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Kansas City girl, 5, may face murder charges in drowning

tessaesque said:
Would you charge the mother who put the kids to bed, fell asleep, and woke up to that scene the next morning?
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I would if she left her 18 month old toddler in the bathtub.
 
Im from the KC area and i heard about this on the news. This is quite a shame and very sad.
 
How do you even deal with a 5 year old murderer? Can someone even come back from that?
 
Mason66 said:
Why would she have mental problems. 5 year olds can't make the connection between their actions and consequences. If she has had no experience with death, then she would not know what it is.
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Because of the incident, not because of a prior mental illness. Because better safe than sorry. I also said "The 5 year old may have some mental problems" so next time don't knee jerk.

Mason66 said:
My 5 year old has had close relatives die and it was explained to him what happened. We did not tell him they went to live on a farm.

Honesty is the best especially with little kids.
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What are you talking about?
 
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This case screams that we Americans all need to stop and look around at what as a people have become and what we reach our children and what they are exposed to.

Violence in everything and lack of parental nurturing can be pointed to and blamed at least in part.

It's hard to imagine that this child thought this up without outside influence.

It is equally as hard to think the child has a clue the gravity of this. Hell video games could also have been in part for this.

We need to rethink how we do a lot of things.
 
Councilman said:
This case screams that we Americans all need to stop and look around at what as a people have become and what we reach our children and what they are exposed to.

Violence in everything and lack of parental nurturing can be pointed to and blamed at least in part.

It's hard to imagine that this child thought this up without outside influence.

It is equally as hard to think the child has a clue the gravity of this. Hell video games could also have been in part for this.

We need to rethink how we do a lot of things.
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Can't pinpoint anything without solid facts on this case. . .and one can sumise the 'put the baby in the water and he'll stop crying' example in the mind of a small kid: young child is sick and crying (ear infections, etc - common) - mom takes the child into the bathroom, shuts the door, gives child a bath to sooth the unhappy child - child calms down - mom takes child out of tub.

*shrug*

I can see how the two would easily be associated in the mind of a 5 year old.

5 year olds like my daughter can be extreme precocious and constantly thinking *she* can do it right, *she* can do it just like me or dad and *she* knows very well how to take care of everything that happens.

But whether this is what was going on in her head is an unknown.
 
Blackdog said:
Because of the incident, not because of a prior mental illness. Because better safe than sorry. I also said "The 5 year old may have some mental problems" so next time don't knee jerk.



What are you talking about?
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I was talking about the fact that the girl might not have had any experience with death and she might not have known the finality of it. I don't think a 5 year old can take what she did to the final conclusion.
 
Mason66 said:
I was talking about the fact that the girl might not have had any experience with death and she might not have known the finality of it. I don't think a 5 year old can take what she did to the final conclusion.
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Most kid's that age can't.
 
I doubt the girl had anymore concept of "murder" than if she'd tried to "quiet" the baby by piling blankets and pillows on his face, accidentally smothering him.

She does need to be mentally evaluated. If she simply made a mistake, a childish error not realizing what she was doing (as I suspect), then when the day comes that she DOES realize what she did, she IS going to need therapy to keep from going crazy or committing suicide.
 
Councilman said:
This case screams that we Americans all need to stop and look around at what as a people have become and what we reach our children and what they are exposed to.

Violence in everything and lack of parental nurturing can be pointed to and blamed at least in part.

It's hard to imagine that this child thought this up without outside influence.

It is equally as hard to think the child has a clue the gravity of this. Hell video games could also have been in part for this.

We need to rethink how we do a lot of things.
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Lets blame it on Marilyn Manson, Rock music, Eminem, violent video games, and internet porn!
 
Mason66 said:
I was talking about the fact that the girl might not have had any experience with death and she might not have known the finality of it. I don't think a 5 year old can take what she did to the final conclusion.
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That may be true, but I said "may" as I don't know. You could very well be correct.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
Can't pinpoint anything without solid facts on this case. . .and one can sumise the 'put the baby in the water and he'll stop crying' example in the mind of a small kid: young child is sick and crying (ear infections, etc - common) - mom takes the child into the bathroom, shuts the door, gives child a bath to sooth the unhappy child - child calms down - mom takes child out of tub.

*shrug*

I can see how the two would easily be associated in the mind of a 5 year old.

5 year olds like my daughter can be extreme precocious and constantly thinking *she* can do it right, *she* can do it just like me or dad and *she* knows very well how to take care of everything that happens.

But whether this is what was going on in her head is an unknown.
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I agree with this. My daughter is four, and she doesn't understand the permanence of death. I doubt that another year will make too much of a difference. That five year old knew what she was doing was wrong or at least it's likely. But I seriously doubt that she understands the concept of murder. To put her in prison is, of course, absurd. I would definitely support mental help, though. My daughter protects her little brother and has never shown the slightest aggression towards him. I simply can't imagine her killing him, although I would NEVER leave them unattended in a bathtub. I am curious to know if the children were left there by the babysitter or if the five year old ran the bath water. That would be important to know, imo.
 
Deuce said:
How do you even deal with a 5 year old murderer? Can someone even come back from that?
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It wasn't murder if the accounts are true. She (in her 5 year old brain) was just stopping him from crying. It is profoundly sad, and my heart goes out to the family, but it wasn't murder by any stretch.


Tim-
 
roguenuke said:
I wouldn't either, which is why I asked if the babysitter had left him in the bath or if it was possible that the 5 year old ran the bath water and put the 18 month old in it. I think that 5 year olds can run bath water. Or maybe the baby was supposed to be in bed and the babysitter left the 5 year old alone in the bath and fell asleep, still not good, but a bit different than leaving an 18 month old in a bath alone. I am just saying that it depends on what happened. Not many parents or babysitters, for that matter, are going to leave an 18 month old in a bathtub alone. If this one did though, then I would expect her to receive some sort of punishment, but otherwise, it isn't unreasonable to think that maybe she believed the 18 month old was safe in his bed or room and not in danger of drowning.
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Agreed!


Tim-
 
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