In this overly litiguous society, the first instinct of a parent is to defend the kid no matter what, even if the facts are obvious. We have taught our kids that they won't be held accountable and that everyone else is at fault. we've created an entire gneration of victims. If you do something stupid and damage someone's property or injure someone, then obviously something else was the root cause of the issue. And the level of over-medication of kids (and adults) today is mindboggling and frightening. You never know what kind of disposition you are going to deal with when approaching people when an issue arises.
/rant off....
