One Step Closer to "Done Seen Everything"

The Chicago Sun-Times' Mary Mitchell writes about something that's just baffling to me. There are parents who are actually out there attacking kids who aren't their own. As everybody knows, back in the day a friend's parents had the right to lay it on you, if they caught you messing up too, but this ain't that. One of the examples she cites is that of a boy who lost a fight on day 1. On day 2, Butt-Kicked comes back to school with his parents. When Nice with His Hands comes in, Butt-Kicked jumps on him. Then Butt-Kicked's Mom jumps in while the pop watches. Now that's just crazy. Here are some problems I have with this-- and these are some initial reactions: 1. What was the teacher doing during all this? Could be that the pop was holding the teacher back, but that's problematic in either case 2. Are they intentionally raising a punk? Is his mom gonna come around when he gets his butt kicked in high school, when the boys are bigger than her? 3. How immature is the mom, that she has to physically accost a 13-year old? 4. Is Nice With His Hands' mom gonna look for Butt-Kicked's mom? If she does, is it a lock that NWHH's mom will beat BK's mom? 5. How old are these parents? I'm thinking that many parenting difficulties arise because of the chronological proximity of parent to child. I believe that this manifests itself in a variety of forms, but it's very visible at school. Young parents are less likely to do well in school, and therefore less likely to hold education in high esteem. (I recognize the chicken-egg conundrum there) Not valuing education themselves, the probably don't stress the importance of education to their own children, who make fools of themselves and make learning difficult for other students. Same thing goes for actual content. If the mama can't multiply and don't care that she can't, it's likely that the baby ain't gon' be able to multiply either. 6. Paternal involvement means nothing if he's a jackass.