Jamie Reidy commends an extreme parenting maneuver.
I am so psyched my old man never thought of making me stand on a street corner wearing a sandwich board informing the world of my bad grades. As this CNN video shows, one Florida father did just that when his son got three F’s in school.
My dad definitely would’ve added that to his bag of “incentives.” And, like 7th grader Michael Bell, I was afraid of my father, so I definitely would have found myself getting honked at by passing cars.
That said, I applaud any parent who tackles head on his or her child’s lack of focus in the classroom. Some other people think such extreme measures are out of line.
What do you think: did this fed up father go to far?
There are lots of ways to skin a cat before psych torture.
What if the DAD wore the sign and it said:
MY SON IS MAKING FAILING GRADES
HE MAY HAVE A BEHAVIOR PROBLEM.
I THINK WE NEED PROFESSIONAL HELP.
CALL ME 123-456-7890
Be sure not to criticize the father who shot his daughter’s laptop.
But… but the poor boy’s precious self-esteem might be damaged by this! He could start associating poor study habits with negative consequences!
Clearly, this is child abuse at its worst and proof that fathers shouldn’t be trusted to raise children.
And this is an example of why mother’s should not be trusted with the same child care? – http://www.sunjournal.com/node/132972 – I’m sorry, but I’m a father, and you are close minded. One person does not reflect an entire group. Do you have kids? Is it fair for me to say you are unfit because of one mom’s actions? No. It isn’t.
I understand your opinion. I’m don’t completely agree with the actions. But I don’t think all moms are unfit because of the actions of one. That is just worldly ignorance talking. But that’s just my opinion.
I don’t mean to speak for him, but I’m pretty sure Copyleft was being sarcastic. It’s always difficult to tell when it’s just typing…I’m only basing this off of previous comments I’ve seen from Copyleft.
Again, just this guy’s opinion. Sarcastic or not, it’s is kind of offensive. I wouldn’t sarcastically categorize mothers like that based on one story. Kind of a rough judgement.
But also, I’m not a huge fan of sarcasm, so it’s hard for me to see around it sometimes. If it’s meant to not be serious, then that’s a relief.
Sarcasm can be used effectively to make a point, as was being done in this case. The blatant wrong-headedness and offensiveness of what Copyleft typed, when taken literally, is the point being made with regard to that type of thinking.
Sarcasm in the written word can be difficult to convey or pick up though, I’ll agree. I fall victim to this often too. I’ll often use the tongue-in-cheek emoticon :-^ as an indicator of sarcasm, but as a friend of mine once said, “I thought subtly was a type of fish.”
Yes, it was sarcasm.
You’re right that it would be offensive and incorrect to condemn all fathers based on disagreement with ONE father’s actions… except that this is common behavior in gender-issues discussions.
This is one of those highly contextual issues, I think. I mean…if it was only because his kid got 3 F’s, then I think his parents should first make sure he doesn’t have some sort of learning disability, or that he’s not suffering from some sort of bullying or other social pressure which is causing his grades to fall. Bad grades can be a symptom of a much more serious problem. Now…if it so happens that the three F’s really are a result of simply not paying attention and a generally bad attitude toward school, then by all means I… Read more »
I dunno, I’d rather get a mild spanking than that kind of psychological torture. Humiliating someone in public like that isn’t quite healthy, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for the kid to learn from their mistakes.
I dunno…7th grade seems a bit old for a mild spanking. From the video it seems like he was going to be out there for the whole of spring break, and that seems excessive. But perhaps one day…or a couple hours…eh it doesn’t strike me as particularly problematic. I absolutely hate public embarrassment. I’m the person who’ll turn away at embarrassing bits in movies (but be fine with most violence and sex)…and yet this still doesn’t strike me as too bad. And this is something I would probably never actually do to my kids (if I have any)…but at the… Read more »