A complicated subject.
This should be all about Amanda, but I believe that Carol Todd’s character was a crucial component in Amanda’s demise.
Carol was not an indulgent parent – that role probably went to Norm. In fact, she probably didn’t like Amanda much.
“her mother Carol was an educator and held academics etc in high esteem and yes, Amanda had learning disabilities and could not excel in school as she would have liked”
“Carol and Norm did not know how to handle her or to give her what she needed. Her dad is old school and a “tough no nonsense parent”, but I think he lacked the ability to nurture and support her along with the “tough love” approach. Both parents allowed her too much cell phone and laptop/facebook time. Both parents accepted her wild ways as part of being a teenager. I’m not sure that they had the faith in her that she needed them to…they assumed she would make bad choices. Sadly, she was starting to grow up and make better choices. Despite Carol’s unusual response to the death of her daughter ( yes, she found her dead in her bedroom ), Carol was always a devoted mom. I think her inability to connect emotionally with the death of her daughter is likely akin to her inability to connect emotionally with her while she was living. Her reaction or lack of it is part of the stoicism she learned in her tough adopted traditional Chinese family – work hard, really hard, succeed, don’t bring shame to the family etc.. ”
“For Carol, I think she thought at this point that the mistakes Amanda was making outside of the home were “beyond her ability to control” – backwoods Surrey, parks, hangouts etc, and felt that if she needed to “party” in her way, better in the home with friends where Carol could be watchful over her…I didn’t agree either with giving liscence to pot smoking etc, not something I would ever encourage with my kids…I think Carol was just choosing her battles at the time. ”
One of the problems with Carol is that she never told the truth, right from the start. This was, I think, because she didn’t dare. Amanda’s video had gone viral. Amanda was an angel, a saint, tricked by one brief lack of judgment. Carol could hardly explain about BlogTV and all the rest of the story.
She was also (perhaps wisely) in cahoots with the Vancouver Sun, something that raised objections later.
Carol’s reactions after Amanda’s death were off to say the least.
Early on in Carol Todd’s blog, we get this: ‘‘The highlight of the day was finding out that Amanda Todd was the 8th most trended topic on Google. When Googling her name, she was in the top 3′. Later, we get: ‘Sometimes I feel like a ‘rock star mom’’.
That is really peculiar for a grief-stricken mom.
Now, if you were the mother of a tragic child, would you refer to yourself as feeling like the mother of a rock star? Surely it can’t just be me who finds that distasteful? (Please, someone, tell me it’s not just me!) It is just so off-the-scale improper. I’ve seen mothers’ responses in similar situations, and I can tell you that no other mother has ever responded in this way. It’s just not right.
Less odd, but maybe worth a mention, is the fact that (according to Mrs Todd) her first impulse on the night of the suicide was to write a blog entry.
“At the end of her video, Amanda held up a card that read: “I have nobody, I need someone.” Carol says she didn’t understand why Amanda wrote that, but she never asked.”
OK – late night teen shenanigans are hardly a rarity, but this is different. We are constantly led to believe that Amanda was vulnerable from 2010 onwards. According to reports, she had PTSD, social anxiety, agoraphobia, learning difficulties, she was under threat from ‘predators’ and bullies – so I can’t understand why Mrs Todd couldn’t care less where her daughter was at 2 am.
Then, if that’s not enough, we learn of Carol’s attitude to drink and drugs – basically, it’s not worth fussing about:
‘So, looking through all the pictures of Amanda and her friends, I was happy to see her in good times, fun times, drunk times and even stoned times. Yes, she told me about the times she ‘blazed’. I commend her for being honest with me.’…..As we all say ‘We (as parents) pick our battles, and that wasn’t one I was picking.’ She wasn’t operating machinery or driving a car. So it wasn’t such a big one to me.’
At the end of her video, Amanda held up a card that read: “I have nobody, I need someone.”
Carol says she didn’t understand why Amanda wrote that, but she never asked.”
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Stories/813152/story.html#ixzz2KEskahsG
interviews following October 10th, Carol Todd gives THREE different accounts of her knowledge of the video: she didn’t know about it until some time after the event; she sort of knew about it at the time, but only was fully aware as soon as it was finished; she actually was there as it was being made, and supplied the paper and pens. (Trust me on this. I will provide evidence from articles later.) This (surely?) is indicative of something amiss. I will come to this later, as I want to pose some more questions.
The highlight of the day was finding out that Amanda Todd was the 8th most trended topic on Google. When Googling her name, she was in the top 3. Whitney Houston and Kate Middleton were in first and second spots..Then to have her so darn popular out there in the e-tech world. Really now… my Princess Snowflake did all that!!!’ Come on people! Are y
Now – the first evidence of lying: ‘This past summer, Amanda attempted to self harm herself. She didn’t succeed because she called me and she got the help she needed in time.’ In the video, we see a picture of cutting, and we are encouraged to believe it was constant. Not so, it would seem. Unless mother is lying. Who knows?
Last post for today – maybe I need to recuperate – is Carol Todd as bad as I think she is?
The True Story of Amanda Todd 