Swedish mom reported to police for teaching her autistic son to believe in smurfs

Here is the deal:
The mother of an autistic 'boy', he is age 20-something, has brought him up believing in smurfs and aliens. The story gives no indication to which extend these things were taught, but it is described as if he was living in a fantasy world. The boy has developed depression and has become increasingly self destructive over the years, which doctors attribute to his upbringing.
The government has been aware of this, and have been trying to intervene since 2008, but the mom refuses to change her ways, so now they have reported her to the police.

I read this article in a Danish tabloid, so unfortunately the information is limited and might even be blown out of proportions. But it does, never the less, raise some very interesting questions, especially if the mom gets arrested and prosecuted for her believes.

I am not interested in making this a debate about whether or not smurfs nor aliens exist. But if there should be laws against presenting speculations and theories as facts. Of cause, actually prosecuting every single lie told, would be logistically impossible. But should people have the opportunity to challenge a lie or a liar in a court of law, if one should see this necessary?

I am personally very divided. What do you think? Should we be able to teach our children anything, even if it is harmful to them? Who should be the judge of this, if not? Could the scientific method be used as a standard for what is permitted to be presented as fact? What would be the consequences?

Most people teach their kids believe in Satan Claus, The Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy etc. No difference. I never agreed on doing that but the ex won that round, and with her not knowing, i told them there's no such things. In my own time.

I do not agree to teach an autistic child to believe in the smurfs, at all. Then, i do not know how to deal with an autistic child on such levels. But, aliens are real though!

reply to post by Mads1987


good story,but indeed,unless you know all the facts,you can't really comment.
one of my passions is studying mythology(among other 'beleifs'),and iv'e chosen to teach my children about it when they were younger. my boys would watch the morning fog roll through the hills and they asked me what it was.
i explained it was dragon's breath and just woke up! they are older now,but they still remember that story.
i don't have any one religion,or belief,but i like to think ther is info to help explain things in these old myths.
funny story about my oldest boy,hes 13 now,but when ha was about 4-5,he looked at a picture of the christ i had on my wall. after studying if for a bit,he turns to me and says 'dad,is that god's brother!!!"
i laughed so hard i was crying! blessed be the innocent!

reply to post by Mads1987


not sure if i agree with it or not, but the westboro baptist church haven't been arrested for
teaching their kids to hate the LGBT community...wrong way round if you ask me lol

The problem may have been behavioral or learning skills , something like that, where the smurfs or aliens worked to teach or help the younger child to comprehend or whatever they used the smurfs for....
Now it probably ingrained so deeply its inhibiting his mental progress,,,
What it got to do with the goverment?
Autistics do not have a very long life span as a rule ,and she is the one who manages the boy,,,now 20 and bigger tahn his mom probably.....
Whats so depressing about the smurfs?

Smurfs? They don't do any harm. Lets worry more about people who make their kids believe in an invisible guy in the sky and pretend that it has no effect on them.

Originally posted by KaelemJames
Most people teach their kids believe in Satan Claus, The Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy etc. No difference. I never agreed on doing that but the ex won that round, and with her not knowing, i told them there's no such things. In my own time.

Well there are some differences. It is socially acceptable to believe in those things when you are a small child. Once you grow older most people learn that it is not true, and I doubt that many parents will force their children to believe either of those things. I am afraid that the only accurat analogy in my mind is religion and superstition.

Originally posted by stirling
Whats so depressing about the smurfs?

I have no clue. As I said, only a limited amount of info is given in the article.
But I imagine that if you are told to believe something, but fail to see the connection between the real world and the belief you are taught, that might give one some troubling thoughts, and depending on how open his mother is to doubt and skepticism, this might be what made him depressed. But honestly I do not know.

Smurfs are so unreal though and Belgian.
I bet if she'd taught him the Moomins were real though nobody would have batted an eyelid.

Originally posted by Mads1987
Here is the deal:
The mother of an autistic 'boy', he is age 20-something, has brought him up believing in smurfs and aliens. The story gives no indication to which extend these things were taught, but it is described as if he was living in a fantasy world. The boy has developed depression and has become increasingly self destructive over the years, which doctors attribute to his upbringing.
The government has been aware of this, and have been trying to intervene since 2008, but the mom refuses to change her ways, so now they have reported her to the police.

I read this article in a Danish tabloid, so unfortunately the information is limited and might even be blown out of proportions. But it does, never the less, raise some very interesting questions, especially if the mom gets arrested and prosecuted for her believes.

I am not interested in making this a debate about whether or not smurfs nor aliens exist. But if there should be laws against presenting speculations and theories as facts. Of cause, actually prosecuting every single lie told, would be logistically impossible. But should people have the opportunity to challenge a lie or a liar in a court of law, if one should see this necessary?

I am personally very divided. What do you think? Should we be able to teach our children anything, even if it is harmful to them? Who should be the judge of this, if not? Could the scientific method be used as a standard for what is permitted to be presented as fact? What would be the consequences?

edit on 26/06/87 by Mads1987 because: (no reason given)

edit on 26/06/87 by Mads1987 because: (no reason given)

nyheter.se.msn.com... (I know it is from MSN but still)

Everybody should be taught to question everything they are taught and see if it fits them. If people where not such judgmental people with ego that think everybody should be like them we might have a more open society. I have read the article in swedish press and they are not giving much info and when a person (Willy Engebrethsen) that protects children/grown people with mental disabilities is on the side of the mother I get a lot of bad vibes that social services is screwing up again. Well at least this time they are on the side of doing something and not like the last time when they had a mother killing 2 kids because of their negligence. Probably they got so much crap for that one that now they have to go overboard the other way and show that they are doing their job.

– Det finns en naturlig förklaring till det här och det är att han har ett stort intresse för seriefigurer. Det har använts som pedagogik från särskolan och de har stöttat mamman, säger han till Expressen, och fortsätter:
– Vi kommer att ta kontakt med socialstyrelsen och inleda en diskussion, säger Willy Engebrethsen.

Above says that there is a natural explanation to this and the boy have a big interest in comics-persons (It does not really translate well). The interest have been used in his special school and the teachers have supported the mother. The are gonna contact socialboard to start a discussion about this.

The mother was employed as a assistant by the state to care for her son and another assistans made a lex Sarah charge on her. lex Sarah is a law that forces social workers to rapport things that are wrong to the caregiver.

If they take this kid away then they will need to take every child taught that religions and gods are real away also.

Surely there are more important things to worry about than this?! Be that as it may I'd rather tell my kids about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny (they grow out of it anyway) than tell them aliens are real (they can make up their own minds when they are older!) ... coz yeah let's breed fear and paranoia in our children that's really healthy... Some people are really really stupid.

SMURFS!

Brrrr.

I hate the Smurfs with a passion.

They rank right up there with Barney The Dinosaur and The Teletubbies.