A 13-year-old from Texas is likely in MAJOR trouble with her folks today after sneaking out of her bedroom window and taking her older brother's car on a road trip to visit her 12-year-old online boyfriend in Kentucky. Somehow, Elizabeth Annette Robinson made it 700 MILES before she was caught.
A trooper with the Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped her after noticing the car she was driving matched the description included in an Amber Alert which had been issued for her. She was then turned over to Tennessee juvenile authorities. Crazy!
Can you believe this?! No charges will be filed, but no doubt there will still be a lot of finger-pointing in this case, with Robinson's parents likely being accused of being negligent. But I'd beg to differ. I'm not sure there was really anything this girl's parents could have done to prevent this from happening. In fact, they had attempted to ban her from speaking to the boy. That obviously backfired!
Robinson reportedly met her beau online via Xbox and anyone who ever experienced young "love" -- whether it was before or during the Internet age -- knows that emotions run extremely high at that age. If a teen makes up her mind to do something as bold as running away to visit an online boyfriend, she's going to.
I can relate to an extent, having had online boyfriends when I was Robinson's age, but I would have never had the guts to do anything as wild as this teen! But I definitely disobeyed my parents, racking up the dial-up Internet and long-distance phone bills. And yep, I was punished for it. But I wasn't forbade from speaking with my long-distance BFs. My parents trusted me ... and knew overly strict rules are only made to be broken by headstrong teens.
Obviously, Robinson is going to have to suffer the consequences for her actions. But going forward, what might work better than prohibiting her from speaking with her boyfriend might be setting up a chaperoned meeting or scheduling phone/Internet chats. Because if one thing's clear, it's that the 13-year-old has no qualms about doing whatever she must to keeping her relationship afloat -- come hell, high water, or 700 miles of highway driving.
How would you handle this situation if this was your teen?
Image via Moyan Brenn/Flickr
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
KStew Refuses to Shower
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
This Hot Dad Cooks AND Does the Dishes
Comments 10
If that were my child I would also ensure that she was charged with something. She could have killed someone or herself and she STOLE a vehicle!
It would not be pretty when she arrived home, that is for sure.
Little spoiled brat!
The only time she'd be outside is to go to and from school (which I would have her timed on in that travel, if she wasnt getting dropped off or picked up by me) and to mow the lawn. Any errands I had to run she would be attending with me. She'd cherish her freedom when her punishment period was up. But until then, her life would be a living hell.
What if she had been killed??
Even if they "knew" *which, there's no way to know for sure* that he was a real 12 yr old boy, if she refused to stop talking to him, they should have banned 100% of her technology privelages *most of which she shouldn't have had to begin with*
They raised a kid that would do this, its their fault as much as hers. You *author* said yourself, that even if you rebelled, there's no way you would have done THIS. This isn't normal teenage rebellion. This is a complete disreguard for her parents, her older brother, her safety, and the law.
They raised a disrespectful little jerk, and I hope they learn from this, or that girl will be in even more trouble soon enough.
Sometimes I think The Stir writers are encouraged (paid) to write devil's advocate posts just to get a rise out of people, get views, comments, whatever else it takes to get/keep people *interested* in the site.
Holy cow, Maressa, you are such an idiot! If you actually did any research you would know that they family now supsects that said online boyfriend may not be what he pretended to be. Their fears are based on the "alarming" messages he was sending her and their inability to actuallly find where he says he lives. Even the police are concerned. It is beyond outrageous that you would write such drivel.
Military Summer School.
I remember online dating as a young teen too, but I'd have never done that lol.
But yeah the parents could have done something about it. They could totally have taken the computer away.
And 2) know better than to sneak out and steal her brothers car to drive and go meet a stranger. I don't know how her parents raised her but my daughter will know the danger of talking to strangers on the Internet and will know the kind of trouble she'd be in if she ever pulled a stunt like this. There would be no Internet, no tv, phone, iPod, and no getting out of the house except to go to and from school or out with me or her father. & this would continue until she earned all of these things back and realized that these are all priveleges and not rights and that you get these privileges with good behavior.