Parents, Would You Do This?

[tinybear]

Mom Makes Teen Stand on Street With Sign



By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer Wed Nov 16, 9:42 PM ET

EDMOND, Okla. - Tasha Henderson got tired of her 14-year-old daughter's poor grades, her chronic lateness to class and her talking back to her teachers, so she decided to teach the girl a lesson.

She made Coretha stand at a busy Oklahoma City intersection Nov. 4 with a cardboard sign that read: "I don't do my homework and I act up in school, so my parents are preparing me for my future. Will work for food."

"This may not work. I'm not a professional," said Henderson, a 34-year-old mother of three. "But I felt I owed it to my child to at least try."

In fact, Henderson has seen a turnaround in her daughter's behavior in the past week and a half. But the punishment prompted letters and calls to talk radio from people either praising the woman or blasting her for publicly humiliating her daughter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051117/...BhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

[Osborn F Enready]

I think a parent has a right, and obligation, to understand how their child learns best, and then use it to teach the child the basics of life, and the ways to LEARN so you can TEACH YOURSELF.

I support the mothers choice, because she is the mother and only she knows what is best for her daughter, as should the father.

I think it shows that the parents, or parent are creative in finding ways to relate the depth of the childs decisions in education and how it will affect her later, WHETHER or not the daughter believes it or not yet.

[Irene]

Wow, that story put a smile on my face. My kids aren't teenagers yet, so I don't know what I would do, but I must say that on a stretch of drive nearby where I live, there are homeless people that walk up and down the route or stand at the stop lights, and I do tell my kids if you don't learn to read, write and do math in school, you won't be able to get a good job and you'll be living down at the strip mall with all the homeless people and they just look at me........ No one should judge the mother. She is doing something, which is more than you can say for some parents......

[Apeman81]

No harm, no foul. This parent saw a path to enlighten her child and took it. Sounds like the lesson struck home. Good on her!

Opposition? Some of the "Nanny-State" types will fly out of the woodwork and decry this "cruel and unusual punishment: blah blah blah.

Nonsense.

[Zealot]

[quote=tinybear]Mom Makes Teen Stand on Street With Sign


Great mom, I'd do it for sure, and it was proper that she took the time to do it with her. Good post teddy bear, thanks.

Zealot

[Osborn F Enready]

Wow, I do agree with the Zealot on something.

[5010]

I don't have a problem with mom doing that but I wouldn't recommend it. Our kids share household tasks, but if they aren't applying themselves in school, we give them extra dish, floor, and toilet cleaning duties so they will have some useful skills to earn their keep when they grow up. It works for us.

We tell the kids why school is important but they don't get that reinforced in school. I think it would be helpful if schools put a little forest into the curriculum instead of keeping them down in the trees.

[Zealot]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready Wow, I do agree with the Zealot on something.

See, there is always hope, huh?

Zee

[Osborn F Enready]

Zealot, please sir.

If our lines of thinking were plotted out, it would look like a vast chasm the size of the grand canyon that stretched around the world, and now, it would have one little tiny bridge, built by ants across it.

We are as diametrically opposed about everything both have posted on, I find it hard to believe we live in the same world, let alone nation. But hey, its all cool to have an opinion, and I respect that, even if I don't respect your debate style. Some here don't respect my debate style, and I have to be cool with it, not much else I can do, except be a dick. I am sometimes a dick, but I can admit it at least.

Time for a TRUTHMITZVAH, en garde Zealot, or I shall fart in your general direction, and tweak thy tomato nose.

[Cephus]

Hell yes I'd do that, in a second. More parents need to take their children's actions seriously and enforce the rules of the house. I bet you that kid is going to improve because they know her mother is serious.

Big round of applause for responsible parenting!

[Son of Belial]

Yep, sounded great to me. Stomping her ass into the ground would have made me smile too, but since the government has decided that's abuse, the holding a sign thing works okay.

[Walmas]

CHILD ABUSE!
it would be hummiliating to do that.

[Son of Belial]

"Child abuse!" Ah, the cry of the enabler. Heaven forbid a child that does wrong gets punished somehow. Please parents, if your child does wrong, punish them in a way that isn't inconvenient, painful, or embarassing for them. Make it a very convenient and enjoyable punishment, and don't forget to shower them with affection for their wrongdoing.

[SoccerfreakAB2]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready I think a parent has a right, and obligation, to understand how their child learns best, and then use it to teach the child the basics of life, and the ways to LEARN so you can TEACH YOURSELF. I support the mothers choice, because she is the mother and only she knows what is best for her daughter, as should the father. I think it shows that the parents, or parent are creative in finding ways to relate the depth of the childs decisions in education and how it will affect her later, WHETHER or not the daughter believes it or not yet.

I'd prefer to debate you than Zealot on this one...but let's be real, the "mother knows what's best?" That is almost as trustworthy as Hitler's communism, since yeah, the mother should know what's best, but the "best," which is in her own personal opinion, might very well be the completely wrong option. There are parents that are pedophiles, rapists, murderers, and such (including the possbility of a child's actions like these...), and you are giving these parents 100% benefit of the doubt.

Answer me this: What makes a parent automatically know what's best for the child? Is it some sort of telepathy, or what? You are so confident in your response that parents are always right, like they are infallible when it comes to their own children. I think a 1/4 of the parents today aren't even fit for parenting. Maybe if this lady wasn't so dumb in the first place, she could have teached her daughter some moral foundations, instead of jamming them into her tightly packed teenage brain.

The mother taught her daughter this: when you are failing, humiliate yourself into doing better. That's it. Now this dumb mom is going to make her daughter do it again, or probably something worse if the daughter screws up again. Sure, maybe it worked once, for a while, but she is being FORCED to humilaite herself. That is the key. When she is an adult, what will she do to correct her immoralities and problems in her work or companionships? Humiliate herself? Where are the foundations for morality and philosophy in this girls life, that one needs to prioritize their life according to school, so that they may make money?

I hope there are more people out there like this.

[Chris]

Quote by: tinybear Parents, Would You Do This?

No.

Stupid idea. Its her choice though and I agree with Osborne that she should have the right. So long as the kid is not in danger. (getting hit by a car etc)

[shield772]

Wow what a great idea, I applaud this mother.

[Son of Belial]

Werd.

[Irene]

SoccerfreakAB2, you don't have kids do you??

[SoccerfreakAB2]

Quote by: Irene SoccerfreakAB2, you don't have kids do you??

Irene, you have kids don't you?

[Walmas]

Isnt that an Ad Hominiem?