This past week we saw the news media captivated by the idea that a 6-year-old boy, Falcon Heene had been carried off by a weather balloon. That is until the boy was later found in his own garage attic and shortly thereafter it was revealed on a television news show that the entire incident was likely a hoax. In replying to a reporter's question, the young Falcon turned to his dad on camera and said, "You guys said that, umm, we did this for the show." Oops.
The parents - Richard Heene and Mayumi Heene - have all along claimed it was not a hoax or a publicity stunt. Now, according to The New York Times, the parents will voluntarily surrender to police as soon as charges are filed, which is expected to happen on Wednesday.
While the truth continues to unfold, the police in the investigation have concluded it was likely indeed a publicity stunt: "We have evidence to indicate it was a publicity stunt done with the hope of marketing themselves to a reality-television show sometime in the future," said Larimer County sheriff Jim Alderden on Sunday afternoon at a news conference in Fort Collins, Colorado.
So that leaves us with the inevitable question - what could possibly psychologically motivate parents to use their child's very life in order to further themselves?
We see clues to the answer in some other information that's trickling out about the parents. ABC News noted that former business partner Barbara Slusser - who chased hurricanes and other storms with the Heenes - that they parted ways when Slusser felt that the Heenes often put their kids in harm's way. Slusser told ABC News, "The last straw for us was when Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike were heading toward the Texas coastline and Heene wanted to go back there and take the kids."
So we seem to have a set of parents who already don't quite understand the idea of how to raise children in a safe, responsible and thoughtful manner, thinking nothing of storm-chasing hurricanes and tornadoes with their young children in tow. Storm-chasing, of course, can be a very dangerous and unpredictable endeavor. One of the reasons adults do it is for the thrill of the unpredictability of the storm - putting oneself in harm's way to experience a ferocious component of nature. But your children? They aren't old enough to make such decisions for themselves - they trust their parents' good judgment and experience.
But an account on Gawker by someone who worked with Richard Heene sheds even more light on the Heenes' motivation - money and additional fame. This was a family that had been on the television program, Wife Swap, and they had already tasted celebrity. They wanted more of it.
Author Resource:
Carlo Mueres is a excellent depression therapist who have been working with depression for seven years. If you want more his help please check his depression and anxiety guide!
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