Yeah the parent thing really strikes a cord with me.
I did meet the parents as well, as they both brought him in to get his bike fixed. It was a disaster of a franken bike, and the kid didn't know exactly what he wanted, but was demanding all at the same time.
They were nice people, but I remember thinking they let the kid run things. Or being surprised that they let him be so rude to others.
They own a small retail business as well, so I was shocked that they allowed him to act the way he did to us.
Thinking back I'm wondering how involved they were in this kids life??
I dunno? And I'm trying not to judge. Esp. since I really don't know them.
But I do know how easy it is to put the business ahead of your family.
Running son started having problems with his grades, so I decided that I needed to be home with him more. Now I leave the boys in charge every afternoon and go pick him up from school. I sit with him while he does his homework, and make sure he gets his reading in. His grades went from horrid to straight A's immediately.
Being present in your kids life really does matter. I also find that we chat more about things, and he tells me a lot more than he used to. He's in 6th grade now, so it's getting more and more important that I know what's going on.
But back to the topic. Yes, VERY sad for the victims wife. But the community they live in is tight knit I believe, so hopefully they help her. We have another customer that lives in the community. He said that the couple thought they could't have kids, so they were in the middle of adopting two. And then she got pregnant. So now there will be three little kids with no dad.
All because some kids wanted a ride into town to go to a party!