A Mother's Reckoning by Susan Klebold

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP and other readers, let me know what you think of it. I'm interesting in reading it. I was very young when Columbine happened but still was in shock. I find it to be interesting; I wish they would talk more about WHY they did it. Diane Sawyer's interview was just one big anti gun PSA

Any mass murderer kills because they are insane, there is no "reason"for anything beyond their insanity. Its not remotely interesting.

She should be donating all the money to the families who lost loved ones.

And how do you suppose these kids "get" so full of rage? Dumb luck? I don't think so..... Many of these kids are grossly neglected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP and other readers, let me know what you think of it. I'm interesting in reading it. I was very young when Columbine happened but still was in shock. I find it to be interesting; I wish they would talk more about WHY they did it. Diane Sawyer's interview was just one big anti gun PSA

Any mass murderer kills because they are insane, there is no "reason"for anything beyond their insanity. Its not remotely interesting.

She should be donating all the money to the families who lost loved ones.

And how do you suppose these kids "get" so full of rage? Dumb luck? I don't think so..... Many of these kids are grossly neglected.

That's not true in either case. School shooters plan; they don't snap.

"The researchers found that killers do not 'snap'. They plan. They acquire weapons. These children take a long, considered, public path toward violence."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kinkel/profile/

Many school shooters come from two-parent households and have been on the honor roll at their schools...
http://www.examiner.com/article/what-fbi-profiles-tell-us-about-school-shooters-and-how-to-prevent-the-next-one-6

The common denominator--access to GUNS.

[Anonymous]

My book club will be discussing this book in a couple weeks but I haven't read it yet. I did see the interview. I think most of the people who say, "she should have known; she missed signs", are telling themselves that because then they can believe that it is out of the realm of possibilities for their children. She did recognize that her son had issues with depression, but what parent is going to think that her child is going to go on a killing spree? There are many teens who go down a troubled path (depression, skipping schools, violent video games, experimenting with drugs) but they don't commit a massacre. What would you have had her do differently? Keep him locked inside? Put him in a mental hospital because he showed signs of depression? My heart truly goes out to her. Sometimes kids do bad things despite their parents' best efforts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP and other readers, let me know what you think of it. I'm interesting in reading it. I was very young when Columbine happened but still was in shock. I find it to be interesting; I wish they would talk more about WHY they did it. Diane Sawyer's interview was just one big anti gun PSA

Any mass murderer kills because they are insane, there is no "reason"for anything beyond their insanity. Its not remotely interesting.

She should be donating all the money to the families who lost loved ones.

And how do you suppose these kids "get" so full of rage? Dumb luck? I don't think so..... Many of these kids are grossly neglected.

That's not true in either case. School shooters plan; they don't snap.

"The researchers found that killers do not 'snap'. They plan. They acquire weapons. These children take a long, considered, public path toward violence."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kinkel/profile/

Many school shooters come from two-parent households and have been on the honor roll at their schools...
http://www.examiner.com/article/what-fbi-profiles-tell-us-about-school-shooters-and-how-to-prevent-the-next-one-6

The common denominator--access to GUNS.

And the kid who used a knife instead of a gun? No rage there?

You are one dumb ass. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP and other readers, let me know what you think of it. I'm interesting in reading it. I was very young when Columbine happened but still was in shock. I find it to be interesting; I wish they would talk more about WHY they did it. Diane Sawyer's interview was just one big anti gun PSA

Any mass murderer kills because they are insane, there is no "reason"for anything beyond their insanity. Its not remotely interesting.

She should be donating all the money to the families who lost loved ones.

And how do you suppose these kids "get" so full of rage? Dumb luck? I don't think so..... Many of these kids are grossly neglected.

That's not true in either case. School shooters plan; they don't snap.

"The researchers found that killers do not 'snap'. They plan. They acquire weapons. These children take a long, considered, public path toward violence."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kinkel/profile/

Many school shooters come from two-parent households and have been on the honor roll at their schools...
http://www.examiner.com/article/what-fbi-profiles-tell-us-about-school-shooters-and-how-to-prevent-the-next-one-6

The common denominator--access to GUNS.

I never said they "snap". Please learn to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proceeds are being donated to mental health charities.

That is good to know. It's good to hear this story from the mom's prospective. I haven't read it but I might given that she is donating the proceeds which is the right thing to do under the circumstances.

I'm sure that if she good turn back the clock and do some things differently she would do that. Of course, that isn't possible.

I wish she would have shared what she would have done differently. That would have been actually helpful.

It sounds like she's sticking to the - we loved our son, we took great care of our son, he was a good boy, we had no idea that he was so mentally off and that he would ever do anything to hurt anyone...

Maybe in her mind that is true. In my mind, as a parent of teens, I wonder about the very long leash that that kid, with his history, seemed to have. It was almost as if they had accepted that their son was really beyond their reach. Maybe it was a sense of helplessness to make things right in his world. Maybe more than a little denial too.

I'll read the book and see what she has to say though.

[Anonymous]

I read it and I have also read Columbine. In addition, I'm a mental health professional and mother of teens. I found the book to be very moving, honest and painful. Sue K. accepts responsibility for what she and her husband missed; but you can see how easy it would be to miss what they did. She blames herself for not paying close enough attention but Dylan, and especially Eric, fooled many people including teachers, counselors and law enforcement. The Klebolds seemed like a very loving family who just didn't get how seriously depressed their child was. Put yourself in their place - the kid was going to college and had just gone happily to the prom. What would you have suspected?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proceeds are being donated to mental health charities.

That is good to know. It's good to hear this story from the mom's prospective. I haven't read it but I might given that she is donating the proceeds which is the right thing to do under the circumstances.

I'm sure that if she good turn back the clock and do some things differently she would do that. Of course, that isn't possible.

I wish she would have shared what she would have done differently. That would have been actually helpful.

It sounds like she's sticking to the - we loved our son, we took great care of our son, he was a good boy, we had no idea that he was so mentally off and that he would ever do anything to hurt anyone...

Maybe in her mind that is true. In my mind, as a parent of teens, I wonder about the very long leash that that kid, with his history, seemed to have. It was almost as if they had accepted that their son was really beyond their reach. Maybe it was a sense of helplessness to make things right in his world. Maybe more than a little denial too.

I'll read the book and see what she has to say though.

She knows she had her head in the sand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read it and I have also read Columbine. In addition, I'm a mental health professional and mother of teens. I found the book to be very moving, honest and painful. Sue K. accepts responsibility for what she and her husband missed; but you can see how easy it would be to miss what they did. She blames herself for not paying close enough attention but Dylan, and especially Eric, fooled many people including teachers, counselors and law enforcement. The Klebolds seemed like a very loving family who just didn't get how seriously depressed their child was. Put yourself in their place - the kid was going to college and had just gone happily to the prom. What would you have suspected?

Dylan was still spending most of his free time with Eric. After the trouble that those two had gotten into - why were they still hanging around each other so much?

I have always thought that those two spun off of each other and that they were emboldened by each other to do this. If the two of them had not been together, Columbine would not have happened.

Dylan probably would have gone off to college where the st*ff would have hit the fan for him but in not such a violent way. The kid was not stable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read it and I have also read Columbine. In addition, I'm a mental health professional and mother of teens. I found the book to be very moving, honest and painful. Sue K. accepts responsibility for what she and her husband missed; but you can see how easy it would be to miss what they did. She blames herself for not paying close enough attention but Dylan, and especially Eric, fooled many people including teachers, counselors and law enforcement. The Klebolds seemed like a very loving family who just didn't get how seriously depressed their child was. Put yourself in their place - the kid was going to college and had just gone happily to the prom. What would you have suspected?

Dylan was still spending most of his free time with Eric. After the trouble that those two had gotten into - why were they still hanging around each other so much?

I have always thought that those two spun off of each other and that they were emboldened by each other to do this. If the two of them had not been together, Columbine would not have happened.

Dylan probably would have gone off to college where the st*ff would have hit the fan for him but in not such a violent way. The kid was not stable.

This is right. Both of these grossly neglected kids did whatever they pleased. Their parents were afraid of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read it and I have also read Columbine. In addition, I'm a mental health professional and mother of teens. I found the book to be very moving, honest and painful. Sue K. accepts responsibility for what she and her husband missed; but you can see how easy it would be to miss what they did. She blames herself for not paying close enough attention but Dylan, and especially Eric, fooled many people including teachers, counselors and law enforcement. The Klebolds seemed like a very loving family who just didn't get how seriously depressed their child was. Put yourself in their place - the kid was going to college and had just gone happily to the prom. What would you have suspected?

Dylan was still spending most of his free time with Eric. After the trouble that those two had gotten into - why were they still hanging around each other so much?

I have always thought that those two spun off of each other and that they were emboldened by each other to do this. If the two of them had not been together, Columbine would not have happened.

Dylan probably would have gone off to college where the st*ff would have hit the fan for him but in not such a violent way. The kid was not stable.

This is right. Both of these grossly neglected kids did whatever they pleased. Their parents were afraid of them.

Does Dylan's mom say that she was afraid of him? Most parents give their HS seniors lots of freedom to get themselves to/from school, work, friends' houses. It is understandable and normal that Dylan had some freedom. But I would think that, given his troubled history, his parents would have been keeping tabs on where he was going, who he was seeing and when he would be back.

So I would think that they were aware that he was hanging around Eric a lot. And that Dylan had gotten into trouble with Eric in the past. Did they know Eric? Were they aware of how disturbed he was?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read it and I have also read Columbine. In addition, I'm a mental health professional and mother of teens. I found the book to be very moving, honest and painful. Sue K. accepts responsibility for what she and her husband missed; but you can see how easy it would be to miss what they did. She blames herself for not paying close enough attention but Dylan, and especially Eric, fooled many people including teachers, counselors and law enforcement. The Klebolds seemed like a very loving family who just didn't get how seriously depressed their child was. Put yourself in their place - the kid was going to college and had just gone happily to the prom. What would you have suspected?

Dylan was still spending most of his free time with Eric. After the trouble that those two had gotten into - why were they still hanging around each other so much?

I have always thought that those two spun off of each other and that they were emboldened by each other to do this. If the two of them had not been together, Columbine would not have happened.

Dylan probably would have gone off to college where the st*ff would have hit the fan for him but in not such a violent way. The kid was not stable.

This is right. Both of these grossly neglected kids did whatever they pleased. Their parents were afraid of them.

Does Dylan's mom say that she was afraid of him? Most parents give their HS seniors lots of freedom to get themselves to/from school, work, friends' houses. It is understandable and normal that Dylan had some freedom. But I would think that, given his troubled history, his parents would have been keeping tabs on where he was going, who he was seeing and when he would be back.

So I would think that they were aware that he was hanging around Eric a lot. And that Dylan had gotten into trouble with Eric in the past. Did they know Eric? Were they aware of how disturbed he was?

Are you serious? What parent will admit to being afraid of their own kid? Hell, I've seen parents afraid of their five year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read it and I have also read Columbine. In addition, I'm a mental health professional and mother of teens. I found the book to be very moving, honest and painful. Sue K. accepts responsibility for what she and her husband missed; but you can see how easy it would be to miss what they did. She blames herself for not paying close enough attention but Dylan, and especially Eric, fooled many people including teachers, counselors and law enforcement. The Klebolds seemed like a very loving family who just didn't get how seriously depressed their child was. Put yourself in their place - the kid was going to college and had just gone happily to the prom. What would you have suspected?

Dylan was still spending most of his free time with Eric. After the trouble that those two had gotten into - why were they still hanging around each other so much?

I have always thought that those two spun off of each other and that they were emboldened by each other to do this. If the two of them had not been together, Columbine would not have happened.

Dylan probably would have gone off to college where the st*ff would have hit the fan for him but in not such a violent way. The kid was not stable.

This is right. Both of these grossly neglected kids did whatever they pleased. Their parents were afraid of them.

Does Dylan's mom say that she was afraid of him? Most parents give their HS seniors lots of freedom to get themselves to/from school, work, friends' houses. It is understandable and normal that Dylan had some freedom. But I would think that, given his troubled history, his parents would have been keeping tabs on where he was going, who he was seeing and when he would be back.

So I would think that they were aware that he was hanging around Eric a lot. And that Dylan had gotten into trouble with Eric in the past. Did they know Eric? Were they aware of how disturbed he was?

No, in fact she specifically states she was never afraid of him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read it and I have also read Columbine. In addition, I'm a mental health professional and mother of teens. I found the book to be very moving, honest and painful. Sue K. accepts responsibility for what she and her husband missed; but you can see how easy it would be to miss what they did. She blames herself for not paying close enough attention but Dylan, and especially Eric, fooled many people including teachers, counselors and law enforcement. The Klebolds seemed like a very loving family who just didn't get how seriously depressed their child was. Put yourself in their place - the kid was going to college and had just gone happily to the prom. What would you have suspected?

Dylan was still spending most of his free time with Eric. After the trouble that those two had gotten into - why were they still hanging around each other so much?

I have always thought that those two spun off of each other and that they were emboldened by each other to do this. If the two of them had not been together, Columbine would not have happened.

Dylan probably would have gone off to college where the st*ff would have hit the fan for him but in not such a violent way. The kid was not stable.

This is right. Both of these grossly neglected kids did whatever they pleased. Their parents were afraid of them.

Does Dylan's mom say that she was afraid of him? Most parents give their HS seniors lots of freedom to get themselves to/from school, work, friends' houses. It is understandable and normal that Dylan had some freedom. But I would think that, given his troubled history, his parents would have been keeping tabs on where he was going, who he was seeing and when he would be back.

So I would think that they were aware that he was hanging around Eric a lot. And that Dylan had gotten into trouble with Eric in the past. Did they know Eric? Were they aware of how disturbed he was?

Are you serious? What parent will admit to being afraid of their own kid? Hell, I've seen parents afraid of their five year old.

Yes, I can see how that would be a hard thing to admit. But Dylan is dead and he died by his own hand after shooting his fellow students at Columbine. The worst case scenario has happened for Dylan's parents and the parents of the victims, it can't be prevented and it is very clear that Dylan was a very troubled young man to have participated in that horror. And it is also clear that Eric was a very disturbed young man.

Yet, no one saw signs, no one was ever afraid of them and what they might do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read it and I have also read Columbine. In addition, I'm a mental health professional and mother of teens. I found the book to be very moving, honest and painful. Sue K. accepts responsibility for what she and her husband missed; but you can see how easy it would be to miss what they did. She blames herself for not paying close enough attention but Dylan, and especially Eric, fooled many people including teachers, counselors and law enforcement. The Klebolds seemed like a very loving family who just didn't get how seriously depressed their child was. Put yourself in their place - the kid was going to college and had just gone happily to the prom. What would you have suspected?

Dylan was still spending most of his free time with Eric. After the trouble that those two had gotten into - why were they still hanging around each other so much?

I have always thought that those two spun off of each other and that they were emboldened by each other to do this. If the two of them had not been together, Columbine would not have happened.

Dylan probably would have gone off to college where the st*ff would have hit the fan for him but in not such a violent way. The kid was not stable.

This is right. Both of these grossly neglected kids did whatever they pleased. Their parents were afraid of them.

Does Dylan's mom say that she was afraid of him? Most parents give their HS seniors lots of freedom to get themselves to/from school, work, friends' houses. It is understandable and normal that Dylan had some freedom. But I would think that, given his troubled history, his parents would have been keeping tabs on where he was going, who he was seeing and when he would be back.

So I would think that they were aware that he was hanging around Eric a lot. And that Dylan had gotten into trouble with Eric in the past. Did they know Eric? Were they aware of how disturbed he was?

No, in fact she specifically states she was never afraid of him.

You may believe whatever she tells you,
just like she believed whatever her boy told her.