Father Chains Son to Bumper, Remains Unapologetic

An Iowa man faces child-endangerment charges for allegedly chaining his 14-year-old son to the bumper of a car.

[Lexi]

I dont see why the father should apologize. He did all he could to keep his child safe. The child sounds like he is very angry and that needs to be dealt with right now. I still dont understand why it is ok for a child to hit a parent and its not ok to punish the child. Yes the punishment was a little over the edge but maybe it was his only choice as destructive as the child was being. What choices do adults have with out of control children. Everything is blamed on the parents regardless. Abuse is one thing but I feel this parent was doing this as a last resort. God only knows what would have happened to the child had he run away. I feel for the whole family but at some point society has to deal with all the anger some of these children have and the parents need support and they all need help. Where does it say parents are suppose to just allow their children to do as they please. The blame always comes back to the parents. This child is out of control and needs to understand that he is just a child and his parents are responsible for his actions. How could the dad live with himself had he allowed the child to run away again and he ended up dead or killed someone and had to spend the rest of his life in prison. It works both ways. Everyone has to accept responsibility.

[Grandma Carol]

You have to do what you have to do. Why should the father apologize? That kid is waaaay out of control!

[Alex]

So what happened to the father? Did he get in trouble or a smack on the hand? The guy "CHAINED" his sun to a rusty old bumper for crying out loud!!!!!!! The father could have just left him there to die for all we know. The father should get some kind of punishment for his action. Chain him to a bumper an see if he likes it....

[Mary from KCK]

Why is it that people blame the parents for everything the kids do, yet in this instance they are mad at the father? We do not know everything the boy has done in the past. We can't pass judgement on this father. Maybe chaining him to the bumper of the car was a little too much, but when you have an out of control child you do what you have to, to protect them. I have a child that is bipolar and trust me, although I have never chained my child to a bumper I do anything I have to to prevent her from getting hurt or hurting herself. Yes, she is under a doctor's care and on medication. Unless you are in these types of situations you don't know what you would do. I don't think the father should be charged and hope the charges will be dropped when the whole story comes out. Which, by the way we don't know. I don't believe that father would ever hurt that child on purpose. At 14, the child knows right from wrong. I don't think the father has anything to apologize about. The son knew what he did and he had to be punished. You do what you have to in order to keep your child alive. I believe the child did cause the injuries to his ankle on his own. What was the father supposed to do? Let the child beat him up and destroy the house? I am not saying chain your children up, I am just saying we don't know the entire story and he was doing the only thing he could think of at the time to protect his child from more harm.

[Billie]

Sounds like the child has some issues, and as adults it's up to his father/uncle/whomever to deal effectively with them. I got news for you, if the child were hauled off to a mental ward (which is where most kids like him end up, or in jail or dead) they would do the same thing. Restrain him, but also give him drugs to keep him calm. Leave the father alone, I know plenty of parents who would've done the same thing. OR...just let the kid go and we'd end up reading about him in the obituaries. He would become a statistic. This man was just doing what he was well within his rights to do.

Now what's gonna happen to the father? He'll brought up on charges. The kid is gonna be coddled by the system, and will get the WRONG IMPRESSION that his behavior was fine. Totally bass-ackwards.

[goodforthisparen t]

I think that more young kids need some discipline. The father should not be charged for trying to teach his son respect. He shouldn't have to apologize for being a parent that cares for his kid. Sounds like the kid is out of control and needs a little discipline. A lot of other kids need some discipline too.

[ron]

yea chaining him to the bumper may have been over the top. but the thing is that kids can get away with so much because the laws have been changed. you used to be able to correct your kids now every thing you do is abouse of some form so some people have run out of options. not all swats on the butt are bad i am 35 had my shire of them turned out good.

[Mother]

I think this parent was just at his wits end. Unfortunately we are now in a society were it says this is abuse. But I am 30+ and I grew up where if you disrespected or go get in trouble you got a whooping with a switch, belt or whatever was handy. I personally believe that the right to choose your kids form of punishment is a parent’s decision. Sitting in time out or taking away personal items doesn’t discipline the child. We want real men to step up and take care of these boys but then we punish real men for stepping up and say its abuse. The kid may have an amputated arm but he crossed the lines of trying to swing at someone. A kid who wants to hit adults has crossed boundaries and should be dwelt with. I wish someone would tell me how to displince my kids. Trust and believe kids are not perfect but with discipline and whooping they sure know what lines to definitely not cross. You won’t see my kids in Wal-Mart acting a fool over not getting something it will the last time because I will pop a kid and kids truly do not like public embarrassment. I stand with man and he shouldn’t have to apologize. The kid hit a cop do you see it in the news about him not being apologetic?

[Rich]

Heres the problem. You cant spank/hit your kids anymore its concidered child abuse. Sometimes these kids need a good a$$ spanking to remind them whose boss. I'm not saying to beat your child where it leaves marks or bruises but good old fashioned spanking. Kids now a days know that if they get hit by their parents they can report it to school officals and the parents get in trouble with CPA. To much goverment in our houses. As what the story says about this kid, I side with the father.

[From KCK]

I think for all of us who have children at home, know what it is like to have a child that on occasion gets angry and really forgets why they got mad in the first place. I applaud the dad for trying to do what he thought was best. Maybe not my first choice, but it certainly is better than the father trying to physically restrain him and better than the kid going to jail.

[Michelle B]

I don't blame the Father for not being apologetic. Sounds like the kid needed to be chained to a bumper. The headline is misleading, as you would assume he was chained to a bumper that was attached to a car. If this would have been me, I would have went to jail too, because the moment my teen raises a hand to me, is the moment he learns how to take a butt kicking. Good luck to the Mother.

[Flowers]

Another disfuntional family that has no business with a child. If the child is that out of control chose military school of some type. Children today are filled with anger, sometimes for a reason sometimes for NO reason. Either way if you can't handle the child reach out to authorites.

[36Atwood]

I think the real problem is so many parents who divorce, then worry more about their new love interests than properly raising the kids they produced in their last mistake. Marry, divorce, marry again, divorce again, the kids all left alone to sort out the trauma. These out of control kids are the rewards of your stupid behaviors.

[USA]

Flowers, the law is not always willing to handle these kind of problems, I know from experience with an out of control teen. In my case, my daughter. I called the law on her, admitted her to a psych ward, did counseling etc. She found out if she got pregnant, she could control everything. So she did, and thus when she went out of control again, trying to run away, beating the crap out of me while I was on with 911, but because she was pregnant by then on purpose I add, there was nothing I could do. I tried to admit her into a group home, but without her consent I couldn't do it. So don't be so quick with your judgement, the law is not always helpful!

[anonymous]

I don't blame the father. These teenaged boys now a days think they are grown. Then for him to try and hit his father. Yeah he deserved it. The mother obviously can't handle the kid thats why he ws with his father in the first place. Now he will run over his mother and they will probably regret sending hiom back to her in the first place.

[missing her]

would you chain your child to a bumper to save his or her life?

[Pittsburgh Mom]

This father was clearly within his rights. I tell my children; you have 2 things in this world to fear -#1 is God; #2 is your Mother. Kids now adays are out of control, they manipulate the system to get what they want because they are young, immature, and selfish. They need guidance, discipline and a strong parent to nurture them, love them and show them right from wrong. The authorities stick their noses where it doesn't belong (such as this case) and forget about the real abuses of the country; the children that end up dead or sexually abused at their parent's hands. Typically every child abuse and death I have read about, the authorities have been involved at some point in their lives and the kids have been left with the bad parents. It doesn't make sense. Drop these charges and get this child some counseling with a firm hand to guide him to become a man!

[Angry]

This is a tough situation. I agree it probably wan't the best decision for punishment or restraint. The parents are responsible if a child is go out and break the law or even hurt someone or themselves. If this child had ran off again then everyone would be saying where were his parents. He needed to be restrained but how? I agree the government is to involved in our homes when they shouldn't be. Look at the newest KS story were a boyfriend murdered a 4 yr old and had had CPA involved they are proactive against parents when they need to be proactive against the out of control kids and they are not proactive against the parents when they need to be. For example my step daughter (almost 3yrs old) came to us after visting her mothers house. Mind you the mother gave us the child in March stating she couldnt take care of her. When we filed for custody she now wants to fight. For 4 months we had this child and the mother refused to see her. Court appointed Guardian said she needed 50/50 visits and we complied. After not seeing her daughter for 4 months she had her for 72 hours and came back to us with numerous bruises including a black eye and bruises on the backside. Mom had no explaination. 2 weeks later after visiting daughter came back with hand print bruises on her backside (2nd time in 3 weeks). We sought medical care and the doctors and police department hotlined the mother and they felt there was no abuse or neglect. This has continued for the last 3 months. How can they go against a medical record and police documentation? Let alone to be told they just aren't proactive until something serious happens.
I feel for the parents of an out of control teenager. Sometimes like my brother it's simply cuz he was never taught respect. In this situation the father had the child because the mother couldnt handle him anymore. The system sent him right back with her. Were any issues resolved?

[Thoughtful]

When 14 year olds run away, they are not running to anything, they are literally running away from something that is so unbearable for them that they have to leave even though they have no where to go and no means of support. If this kid is angry and out of control it is because not only has he not been in a consistent loving environment, he has been in an intolerable environment. There is probably a lot of history here that led up to all of this. This poor kid does not have a mother showing him any love or consistency. And we already know how his father treats him. Imagine if you were 14 and you were chained up. He doesn't even have the emotional maturity or the communication skills to be able to speak up for himself. The only thing he can do is let people know something is wrong by acting out. People who grew up with a mom and a dad who loved them should not judge kids who never had that advantage. They think and respond to things in a completely different way. I am enormously sympathetic to this kid.

[Thoughtful]

Just read some additional news stories on this incident. The kid told the cops that he ran away because the father beat him routinely. He had injuries on his face to prove it. I notice that his arm is amputated. I do not know why. Fox did not explain any of this. I know a lot of people have difficult teens. But there is a big difference between a difficult teen and a 14 year old who cannot support himself and who has no where to go but is willing to face whatever the world throws at him to get away from awful circumstances at home. If his mother knows that his father beats him and she won't take him either, this looks to me like a very sad situation for the kid. He is a kid. Do not be so quick to judge him. There are very bad parents in the world.