Erin Brockovich's Daughter Blames Mom for Addiction

This little girl is the begining of the "blame" generation. The problems that plague them as children are everyone elses problem but their own. The problem stems from a generation of kids that are spoiled in one way or another or raised without one of the parents, mostly fathers. Causing children to grow up with the inability to say no or make correct decisions. Some may ask how do I come to this decision. My girlfriend has a son that has all the same symptoms Erin's daughter exhibits and he blames everyone but himself.

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Should she be an adult at 12? 14?

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But let's keep in mind that Erin B also made the decision -- as an adult -- to neglect her kids when they were very young -- and that had very foreseeable negative consequences. Kids don't have good judgment, which is why they need parents.

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This immature 14/16 year old is using the same "excuse" as my 40 year old daughter who is also hooked on crack and I had to take Custody of all 3 of her daughters 2 years ago (ages 16, 15 & 11). I agree with the other posters that also believe YOU are responsible for YOUR own actions - not what your parents did or did not do for you. My advice to this young lady - GROW UP!

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This is a child that watched her mom travel the country looking for people to blame for bad things that have happened so she could sue. Is it really any surprise whatsoever that when her daughter has a problem she is more than willing to dump the blame on someone else. Shes no different than the daughter of an extremely wealthy ambulance chaser.

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My father left for work every day long before all of us children woke
for school and we didn't usually see him again until late in the
evening. On top of my dad's 10 - 12 hour work day, he was also a
fireman and an Emergency Medical Technician as well as a freelance
photographer. Needless to say, my father wasn't around much as he
worked very hard to provide food and shelter for a family of 6. My
mother was sick all my life and unavailable quite often and it was my
siblings and I who took care of her most of the time rather than the
other way around. I am not complaining; I had a wonderful childhood
with loving parents who did the best they could and although money
was tight, we were happy. My brothers and sister and I were
average latch-key kids growing up in the 70's and drugs and alcohol
were readily available if we wanted them but my siblings and I chose
not to use them, WE CHOSE NOT TO USE THEM despite the fact that our
parents weren't available to us 24/7. Whose to say, perhaps if we
had not been poor and had every opportunity in the world handed to us
on a silver platter as Elizabeth Brokovitch has, perhaps we would
have
wasted all that opportunity, too, and become addicted to drugs and/or
alcohol, the difference being that my parents wouldn't have had the
money to send us to an expensive rehabilitation center, we'd have
gotten sober or died trying all on our own.

It's time for Elizabeth to accept responsibility for her choices and
to be extremely grateful and proud that her mother is such a
dedicated woman who has worked very hard to make a difference in this
world and for herself and her daughter.

Erin Brokovitch did not abandon her child or leave her to her own
devices nor does she do what she does just to be rich; she does what
she does because she believes in justice and makes a stand and fights
for what she believes in and for what she knows is right.
She would still be doing what she is doing even if it had only paid
minimum wage because she is a strong and courageous woman and she
continues to be an advocate for the little guy. Erin Brokovitch is a
hero and her daughter is placing blame in the wrong place. Do not
fool yourselves, Erin Brokovitch did not leave her child unattended
or without guidance nor did Elizabeth ever want for anything, she
was and is deeply loved by her mother whether she is their to hold her hand
or not. That being said, Elizabeth is still a child and immature and
will eventually learn how to take responsibilty for her own actions
and she will probably become a wonderful young woman who follows in
her mother's footsteps.

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You have got to be kidding. This girl was 12 years old! Yes she made some unbelievably bad choices, but if her mother had been there and been involved enough with her daughter it wouldn't have taken 5 years for her to notice her daughter was a drug addict. The mother while doing a truly heroic thing with the case did NEGLECT her responsibilities as a parent. She was NOT there enough to realize a 12 year old CHILD was going down the wrong path. You act like she was a fully mature adult making a bad choice. Working to provide your family with the basic essentials is noble, but when you lose sight of the "basics" and let your family suffer the consequences it is a failure on your part. She is NOW making a wonderful choice by being completely involved with her daughter's recovery...but it may not have gone this far had she been there to stop it at the marijuana.

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Unless Erin left her daughter without any adult supervision at that time she is certainly NOT responsible for her daughter using drugs. The daughter needs to take responsibility for what she has done to her life. And yes, a twelve year old does know right from wrong. I'ts very easy to "blame Mom" but you are in charge of your own life- and the responsibility for bad choices rests with you. Her mother is obviously a caring parent.

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"J", you also play the "blame game". Take a look at the majority of the comments-that says it all. Erin is a shining example of pulling yourself up when all odds are against you. Elizabeth should be proud of her mother and work towards making her mother proud of her-stop whining.

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Why couldn't the daughter go on the tours? Couldn't they be handled on a "home school" situation? Seems to me they both made some bad choices here. Live with it. It wont make the problem go away so you take a deep breath and handle it the best you can. Stop throwing the "blame game" around and concentrate on what it is going to take to get over this.

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What a load of crap look at the last 3 generations we have raised .It's not my fault I do things it's yours or oh there only 23 like with mike phelps good god 23 i was married and had 2 kids,Total nonsense you did drugs cause u wanted to.Just like if you had made it to honor role would u be saying oh it's my moms fault.No u would be saying I put in so much hard work.We have made a major mistake with the last few generations with no holding them accountable for any of there actions and you know something it really shows in the crime rate.

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In my own life, someone very close to me has issues from his young life with the lack of love from his parents due to a divorce. However, even in his adult life, he's still blaming his troubles from his youth and upbringing on things he's still doing wrong to people he loves in his adult life. I believe he needs to take responsibility for his stupid actions and stop placing the blame on others.

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My parents were in show business as a double act in variety and revues in England when I was growing up. One, the other, or both would be away for extended periods. I could have gone bad, but I joined their act as did my brother. We didn't blame our parents, it was the 30's and 40's. I tried blaming my brother for something . . . ONCE. I learned a lesson right then that I had to take full responsibility for MY actions. So should J. Her mother was by need out on the road. Maybe J should have gone with her.

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There comes a turning point in every young persons life that they get to slide and say it's mom's fault, dad's fault whatever she's coming to an age though that is going to have to stop. The biggest issue I have seen with so many young people this age and even older is there is no such ability to take personal responsibility for their actions as well as choices. There is a consequence for every single action we make (good or bad) as a result we get the result (again good or bad). I also hear more excuses than anything else whatever happened to "The buck stops here."? At some point someone has to say oops that didn't workout so well. Until this young woman says she made back choices without it following with a big ol' "but" behind it to rationalize her choices she is going to have cut a really hard path for herself.

Could her mom have been there absolutely, we don't always get the parents we think we deserve, suck it up and deal, crying over the past isn't going to change it. None of us grew up in a 100% perfect family, I'm sure every single person can name some skeleton in a closet that no one wants to talk about.

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No, Erin Brokovitch did not neglect her daughter nor is she to blame for not knowing her child was becoming addicted to drugs. Addicts are very good at convincing those of us who love them that they are not addicts and being human beings and not wanting to believe that our children might be lieing to us, sometimes we, the adults, make the innocent mistake of burying our heads in the sand, even mother's who are stay-at-home-mothers. It doesn't mean we are stupid or that we don't care even if it took us 5 years to notice that our child had a problem - some parents don't realize until the child is dead from an over dose. How many times have you heard a parent say about their dead teenager that they never knew, they never saw the signs, they thought everything was OK?

I'm just saying that, unless you have been there, you do not know the whole story, you do not know that Erin did not do everything in her power to get her child to stop using before she became addicted. Some of you are assuming that Erin is stupid. You are taking the word of a 17 year old drug addict that her mother neglected her because anything and everything was more important than her own daughter. Come on! Erin is an extremely smart cookie. Why would you take for gospel anything that is written by someone you do not know about someone you do not know? Erin Brokovitch is a hero and that she became a wealthy woman for working hard and standing up for what she believes in and fighting for justice is to be applauded. If you believe for a minute that Erin neglected her child, you are just wrong.

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I don't agree that this was "mom's fault." I think it is irresponsible for this young woman to blame her mother. We all have choices. I was a single parent and had to work very hard to bring in the income needed to raise my son. But he never resorted to drugs. We have always had an excellent and honest relationship; one that was mutually supportive. Throught it all, he knew that my hard work was for him. Today, he is a credit to his generation.

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Steve, did you see the movie, better yet are you in the water industry to have a better understanding of the movie. I am in the water industry and there are many pros and cons as to what Erin did. The movie industry did glamorize a few things to make the movie more marketable, but make no mistake that there was great fault that Erin uncovered. Erin made the water and many other industries more accountable for their actions. Bottom line-be accountable for your actions.

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At 12 years old, I knew the difference between right and wrong. Granted, my mother was a stay-at-home mom when I was that age, and dad was home nearly every evening. They made sure we had talks about drugs, sex, etc...albeit after I already knew.
The D.A.R.E. program in school made sure we knew what drugs were, what they did to our bodies if we used them, and that they were illegal and what to do if someone offered them to us.
Still, at 12 years old, I remember kids passing drugs off to one another at lunch, during recess, and on the bus. Personal integrity and responsibility doesn't start when you become an adult. It is something parents / teachers / responsible adults should ingrain into a child's mind.

When I went away to college after being relatively sheltered through high school, I made some poor choices that led to consequences. I gained weight, my grades slipped, I became depressed, I used alcohol and drugs. Those were my choices and they still affect me to this day. Some could say it was a reaction to being sheltered, but it was MY reaction.

In short, yes the parent is responsible for teaching the child right from wrong and paying attention to what is going on in their life.

BUT the child cannot blame anyone but themselves for poor choices. They made them and are their own.

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Typical....blame everyone but herself.

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