Eric's parents

I'm just curious what you guys think - Do you think that Eric's parents knew about the bomb making materials he had in his room? I mean, I realize that his dad actually found a pipe bomb and made Eric detonate it in the mountains, but what do you think the dad thought when he found it? I just find it to be insane that he found a pipe bomb and didn't do a thorough search of Eric's room and pretty much do regular searches of his room after that incident. Personally, I would freak the f*ck out if I found something like that in my house. I'm not trying to be disrespectful toward Eric's parents or anything......I just find it to be strange that they didn't become super suspicious and ultra vigilant after finding a pipe bomb in their son's room. Granted, I'm sure they never thought their son was planning to blow up his school. I'm assuming they thought it was just mischievous teenager stuff. During that time, The Anarchist's Cookbook was pretty popular......so maybe they just chalked it up to him being infatuated with that???

Personally I think he did think it was just mischievous teenage stuff. I guess at the time Eric seemed like an overall good kid in every other aspect of his life. He got good grades, held down a job (2 at one point), bullshit to his parents that he was planning for the future and they believed him... He probably just figured "boys will be boys." Plus since his dad was in the military, maybe to him explosives are a "normal" interest for teenage boys. I think I read somewhere that when he was questioned about it, he chalked Eric's interest in explosives to be normal for someone considering joining the military.

I agree with Kiwik.And that's how I'd answer the question too.
Some people think that his parents didn't care about him, but I can't believe if they had any inkling what was coming they wouldn't do anything they could to save their son's life at the very least.

Eric was a brilliant manipulator and he made sure he kept himself in tiptop shape that finding a single pipe bomb was quickly overshadowed.

One thing I don't get...Not only do his parents find the pipe bomb, but they find it in his box of bomb making materials. They steal the bomb from him but let him have the box back.

"Yea we will take the bomb but here have the stuff back so you can make more. But please don't make more."

And Eric "I haven't been making any more bombs,"

If you don't want him to make more don't give him back the stuff. True he could get more but room searches and car searches would help with that if needed. If my kid was making bombs you can be damn sure she would lose her privacy

I think his parents truly thought this was just another ordinary boy on an ordinary day having a fascination with making pipe bombs and wanting to see them explode in an open plain field. It will always be a tough debate time after time cause there are literally people who explore and do just that and they aren't harmful nor have a desire to blow a place up so this was one that slipped through the cracks. I agree though [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] don't make more but he gave him back all the materials to make one.

I am not a guy and I only have a daughter but are bombs of any kind popular with boys? It doesn't seem much of a normal interest to me...

I did have a brother and he is in the armed forces. He now has many guns but no bombs.

It seems to me that boys like anything that goes boom. Not all boys of course but most do. Must be all that testosterone... Fireworks are the most common because they are so readily available and guns a close second. Bombs are different. Only because you cant just go to walmart and buy them. Nor is it legal to build them. But ill guatantee if you ask almost any boy if they want to see a bomb go off they would be happily all for it. Funny thing is that in this respect, boys dont change much when they become men. Grown men turn back into boys when given the opportunity to see and hear things go boom. In short, yes i think its a guy thing...

rockiemontana wrote:

It seems to me that boys like anything that goes boom.  Not all boys of course but most do. Must be all that testosterone... Fireworks are the most common because they are so readily available and guns a close second. Bombs are different. Only because you cant just go to walmart and buy them. Nor is it legal to build them.  But ill guatantee if you ask almost any boy if they want to see a bomb go off they would be happily all for it.  Funny thing is that in this respect, boys dont change much when they become men.  Grown men turn back into boys when given the opportunity to see and hear things go boom.  In short, yes i think its a guy thing...

I think bombs and guns and stuff are interasting and fun, and I'm pretty sure other boys my age would agree.

I think because of Eric's dads military background, he didn't make as big of a deal about the pipe bomb as most parents would. I would of been in so much trouble, and all he had to do was go with his dad to the mountains and blow it up? Come on now, that doesn't show a parent who is in deep concern about anything.

slippy123 wrote:

I think because of Eric's dads military background, he didn't make as big of a deal about the pipe bomb as most parents would. I would of been in so much trouble, and all he had to do was go with his dad to the mountains and blow it up? Come on now, that doesn't show a parent who is in deep concern about anything.

yeah sounds like Wayne was more worried that he didn't want the house to get blown up rather so he let Eric continue "experimenting" but please Son do it at an open field.

ultraviolencelv wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

I think because of Eric's dads military background, he didn't make as big of a deal about the pipe bomb as most parents would. I would of been in so much trouble, and all he had to do was go with his dad to the mountains and blow it up? Come on now, that doesn't show a parent who is in deep concern about anything.

yeah sounds like Wayne was more worried that he didn't want the house to get blown up rather so he let Eric continue "experimenting" but please Son do it at an open field.

Yup. Wayne was around explosives his whole life basically so to him, it wasn't a big deal. He just wanted it far away from the house.