The parents really sicken me. Before Falcon blows his parent's cover, they repeat, "didn't you hear us calling you?" and you can see the mom nodding her head vigorously at Falcon as the question is asked. She's cuing him on how to respond. After he makes his "you told me to do it" comment, his mom utters, "Nooo?" Like a kid saying "uh uh". Then, later, you can see Falcon is not sure whether he did the right thing so he climbs on dad's lap. Watch as dad then carefully but purposefully shoves Falcon off him. You can tell the dad's upset.
Even these kids, who have been brought up with no rules and a disrespect for authority, felt very uncomfortable with the whole thing. You can read it on the older two's faces. Children have an inherent sense of fairness and justice and I'm sure when they saw the ruckus caused by this stunt and the concern of LE, the media and neighbors, their inner radar told them what was happening was wrong. Yet, their role models continue to forge ahead with the hoax. What kind of twisted message is that?
What really creeps me out is how the children had to witness their mother crying and upset during the 911 call and then how the dad smothered Falcon with hugs and kisses and fake cried with "relief", all the while knowing their dad was faking. I can't imagine what message that sends. It's telling these kids that the ones in charge of them, their parents, are liars and cannot be trusted and that even their apparent concern for the welfare of their kids is false. (Well, I guess I can imagine what message it's sending!) I think these boys will likely feel very insecure with their parents from now on.
I truly do believe this is emotional abuse and neglect. They taught these kids to lie to the very people who they are supposed to go to for help. While the rest of the world's children are taught the boy who cried wolf story, these kids are taught the very opposite. And they are not old enough to rationalize, like we are, that their parents are wacko, narcissistic and immature. All they know is that they are mom and dad, the people the boys need to rely on to survive.
It's horrible and the ramifications are many - not viewing LE with respect and as an entity that you turn to for help and safety, not learning that telling tales can create dangerous situations if later, you really need help, but no one will believe you, and learning that the love of one's own family is not necessarily real.
Poor kids. I really hope there is some serious intervention here, with mandatory family counseling, individual counseling for the parents with a therapist who won't let them get away with it and parenting classes, at the least. I do think the family should be put in the juvenile dependency court system and be forced to go to court where the boys can listen as a judge reads their parents the riot act and explains to the boys that what their parents did was a very dangerous and bad mistake and that they are now getting help to learn to be better parents. What creeps those two are.
