Mother calls cops to make them make her son stop playing GTA

[Strix]

She can't just take away his video games?   

Many 14 year old boys are stronger than their mothers.

I am not sure of the accuracy of the article because the version I heard on the radio was that she turned off his game THAN the boy went ballistic which is why she called the police. The article makes it sound like she turned off the game, yelled at the kid, and called the police to for more discipline.

[Jaron]

Its a big deal if mama said no. Is there really anything horribly shocking about the mother wanting to be the one in control?

[Monoriu]

Its a big deal if mama said no. Is there really anything horribly shocking about the mother wanting to be the one in control?

And you guys call the Chinese authoritarian

[merithyn]

Regardless of whether the games are legally "his" or not, taking his games will be "stealing" in his eyes.  He is 14 years old, and will approach adulthood pretty soon.  He isn't a 4 year old where the parents control everything.  If your adult friend engages in addictive or self-destructive behaviour, you do not go to his home and take away his stuff.  I think it is better off for the parents in such cases to start treating their teenage offspring a bit more like adults, rather than toddlers.

This is where you are wrong. As long as he acts like a 4 year old, he should be treated like a 4 year old. He is 14, which is not an adult. Not only is he not an adult, he's not even close to adulthood. And yes, at 14 under these circumstances, his mother should control everything.

There is this weird idea by many people without children that teenagers are close to adulthood and should be treated as such, when the reality is that they should be treated in the manner in which they are acting. When they approach a situation like an adult, they should be treated like an adult. When they act like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, then they should be treated as such.

Stepping in and taking the games - whether while he's at school or with him standing in the room - is the parent's right and responsibility. The child has none until he's paying his own way in his own house with his own money.

[merithyn]

Its a big deal if mama said no. Is there really anything horribly shocking about the mother wanting to be the one in control?

And you guys call the Chinese authoritarian

It's called parenting, Mono.

[Grey Fox]

Not really, minors don't really own anything.

Well, first the boy could lock the games in a cabinet or something.  That's what I did.  Second, if his games were taken away, he will certainly find out, and there will be total war when he does. 

Anyway, I think the mother is much more annoyed by the fact that she is disobeyed or ignored, rather than by any real harmful effects of GTA.  That's why stealing his games won't achieve the mother's purpose.  It won't buy her respect or acknowledgement that she is higher up in the hirarchy.  Rather, it is an admission that she has no power over her son, and she has to resort to stealing while he is away. 

She is not stealing his games you dipshit she is taking them until he earns the privledge of playing them back.

If he puts the games in a cabinet take or break open the cabinet.  Playing games is not a right.  If the kid is truly addicted she is doing him a favor.

Dipshit yourself! Mono isn't Tim.

[Eddie Teach]

Mono's capable of defending himself, fahdiz.

[Martinus]

Valmy has a weird tendency to lash out sometimes at people with insults where the agreement is seemingly impersonal and not that significant. I don't get it, since he is otherwise quite mild-mannered.

[Grey Fox]

Mono's capable of defending himself, fahdiz.

Dipshits!

[KRonn]

This is where you are wrong. As long as he acts like a 4 year old, he should be treated like a 4 year old. He is 14, which is not an adult. Not only is he not an adult, he's not even close to adulthood. And yes, at 14 under these circumstances, his mother should control everything.

There is this weird idea by many people without children that teenagers are close to adulthood and should be treated as such, when the reality is that they should be treated in the manner in which they are acting. When they approach a situation like an adult, they should be treated like an adult. When they act like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, then they should be treated as such.

Stepping in and taking the games - whether while he's at school or with him standing in the room - is the parent's right and responsibility. The child has none until he's paying his own way in his own house with his own money.

Agreed, well said.

[Monoriu]

This is where you are wrong. As long as he acts like a 4 year old, he should be treated like a 4 year old. He is 14, which is not an adult. Not only is he not an adult, he's not even close to adulthood. And yes, at 14 under these circumstances, his mother should control everything.

There is this weird idea by many people without children that teenagers are close to adulthood and should be treated as such, when the reality is that they should be treated in the manner in which they are acting. When they approach a situation like an adult, they should be treated like an adult. When they act like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, then they should be treated as such.

Stepping in and taking the games - whether while he's at school or with him standing in the room - is the parent's right and responsibility. The child has none until he's paying his own way in his own house with his own money.

This is obviously the most expedient way for a parent.  Just say you have the authority, you control his economic lifelines, and therefore he has to do as you say.  But have you considered that -

a) Even if you take away his games, a determined teenager has tons of alternative ways to get what he wants.  If he can't play GTA in his own place, he can do it in his friend's place.  He can do it at any place with a computer.  He can run away from his home.  He can befriend gangsters just so he can play games.  He can play it when you are not at home.  He can get another copy.  He can download it.  He can steal it.  And so on.  It is useless. 

b) Yes, he will probably obey as long as he depends on you.  What about when he grows up?  If you blackmail him into submission every time, as soon as he doesn't depend on you economically (which will happen sooner or later), there will be no reason left for him to like you.

c) Is taking away the games by force the best way to achieve the goal of stopping the addiction?  I am not convinced.  I believe there are better ways to achieve that, like persistent dialogue and finding alternative things for him to do.  That certainly takes a few hundred times more work than saying "obey me or else".

[Monoriu]

Valmy has a weird tendency to lash out sometimes at people with insults where the agreement is seemingly impersonal and not that significant. I don't get it, since he is otherwise quite mild-mannered.

I still like Valmy