7-Year-Old Car Thief: "It's Fun To Do Bad Things" (VIDEO)

Seven-year-old Latarian Milton decided to steal his grandma's Dodge Durango because he was "mad at [his]mom" and because it's "fun to do bad things." Along for the ride? His friend who "smokes with cigarettes".

It's not all fun and games for Latarian, though. While his punishment suggestion was "no video games for a whole weekend", according to CNN.com, he is also facing grand theft auto charges. Speaking of which, let's hope he doesn't get his hands on Grand Theft Auto IV, released today.

Comments

[Adebukola]

Parents can help each child become a mensch, a human being with compassion, commitment, and courage; a person whose life is guided by a core of strength and a code of fairness. To achieve these humane goals, parents need to learn humane methods. Love is not enough. Insight is insufficient. Good parents need skills.

Before the behavior of this young child can be changed, his grandmother must first learn the communication of this young child and accept his feelings as being valid.

He has the right to feel angry. He should not be told otherwise. His grandmother must respond to the feelings of the child not the behavior. As outraged as his grandmother might be, I hope she acknowledges the young man's feelings of anger. She should show compassion to understand the child. The message should be, "You are important to me. I want to understand your feelings."

As grandmother feels peaceful, she will find the best solutions.

[naughtygirl]

It's people like this Adebukola,who have created this sense of entitled mis-behaving that children FEEL these days. This kid has no sense of right from wrong,period. What created this is not going to matter to the people who this kid will end up hurting in the long-run. I came from a very un-stable environment and could have chosen to behave in ways similiar to this child's behaviour. But I did not. Nobody validated my anger and yet I did not choose to act out in destructive ways.
There comes a time when people must realise that "validating" someone's feelings of anger will not change the destructive acts those feelings cause. This kid could have easily killed someone or killed himself and the friend. Do you really believe that had this happened,his anger being validated would matter at that point? Enough coddling,time for some tough love.

[FirstShirt]

It doesn't take a village to raise a child...it takes parents.

[Bart]

Well said.

[avicenna]

It's moments like these that I feel exuberant for having signed on with the Volunteer Human Extinction group and promised not to "procreate" - human gremlins having taken over the planet and are effectively destroying themselves and everything in their environs.
This kid has the makings of a President, eh?

[hmmmmmer]

People just don't understand how many of these kids there are now a days. It makes no difference what race there just don't understand the difference between doing the right thing and being a complete jerk.
The problem is just getting worse and not better, I hate to see what it is like in another 25 years when we as a country haven't faced the fact that there is a problem with keeping education in the last century and not trying to advance along with the times.

[mrman]

That's because we've got babies having babies. Women having children for all kinds of reasons other than wanting to love and nurture (which includes discipline and boundaries) a child.

Just because you are capable of giving birth or making a child ...does not mean you should.
Where are all those Pro-Life people that push women to have children they don't want or need????
Time to adopt :-) !!!! Put you time where your Protest is!

[stepintothelight]

We just had a young white kid here in Chicago who was arrested for animal cruelty. He had a John Wayne Gacy thing going on in the backyard with neighborhood animals. Try to find anything about it in the media. I heard about it from a Cop friend. Just another black man paradede in front of the camera so White American can get through another day with "see ... it's them ... not us". Dispicable that this is news. Hey guess what ... In the five minutes it took for me to read and type .... Criminals in Washington just bankrupted your GREAT grandchildren.

[chitown]

Why is this child being exploited on the news, with his real name revealed? He's a brat, all right, and needs to get straightened out big time. But since when are juveniles exposed in the media like this? He's SEVEN folks, not seventeen.

[Trueheart]

That is a damned good question.
One would assume his family gave permission for releasing this video and story, but maybe not. The kid obviously is enjoying the attention, and probably feels like the American Idol of his neighborhood.

[geneven]

Whether the parents gave permission or not, can't the media be responsible without being forced? Why should this kid be a famous criminal at the age of 7? For one thing, this gives him too much status among his peers, who will probably think it's cool that he got so much media attention.

I guess the media (including HP) doesn't think about these things, they just do the wrong thing by instinct.

[LeftLeanWing]

It's not in the news because this kid has not been charged with a crime, yet. The media does not report on juvenile defendants within the justice system. If I was this child's parent or guardian I would have not let him be interviewed. The grandmothers needs some counseling too; because he 1st response was take away video games and to beat the child. This child probably doesn't get enough love. nothing but ineffective punishments so the kid oscillates between no affection and punishment.

I get your point, though. At seven, this kid probably thinks it is neat to have his name and face splattered all over the news. One thing though, he is unfiltered in his responses.

[Chuckwheat]

I doubt he can spell that name, sounds like a combo of energy drinks and paint thinner.

[marko77]

"He's SEVEN folks, not seventeen." by chitown

chi - If this little kid had run down a few people would his being 7 have made them any less dead? I don't think so.

[Quotidien]

Where's the father?

[jsar70]

This video was just picked up by the RNC. "It's fun do do bad things...............like vote for Barrack Obama."

In related news, John McCain just denounced the video.

Wait, McCain just retracted that statement..............he now says it's "fair game".

[Erdgeist]

This kid has his family under his control. But you have to hand it to American kids, most of them have the best trained parents in the world. Look at all the garbage their parents buy them. This kid must eat pizza and burgers all day and play video games. Wow, talk about reversing contingencies!

[venicesurfer]

i cant imagine having a kid like that. i mean, look how fat he is!

[msfiskvletterman]

4/29/08
1:30pm
Colchester, VT

He's a cute kid.
I'm no expert on the subject of child-rearing but I believe that this child would benefit from a trip to a state prison. Take him on a little tour and show him what happens to young men who steal cars. Let him chat with a couple of inmates who have kids of their own.
My father worked at a California state prison so I got several trips out there. As a result, nobody can convince me to break the law.
I should have taken my own kids.

[NYRalf]

Lock him up.

[iBgood]

Good luck with this grandma. Yikes!

[TXfemmom]

A sense of conscience is formed by the age of seven, or it is never going to form. This child is a sociopath, clear and simple. Don't jump on me and give me grief.

I know sociopaths, as in seen them, had them for patients, did training in a double lock up unit with them, and unfortunately nearly lost my life to one of them outside the clinical area. This child is one of them, and there is little likelihood that anything is going to change his pathway. At first, seeing this unfold, and then hearing the little monster say what he did is a little tittilating and perhaps a little amusing, but when one looks at it seriously, this child is a monster, clear and simple, and the monster is going to get badder and meaner as he ages. Don't give me the old "he's just a kid thing" about him, children of this age can and do give evidence of what they shall be, and most reputable health care psychiatric professionals and research is clear in that sociopaths cannot and won't change and treatment isn't going to help. It is somewhat like expecting a carrot cake to be changed to an angel food cake with a little tweaking after it is already baked....IT AIN'T GOING TO HAPPEN.

[swingerofbirches]

You say that you have had sociopaths as patients? Sociopath is not a clinical term, neither is monster.

In your practice, did you regularly diagnose patients after watching 30 second video clips of them with made up diagnoses like monster or sociopath?

I am curious as to which type of profession (social work, psychology, psychiatry) you worked in.

[CitizenRob]

The clinical diagnose of sociopath was renamed in the DSM to "antisocial personality disorder" due to the misuse and confusion of sociopath with psychopath.

Current DSM-IV criteria can be found here:
http://psyweb.com/Mdisord/jsp/anpd.jsp

[cufford]

"his punishment suggestion was "no video games for a whole weekend"

Seems to me what this kid needed long ago was an old fashioned trip to the woodshed!

[RaRah]

Cufford, He definitely needs a trip out to the woodshed, a very lengthy and painful one. I feel really bad for the Grandmother. How in the world do you correct him??!! Looks like we need a moratorium on this whole "beating your kids is bad" thing. Worked for us in my day.

On another note, it looks to me that CNN has exploited this child for the ratings his soundbites will garner (sounds recently familiar, no?). He clearly thinks of himself as a "bad kid" and now that the ENTIRE world thinks so (with CNN's help) he doesn't stand a chance of ever shaking the idea. Thanks CNN, good job. And all for a 2min piece?! I guess nothings sacred anymore.

For crying out loud, let the family work this out on their own, in private.