In Which I Go Paul Harvey-like

On the way to work today I heard a blurb on the radio about a poor 12-year old kid whose Mom called the cops when he opened one of this Christmas presents early. Sure enough, I didn't hear things wrong. But, the "oh, isn't that funny, in a 'mom must be nuts' sort of way" attitude didn't convey the context in which this happened:

[Mom] said the boy likes attention and has a history of bad behavior. He has shoplifted from stores and stolen money from her, she said. The boy has also been inching toward expulsion from school, she added, and even punched a police officer last month. He was arrested for disorderly conduct in that incident.

She hoped the arrest would be a wake-up call for him. She dreads getting a phone call someday reporting he's been killed.

So, we're not exactly talking about a wayward scamp with Xmas fever being reigned in by a Grinchy mom. Rather, we've got a troubled kid acting out in the way troubled kids do and mom at the end of her rope. Not quite so amusing, huh?

And that, as radio host and Mr. and Mrs. Erotic American narrator Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.