Dr. Norm Cares

Children Who Murder

In 1994 Eric Smith was 13 years old. He murdered a 4 year-old boy, Derrick Robie.

Smith grew up in a small town of 970 people in New York. It was reported that he was terribly bullied and teased, and had "no friends." He was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to the maximum of 9 years in prison.

Although there is a tremendous amount of controversy raised with regard to whether or not he has served enough time, or should serve more time, the real focus should be on the many "red flags" or "soft signs" that were screaming during his childhood.

It was obvious that he was horribly teased and bullied which resulted in his becoming a loner without any friends. He was observed by family members expressing a great deal of rage without any significant rationale for such behavior.

It is tragically sad, that if the family members of Eric Smith had the advantage of being able to identify and recognize his early "soft signs" of the "Uncaring Child Syndrome" and appropriate intervention was initiated, this horrific crime may have been prevented.

Advice for Parents of "Uncaring Children"

Kids who give "nothing back" to their parents, in spite of being provided all of their
needs, love, affection, etc. should be considered "Uncaring Children." This is not to say however, that they can't be reached and changed. To get the child to change this uncaring behavior, the parents must first, change the playing field. The parents must get their "power" back and make the child experience "discomfort" while the parents "feel fine" or "comfortable." This task is easily accomplished by setting up clear and consistent objectives, i.e., take out the trash every Tuesday and Friday before 6:30PM. If the chore is not performed, the parents will enact the effective and powerful technique, as outlined in my book, "Over-correction." This technique is a simple but catastrophic intelligent response to the child's lack of cooperation.