Unknown number unpopular opinions

[u/ohmyhellions]

Reading the comments here, most people agree Kendra is a psychopath and pedophile, which: yes absolutely. And I agree she needs to be locked away for a much longer time (and studied). But there are some other takes I had that I don’t see reflected. What do you think, and what unpopular opinions do you have? Please share:

1. Yes, obviously Kendra was fixated on Owen, even when he was still a little prepubescent boy (sick). And she was jealous of Lauryn for being with him. That’s all the comments I’ve read. But I believe it went much deeper than that. She was also deeply jealous that her daughter was growing into a pretty teenager who had her whole life ahead of her and hadn’t fucked up her marriage, finances and life like Kendra had. Owen was the target of her fixation but It wasn’t only about Owen. There’s a lot more going on. [Editing to add this thought: Kendra would have been happy to see her daughter or Owen die by suicide, so she could get closer to the other one and play the hero/get more attention).

2. I’m sorry but Owen’s parents/mother are not the heroes people are making them out to be. Why in the free world would they not take the kid’s phone away? He was being harassed into a place of suicidal ideation. They are terrible parents for letting him just deal with it while the mom pranced around pretending she was a star on Law & Order

3. Lauryn’s dad was an incompetent father and has some secrets of his own. I believe Kendra is a master manipulator but what the hell must he have been doing to not see signs that something was terribly wrong? I think he was having affairs/a double life or at the very least was willfully burying his head in the sand. What do you mean you trusted your wife to handle your daughter’s severe sexual harassment and abuse? You didn’t think you should help? You didn’t think the situation warranted all hands on deck? Where the hell were you the whole time? And all he could say about Lauryn now is that she’s “growing” and will be a “beautiful woman.” Something is also off with him.

4. Regarding Lauryn's non-emotional reaction to what her mom did to her: Lauryn never had close friends and was always quiet and withdrawn, per her peers. Owen said she was trying to isolate him from his friends so it was just “the two of us”. As far as we saw, Kendra was her primary parent, with barely any paternal involvement. Kendra’s sociopathic ways are normal to Lauryn because it’s all she knows. (I hope she gets a lifetime of therapy.) During the confession conversation, either she was in shock and, as any 15 year old child would be, confused and unable to process the emotions on the spot (and also focused on following an authority figure’s directions to call her dad) …or she knew or suspected her mom was behind this.

[u/pandorabach66]

I actually agree with all this except maybe I'm conflicted about Lauryn's dad. I think he was definitely avoidant and burying his head in the sand but I also had the impression he was working all the time.

I think you are 💯 about Owen's parents. wtf would you not at least change the kid's number? I think Mom was enjoying being involved in the drama a little too much.

ETA missing word

[u/Party_Principle4993 → u/pandorabach66]

I read the original article from NYMag and it said his phone was the way he contacted travel sports team coaches and teammates, and accessed his school assignments on Google Assignments (or something like that). I am An Old and had no idea that was a thing in school now. TOTALLY agree there must have been some work around bc this kid’s mental health would have been my top priority as his parent, but I think it was trickier than just “take his phone away.”

[u/wideopenspaces1 → u/Party_Principle4993]

This is part of the problem, in my opinion. It’s insane that a 13 year old would be required to have a cell phone in order to participate in school and sports. Thankfully the tides are turning on this, with many people discussing the effects of phones and social media on kids’ mental health, and states banning phones in schools outright.

[u/Party_Principle4993 → u/wideopenspaces1]

Amen. My son is only 4 and this weighs heavy on my mind. I hope by the time he’s a teenager this mentality will be very different.

[u/Sycronovexar → u/Party_Principle4993]

if your child doesn't have a phone and 80% of the kids do have a phone, your child will be an outcast and get treated like crap by the other kids unless he/she has super high ability/charisma to overcome that which is almost impossible

so i suggest you think really well before doing something like that

in my case the only issue was that i had a computer not good enough to play the same games as my peers - even that was enough to get super me ostracized

all the free time during breaks they would talk about those games and i could play none of them so i just sat there with nothing to say