Figure This

In my travels I heard about this 11 year old boy who was arrested in October in Colorado for "doing what his therapist told him to do". I'd like to hear from the therapist to know if he really told him to draw violent scenes in class instead of acting out. If you ask me, this shows an incredible lack of forethought on the part of the therapist. This can't be an excuse. If nothing was done when the picture was drawn or when the child acted up, and one day he did bring a gun to class to act out his drawing, the lot of these critics would be pointing at the police department for having done nothing.

I am trying to imagine the scene as the police enter my home 10 years from now to talk to my son about a drawing he had made. I would be terribly upset, and I might have told him to just cooperate with the police. I don't think that a lawyer would be a bad idea now, but I can't imagine my son doing something like this and not reaping the appropriate consequences.

I do feel for the boy. I imagine this has been a traumatic experience for him, and I hope that it scares him straight, but only time will tell. I hope that the family will find a therapist with a bit more common sense. I have friends who are teachers and I think we are naive to think that a child won't become violent under the right circumstances. I'm reminded of Solomon's words in Proverbs 3 that says, "My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof, for whom the Lord loves he reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights." Some correction is needed here. I hate that it had to come from the police, but I am happy that at the very least they made a house call even if the outcome for him had been different.