These parents who force their kids to exercise, they remind me of parents who enroll their daughters in those "beauty pagents" when the child is like 5 or 6 years old. They doll them up in adult makeup, clothing, high heels and have the little 5-year-old strut their "stuff" around on stage. Very bizarre if you ask me.

It's like the parents are trying to vicariously live through their child. Since the parents were never smart or good looking, they need to ride their kids ass and make sure he/she is cute enough to get discovered for doing a cereal commercial, or some shit like that. Since the kid is good looking, he's probably under a lot of pressure to live up to "expectations" and not indulge in consuming too many twinkies. He might not get "discovered" by the nearest modeling agency if overweight. I bet that's what somebody is thinking.

If the kid is that affraid to miss a session on the treadmill, you know there's something going on. It's like McCauly Culkin or Michael Jackson type pressure to succeed.

Bits and pieces are coming out:

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/cour ... t/26696722

Moreover, a court petition, sent to juvenile court by Child Protective Service investigators, says Charlie's stepmother Monique Dillard-Bothuell put the boy in the basement and allegedly told him to stay there while the search for him unfolded.

Dillard-Bothuell told investigators that she was going to tell on young Charlie after he didn't complete a very specific rigorous elliptical workout. After he heard that his stepmother was going to tell his father, Charlie disappeared, according to Dillard-Bothuell. She said he was running from possible strict disciplinary action from his father.

Sounds like a couple of real winners. All three children are outta there. The forced exercise routines are extraordinarily ridiculous when you look at the potatoes that are his parents.

...missing 12-year-old boy Charlie Bothuell found alive, well in dad's basement...

It's so easy to forget how good one has it, until one hears from the unfortunate fate of others.

I've been following this for the past few days:

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/detr ... 6/26657470

The truth will out here, it always does. I'm kinda hoping the kid was just messing with his parents and or step-mom and that none of them are crazy enough to have forced him to hide there. With divorce and custody battles, one never knows.

Glad he's okay. Cute kid.