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Adventures in inappropriate parenting and videogames

13-year-old_father.jpgAlfie Patten was 13-years-old when he became a father and a front page sensation for trashy British tabloid, The Sun.

The four-footer -- who looks no more than eight -- said: "I know I'm young, but I plan to be a good dad."

As he went on the PlayStation with 15-year-old girlfriend Chantelle Steadman, he added: "I think we'll be good parents. I'll have to work extra hard at school."

Chantelle looked up from 18-rated action game Saints Row II to admit her first night out of hospital since having 7lb 3oz daughter Maisie had been tough and had left her "in a daze".

I have nothing to add here except a resigned and heavy sigh.

As if that wasn't enough, TMZ published a paparazzi photo of the infamous Nadya Suleman, who recently gave birth to octuplets, apparently buying a Nintendo DS game. Unfortunately, I don't have one of those Blade Runner photo enchancer devices, so I can't make out the game. Any guesses?

(Thanks Dingus!)

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(5) Comments

FattyS:
I am very curios to what that interesting creature to the right of the lad is. ...More »


Comments

By Greg at 11:26 AM ON 02/17/09

If only his parents let him and his girlfriend play video games in the living room rather than hogging the TV. Or at least get the kid a box of condoms.

If you use such a sensationalist title, you really should explain exactly what is the inappropriate parenting. Even the best parents' kids think about sex, and "gasp" most even do something about it. A baby is far from the worse thing that could happen to a kid. A hundred years or so ago and this would be no big deal. Not the ideal situation today, but not the worse either.

My response to this would be that first this has absolutely nothing to do with video games. Maybe if the kid had more games or more exciting games then he wouldn't have time for other things. So maybe it's game developers’ fault for not having good enough content. Probably not.

Here is an example of kids being kids and experimenting in life as they do. Maybe, and only a maybe because I don't know the details of this story, the parents failed in educating their kids about sex, not the "sex is bad, mmmkay" thing, but the "this is the whole story about sex thing and yeah it's more than just makin' babies and yeah people do it for fun and this is the whole how they don't have babies when it's just fun and this is the whole thing about what we (the parents) believe about sex and why we believe that and yeah we will kill you if you have sex and make a baby before you move out of our house and make us pay for it, but ok we'll still love you but we will make your life a living hell while we have to pay for this baby.

I only hope my kids life an enjoyable life, preferably long, and if they make some mistakes along the way, ok I'll try do deal with them the best I can and help them out as much as I can. Until then we'll all probably play more video games.

Now if you want to show a picture of a drug addicted baby or an abandoned baby and put a caption like inappropriate parenting (two generations no less), then I’m all on board. If you want to show homeless people and do the inappropriate parenting, then ok. If you want to show a picture of the Republican or Democratic Conventions and state bad parenting, I’m still with you. Show kids shooting other kids. Show kids talking back to their parents. Even show a kid having a fit in a store. Yeah, all examples of bad parenting.

But show a kid making a mistake that could happen to even the best parented children, then sorry, nope, not gonna jump on your bandwagon. I’m a parent of two young boys and know that even if I’m the perfect parent (which I’m not), my kids are going to do something that will take several years away from the length of my life. I’m ok with that, but I hope they keep it to a minimum.

(Now if they were holding Xbox controllers then ok I could support the bad parenting thing but it would have nothing to do with the baby.)

By budgethero at 12:21 PM ON 02/17/09

(still recovering from the whole 13 and 15 year old parents thing)

-the kid isnt even holding the baby. either ur holding the baby or ur not. that baby is just stuck there as he plays. either ur holding the baby or ur not.
-Saints Row 2, rated M for mature. not even the 15 year old is old enough to play that. what happens when they are buying the kid games?
-13 and 15 year old parents. and they think they could still be good parents. my sister just managed at 17.

By Chijts at 12:38 PM ON 02/17/09

Yes I agree with Greg it's not the worst thing that could happen. Still, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you need to use some sort of contraception, 13 years or not.

Looking at them though they're only 2 years apart in age the difference seems incredible. How could that girl fall for that boy? Surely it would just feel creepy.

Also, The Sun is beyond trashy.

By thisiscreepy at 11:27 PM ON 02/17/09

I think the key words here are: 15 year old girlfriend, 13 year old boy who looks under 13. What we have here is a teenage girl who is already displaying pedophilic tendancies. I've never met an emotionally and mentally healthy 15 year old who would screw someone who looks like he's under 13.

By FattyS at 1:42 AM ON 02/18/09

I am very curios to what that interesting creature to the right of the lad is.


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