Heartless to Blame Parents

While I appreciate Larry Bickmann’s question, “Where’s the supervision?” (Letter to the Editor, Feb. 5), regarding the 14-year-old North Hills boy killed by a car while crossing the street at 11:40 p.m., I can only assume he has not raised a teen-ager in these times, and I must take exception to blaming the parents.

We parents of teen-agers no longer have complete control of where our children go, who they are with and what they do. We give it our best efforts but we cannot be there every minute.

My heart bleeds for the parents of that boy. Did he sneak out that night? Did he tell them he was “staying with a friend?” We don’t know, and how cruel to surmise. To blame the parents is totally heartless, and now added to their pain is a letter published by the Los Angeles Times comparing them to leaving a loaded gun around.

I do not profess to know the answer, but I am sure the Thompsons now have added hurt to read that anyone would blame them for such a tragedy. I want them to know that there are those of us who understand and that they have our deepest sympathy.

DOLLY HICKLIN, Northridge