Traverse City Record-Eagle

Jodee Taylor

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March 1, 2010

Jodee Taylor: Readers weigh in on sitter

By JODEE TAYLOR

My last column was about a pet-sitting experience gone awry.

The neighbor kid we hired over Christmas apparently hosted a party at our house. Things went missing and stuff was trashed but the animals, thankfully, were OK.

Afterward, we tried to talk to the kid, her mom and the cops, but there's really not much you can do when no one was caught in the act, there's a minor involved (the neighbor kid is 13) and her parents aren't cooperative. There hasn't been any punishment meted out, unless you count the stink-eye I give their car when they drive by the house.

I sent the column to her and told her I'd love to put her side of the story in the paper.

I didn't hear back.

But I did hear from readers -- more than all my other columns put together, it seemed.

And you know what? I think I may have gotten off easy.

I heard some very scary stories about walls punched, cupboards torn off and wood floors streaked, burned and dinged.

Most of the kids who did the partying and the trashing were somehow related to the homeowners. There were several stories of kids who were held accountable and who are still paying on the debt, even when the party was four or five years ago.

Thanks for warming my heart.

Others who read the column swore they'd never leave home and leave the teenagers behind, even if it was only for one night.

Of course, there were others who couldn't get anyone to take responsibility for the damages, so the grown-ups had to redo the floors, patch the drywall and rehang the cupboards. Even other parents didn't step up to the plate when their kids were implicated.

Mostly, though, people were horrified.

Along with me, they couldn't fathom the idea of a 13-year-old being at a party where drinking and sex were among the activities. They couldn't understand a mom who would just throw up her hands. They wanted the kid thrown in jail or military school -- just punished already.

Which, of course, is not up to the state as much as it's up to the parents. And these parents aren't stepping up to the plate.

It's made me think about punishments I've endured as well as punishments I've handed out. Some of the ones I handed out were lame. They didn't fit the crime or I didn't follow through. It IS tough and it's sad and it's scary and it's just plain not fun.

Still, I'm pretty sure if a cop showed up at my door looking for my kid, I would make sure someone got punished. I'd be scared and I'd want everyone around me to be scared, too.

The pet sitter and her parents don't appear to be scared -- except maybe of me and my stink-eye.

Jodee Taylor can be reached at jtaylor@record-eagle.com.

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