Affluenza. A psychological malaise that impacts young men and women who are used to their mom and dads giving them everything and telling them that they are awesome on the daily even if they are little jackalopes. “Affluenza” also became the premise of the defense of Ethan Couch, who was 16 years old and nearly three times the legal limit for a grown adult male when he got behind the wheel in 2013 and killed four people. “Affluenza” was the defense his mother gave, claiming she coddled him so much through his formative years that he did not know any better than to get behind the wheel after getting blitzed and that killing four people while operating a vehicle under the influence is wrong. She coddled him so much, she took him to Mexico to violate his probation, remember? Coddled him so much that he could not understand the impact of his actions:

And yesterday, the moment of reckoning came for Couch in the form of a court-hearing. From The Washington Times:

The teen, who turned 19 on Monday, will serve four consecutive 180-day jail sentences, one for each of the four people he killed in the 2013 Texas crash, a sentence that far exceeded what prosecutors initially sought.

“You’re not getting out of jail today,” District Judge Wayne Salvant told Couch, who appeared in adult court for the first time Wednesday at Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth.

This wasn’t Couch’s first run-in with the law. At 15, Couch was given two citations after a police officer found him behind the wheel of a pickup truck next to a half-naked girl, with an open vodka bottle on the backseat floor.

Sounds like a sweet kid, right? Family values at their best there, folks. But the real kick in the pants is this little doozy. Before Couch violated his probation with his mommy, he had rehab stints from February 2014 through February 2015, totaling about $200,000, according to court documents. $150,000 of that rehabilitation program for this little imp was paid for by Joe and Jane Taxpayer. Apparently, Couch’s parents had enough revenue to fund an “Affluenza” defense for their little darling but not enough to put their kid through rehab! Nope, that expense is on us!

Still, there are no apologies or signs of remorse from Ethan Couch to the families who lost loved ones due to his bout of “Affluenza”. While Tonya Couch, the mother of this spawn, can face up to 10 years in prison for helping her son flee probation, we cannot help but to see this as a cautionary tale to mothers and fathers who do not provide their children with any thing in the way of healthy boundaries. I’ve seen this first-hand. They are afraid to say “no” to the fruits of their labor. They want to be loved by them, adored by them and they give them everything and anything without restriction even if it is at the expense of someone else. They’ll shelter them and defend them for being sheltered and “not knowing any better” when they behave in an unacceptable fashion instead of reprimanding them and teaching them right from wrong. They’ll roll their eyes at them and sigh in despair at their children’s less-than-desirable actions but emotionally, these parents are completely inept at understanding that they are not raising productive members of this society. Case in point, even my 10 year-old knows that drinking alcohol and getting behind the wheel of a car is bad and illegal. A TEN YEAR-OLD KNOWS THIS. Ethan Couch is an example of poor boundaries and discipline set up by his very own mother and father. Sadly, those who are raised with sound values and responsibility will pick up the slack for the others who aren’t and the adults who do not do their jobs-yes, because raising a child is a (very important) job. We will pay for their rehab, their welfare and yes, even a stay at “the pen”. Why? Because our mommies “abused” us and told us we were less than stellar sometimes and taught us right from wrong. They didn’t give us the “Affluenza” crutch to fall back on!