By now, questions have begun to arise regarding yesterday's story of the 6-year-old Colorado boy, Falcon Heene, who was thought to have been whisked away in his family's homemade helium balloon. For several hours, authorities feared he was inside the balloon. Then, when the invention finally came to rest on the ground--empty--those fears grew. Had the boy fallen out? Where was he? And, more importantly, was he alive?
Of course, today, we know that the boy was in the attic of his family's garage the whole time. In fact, some are wondering this morning whether the entire event was a hoax. In any case, having watched clips of the family on Larry King Live last night, and then on the Today Show this morning--where the boy threw up on camera--I have to think that whether his parents invented the story (as the boy seemed to suggest on Larry King Live), or whether it was all 100% legitimate, the whole thing has to have been incredibly stressful for this little guy.
What do you think? If it were your child, would you be following up that initial recovery hug with some consequences, or would you let the stress of the whole event serve as its own natural consequence? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
And if you've ever dealt with one of those false-scare situations, where you thought your child was missing or hurt, how did you deal with the discipline angle? Did the hugs and kisses come first, or did you let your child know right away what a scare they'd given you? Share your experience in the Readers Response feature, How Do You Discipline Your Kids When You're Just Glad They're Alive?
More on the "Balloon Boy" Story:
Come on, this is such an obvious publicity stunt. My guess is the kid will only get in trouble if he lets on that it was a scam.
Even if it wasn’t initially a publicity stunt, these parents are sucking every chance they can to profit from it. I mean, my kid starts yacking on live TV, I kick out the cameras and put him to bed…I don’t put him on another TV show!
HIS MOM AND DAD ARE WACK-JOBS…..THERE IS NO WAY THIS KID SHOULD GET IN ANY TROUBLE BECAUSE YOU KNOW HIS DAD PUT HIM UP TO IT. IF YOU SAW WIFE SWAP THEN YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN
10/16/2009: The father of this boy should be charged with somethig because this whole thing, in my opinion, was a planned hoax, and they wanted all the hype from it. What was he thinking?? If the boy was not in the balloon at all during this whole debacle, why the big search for him? I think this father is a complete moron.
Everything this family is about is $$$$ publicity, the first calls included one to a TV station…. enough said. Make him reimburse the citizens of Colorado.
I find it odd that they went on Wife Swap first. Did they want another 15 minutes? Fabricated celebrities that will do anything for fame make me sick. People that exploit children are worse. The dad should be dumped from the balloon on live tv if he wants stardom.
The TV stations are the ones to blame. They were getting instant profit from this by spreading the news around the world. They only aired it because they’re sadistic people with a great sense of humour/sense of market. The whole thing (kid lost on a balloon) was too funny not to be on air…
Last year the same thing happened in Brazil, I think, but with a priest. What a fantastic punchline for a pedophile joke…
Is “balloon boy” going to be in trouble for telling the truth or in trouble for telling a lie?
@3
They are indeed wack jobs! Read a bit about the father Richard Heene and you’ll see a man desperately searching for his 15 minutes of fame.
The sad thing is the media is so content greedy that they’ll report anything and in turn give the publicity hounds their fix!
Regardless of what really happened, if it were my kid who didn’t really disappear, the hugs and kisses would come first, and then later, after a calm talking-to, some punishment such as no TV or extra chores. I wouldn’t want to scare my kid, so they never tell me anything, but I also wouldn’t want him/her to think it was something to try again. That poor kid.
If the local police admit they were wrong about feeling they were not fakeing it then they to will look stupid so they will be comitted to sticking to their origional thoughts I think.
On our local tv they showed a clip from the interview where the father said “why didn’t you come out” and the boy said very clearly “because you said we were doing it for a show”.
— !!!!!
LOL thats hilarious. I watched the Larry King live interview. The clearly said something like ‘you said it we were putting up a show’:D
after that the father kinda freaked out.
I think it was a scam the father did..Anybody who would appear on Wife Swap would do anything!!!!
never happen with boy in ballon the family wanted to be on tv
As the mother of four, grandmother of six, I was an emotional wreck for four hours. I have seen the videos, and the news & I am convinced that these children have never been disciplined, or at worst are emotionally unbalanced. Falcon appears to have some kind of emotional/physical affliction. All three of the boys appeared as if they were on some kind of medication. CPS needs to step in an investigate and the parents should be arrested and tried for this ‘horrible’ prank. Take the kids away from them.
well all comments can be rest assured because charges are in the process of being filed against the unfit parents. the little boy did nothing wrong, he only told the truth. i just hope that there is someone in the family that is stable enough to take care of these children because obviously their parents are not. no parent in their right mind would put their child at risk for tv show. i mean really. what kind of ppl are they and why havent cps stepped in a long time ago? theyre clearly out of their minds. they constantly endanger the life of their children. we bring children in this world to love and protect. its sad how many parents completely do the opposite. theres no telling how deeply the emotional scars goes for these young boys. their father is a lunatic and the mother is weak. no matter who idea it was to do the hoax, i would think that her being the mother of this child that she carried for 9 mths would say no, you find another way to get publicity. u will not use my child as a prop. but no, she lied and cried and put on her best susan smith performance. its sickening. hope they stick it to them good and add counseling for both the sentence.
Call the Social Services on these so called “parents”.. Take their kids away from them and then put those two bubble heads into pen for a year or two.. Those two deserve it for all the mayhem they caused for couple hours ..