Mother faces Manslaughter and 8 year old faces Murder only doing what he was taught.

Stumbled upon this article titled “Boy, 8, faces murder charge in beating death of Alabama toddler as child's mother partied at nightclub: authorities” written by Nicole Hensley for the New York Daily News and was mystified to find that more than just the mother of the victim and the 8 year old boy was charged.  Would have thought that the mother of the 8 year old would also be charged with nothing less than neglect and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The article reports; Katerra Lewis, 26, has been charged with manslaughter in the death of her young daughter. The girl’s mother, Katerra Lewis, left Kelci Devine Lewis alone with five children overnight as she partied with a friend at a night club on Oct. 11. The 26-year-old found her only child unresponsive at a Birmingham home the following morning. The murder charge was announced against the boy Tuesday, AL.com reported, making him the youngest such suspect in Jefferson County in recent memory.  A 6-year-old girl, who was in the home when Kelci died, told investigators her brother beat the toddler because she kept crying and put her back in a crib.  Kelci had blunt force trauma to the head and internal injuries consistent with what the child witnessed, according to Fox 10.  The victim’s mother has been charged with manslaughter for leaving her daughter alone with the kids, who are aged 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8, police said.  Lewis and her daughter, who were temporarily staying at the home where Kelci died, had been waiting for Section 8 housing, relatives told AL.com.

Now while I am saddened about the death of the 1 year old who was only doing what all 1 year olds would do to get the attention of their parent.  Anyone who has ever been around children knows that as they grow the only way they know to get the attention of a parent is to cry and they keep crying until they feel that loving touch or smell that familiar smell that only a parent has to their child, but I am confused as to why the boy’s mother was not charged with anything.

Both mothers being supposedly adults should have made a better choice in their selection of a babysitter but they also failed to demonstrate to the children living there how to properly deal with stress instead of using violence.  That 8 year old appears to have followed the example of how to handle a disruptive child set by his mother and those so-called adults all around him.  If the answer to any problem is to use your fists and this is the example we set for our children, then what makes us think that they will make another choice when faced with this same type of stressor.  Just as no child is born to hate, they are not also born to harm.  These are the lessons taught to us by those closest to us and those we trust to learn from so if all we teach our children is to hate and harm, why then are many surprise when their child acts in that manner.  This may be the reason, I am not able to pass judgement upon others and why all that I can do in situation like this is state my case praying that it gives others pause.