The Ethan Couch case: How far would you go to protect your child?

Hearing the stories about Ethan Couch, the "affluenza" teen, and his mother's escape to Mexico, anyone with half a brain knows it was a harebrained scheme. Fits the definition perfectly – ill-conceived, half-baked, reckless, and I'll add the absolute last thing any parent should do.

Or is it?

As a parenting educator, my first reaction was, "This is all wrong." This mother isn't protecting her son. She's damaging him more than she already has. This kid's problem isn't that he was given too much. Oh no – not at all.

This kid wasn't given enough of what he needed; structure, limits, and expectations.

Okay – that was my first reaction. The so-called parenting "expert" answer.

But then I began thinking just how far would I go to "save" my son. And the answer surprised and upset me.

Probably as far as I could.

I started to see why this mom was driven to do what did.  Maybe it was even some parental instinct – do anything to keep your kid safe.

But then I regained my senses and knew Ethan's mom wasn't protecting him. This wasn't love. This was the easy way out. And with parenting as with life - there is no easy way out.

Things happen to our children. Good things and horrible things. Things that will pass, like hurt feelings and things that won't, like devastating illness. Things we can make go away, and things we have no control over.  But our role as parents stays the same – we need to make the right decisions, the ones that will help our kids in the long run.  Easy to write.  Unbelievably hard to do.

How far would you go to protect your kid?

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