school busWhen I heard that parents were suing a school district after their teenage son got caught having sex on a school trip, I figured I knew what was going on. These parents were upset that chaperones allowed their child to knock boots, right? Wrong! They're just mad that their kid got suspended for having sex on a school trip.

In fact, Anders Hemdal and his parents are so mad that they think the Schuylkill Valley School District should fork over $75,000 in damages for all his pain and suffering. Ah yes, parenting in 2012. Ain't it disturbing?

Their 16-year-old and his girlfriend were in Morocco on a trip with their Spanish club when another student videotaped them having sex. That student is now facing criminal charges -- and rightly so. He was suspended, and so were Anders and his girlfriend.

Which sounds fair to me.

I'm not going to sit here with my fingers in my ears singing la, la, la while people insist on going over the facts about teens and sex. I get it. It happens.

But when I send my kid out of the house, I expect her to be on her very best behavior. I don't care if she's going to a friend's house or hopping the bus for a field trip. I want her to listen to the other adults in charge and keep her nose clean.

I always thought that was parenting.  You teach your kid to behave.

But now here we have the Hemdals whose kid screws up, and they decide that doesn't matter. They want to sue to get him money to reward him for it!

The sad thing is the Hemdals might even win this case. The rules for the trip said the kids would be sent home for misbehaving; not suspended. And the school's conduct code traditionally applies to on-campus activities, not something that happened clear across an ocean. The technicalities here could help them in court.

But they've already failed big time as parents.

What do you think of these parents and their lawsuit? Right on target or big fat parenting fail?

 

Image via bsabarnowl/Flickr