Repost: How far would you go to protect your child?

I've contributed to the Orlando Sentinel's Moms at Work blog since 2010. The blog is changing content management systems and my old posts will no longer be available to the public, so I'm reposting them here, in the order that they were originally posted.


June 6, 2012

Like a lot of first-time parents, I wasn't prepared for the depth, fierceness and fullness of the love I felt for my child.

I expected to love her a whole heck of a lot, but I didn't know that love would be so profound that it would sometimes stop me in my tracks. My love is such that there are a lot of things I do for her that I really don't want to do and probably wouldn't do for anyone else, such as attending a Fresh Beat Band concert and singing Bob Marley's 'Three Little Birds' repeatedly.

The love is not, however, so great that I can imagine helping her get away with literal murder.

An Atlanta-area mom who doesn't have my scruples is now set to serve six years in prison for destroying evidence that linked her son to a killing. When Deena Davis, 45, learned that her 17-year-old son and a friend had been involved in the robbery and death of a cabdriver in 2009, she tried to concoct an alibi for him and helped with the destruction of the clothes he had been wearing when he committed the crime. Davis' repeated lies to law-enforcement officers delayed the arrest of her son, Quantavious Harris, by a couple of months, police said. He's since been sentenced to life plus ten years in prison, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

I don't even know where to begin with this. In her place, I think I'd be so horrified that I'd have to turn my kid in to the authorities. I'd call a good defense attorney first, but I'd definitely turn her in.

What makes the story even sadder is that Davis has at least one younger son who has now lost both his older brother and mom to the prison system. I hope there are people in his life who have better decision-making skills and can be the stability he needs. What would you do if your child came to you and said she or he had committed a serious crime? Would you lie for your kid or head straight for the police?