny that a small child could have concealed himself in when the alternative was so horrific.
In the opinion of a body language expert employed by the police department the parents behavior was genuine - that they believed their son was in the balloon. But most people are starting to believe that the whole thing was a hoax.
But that is not the end of the story. The boy had indeed been hiding in his own home. I can't imagine how his parents had not checked every nook or cranny that a small child could have concealed himself in when the alternative was so horrific.
In the opinion of a body language expert employed by the police department the parents behavior was genuine - that they believed their son was in the balloon. But most people are starting to believe that the whole thing was a hoax.
I'm tired of this shameful story. The parents were completely irresponsible to allow even the possibility that their child could be put in such danger. It is just as asinine as having an unfenced pool, a pet python or a loaded gun around when you have small children.
I heard that the police are planning to bring criminal charges in this case and I do look forward to that.
I heard that the police are planning to bring criminal charges in this case and I do look forward to that.
I don't know which is more outrageous: that these parents could allow their young children to be unsupervised with such a tempting hazard as an unsecured balloon in their backyard or (as is being reported now) that they would direct their children to LIE about the 6 year old being carried away in that balloon. Either way they FAIL as parents.
ReplyDeleteThere remains a glimmer of hope despite the influence of these apparently irresponsible parents, however, for "out of the mouths of babes" Falcon volunteered on national TV that "this was for a show".