Can this family be saved? Not a chance.
Rachel Canning, the teen who’s as spoiled as toxic lunch meat and as vile as New Jersey sludge, has abandoned her epic temper tantrum. For now.
Rachel, 18 — a walking, cursing, boozing cautionary tale to parents all over the world who struggle to say “no’’ to their kids — has moved from a friend’s house back to her parents’ home in Jersey. But this suburban nightmare is far from over.
For Rachel has succeeded in setting up a domestic war zone between herself and her folks, a crying shame that no amount of parental discipline, no cutting up of credit cards, no tedious hours of family therapy can begin to cure.
The brat claimed that her parents kicked her out of their house. They insisted she moved out on her own in order to stay out late, skip chores and spend time with a boyfriend who encouraged her to drink and cut school.
I think Rachel’s parents should have booted her from their house permanently. But that’s just me.
No one outside Rachel’s inner circle should ever have known of the dysfunctional train wreck that is the household headed by Sean and Elizabeth Canning. But the teen, who has suffered from an eating disorder and, her folks alleged, stole from her mom’s wallet, repaid her parents with an insane lawsuit.
With the backing of a friend’s father, John Inglesino — a twisted lawyer who should be watching his own daughter for treachery — she sued her parents for the cost of her Catholic high-school tuition and other expenses.
But mostly, Rachel’s lawsuit was an attempt at a shake down. “The proverbial F-you’’ to her folks, Judge Peter Bogaard declared last week, denying Rachel’s demand for $5,300 for tuition and weekly payments of $654.
Now, we are to believe that one big, happy family — Rachel has two younger sisters — lives under a roof in Lincoln Park. Even as the parents’ lawyer Angelo Sarno said, “The deal is that the lawsuit is still pending.”
Nor should Rachel’s parents be let completely off the hook.
Her downfall seems to have started in earnest last summer, when Mom and Dad separated for a few months. The teen has accused her mother of calling her “porky,’’ and said her father gave her shots of booze until she blacked out. Child-welfare officials found no wrongdoing.
Still, a message Rachel left for her mother in July is nothing short of breathtaking. “I [expletive] hate you,’’ she railed. She also said she wanted to defecate on her mom’s face.
A young lady isn’t born a monster.