Reflection
is a happier and wiser man
other words she letting the most important person in the world be sexually abused by an older man because she wants to remain her son's friend.
(and)
A friend of mine acted like this mother did and was a friend to her two kids instead of being a parent. She set no boundaries and let them do whatever they wanted.
I think you missed the part where Janine made it clear to 21 (let's call him that) that he can't have sex with her son anymore, failing which, she wouldn't allow them to see each other again (I'm sure she would do more than that, but that much was enough as a warning). She is not giving them a free reign at all. Here are Phenom's words:
And that was the main issue, wasn't it? The underage sex part. What's done, cannot be undone. But she has tried to prevent it from happening again in the future, by using minimal force and not sending someone to jail and putting the "pedophile" tag on him for the rest of his life. In her first attempt at resolving the matter, she has taken the right approach, in my opinion. The ball is in 21's court. If he can live with it and follow the rules, good for everyone. If he can't, he will be responsible for what will happen to him, because now Janine will be very alert, and she won't take a betrayal too well.So Janine said no more sex. They can continue to talk and hang out but no sex. He has a curfew of 9 and the first time that it's broken, they will no longer be allowed to see one another. He promised to abide by her rules and said thanks and left.
Primarily, DJ lying about his age... because he probably knew that a good adult wouldn't want to knowingly have a physical relationship with a 14-year old... and his BF's age, because he knew that a good mom wouldn't allow that. That was the start of everything else.That's where you are wrong, you do have a dog in this race, you know about it. Everyone here is wrong. The kid for lying, the other guy for accepting his lie and not doing anything about it when he found out the truth and the mother for doing nothing period.
21 could do only one other thing when he found out, which is break-up with DJ, but different people think differently. He thought with his heart and not his head, and he took that risk. Not for the sex, I'm sure, but that's the first thing most people will see.
As for Janine, we have to consider how much time she had to think about all this- between her conversation with Phenom, calling 21 to confront him, and 21 showing her that FB post.
She had two ideal options- 1. To end it right there, and send her son for counselling, like some people have suggested, and 2. Set those rules and keep a stricter alternative in her hand. She chose the second option.
The reason I don't share this opinion (yet) is because it would ruin many things in 21's life. She can go for that option whenever she feels that 21 has not kept his end of the agreement. Maybe I'm too compassionate, but right now, I don't think he deserves that. The first attempt should be to try and solve the matter with minimal damage and outside influence, and that's what she did.The authorities should be notified about this.