When it comes to punishing your own kids, how far is too far? That is the question on my mind after an image was posted in the "funny" section of social site Reddit. It featured an older, balding man with his arm around a much younger girl who was wearing a T-shirt with his face and the words "Try me!!". The words alongside the image simply read: What my friend made his daughter wear to school for a week as a punishment for coming home past curfew. Parenting win?
Well, is it a "parenting win" to embarrass your child in this cruel and unusual way?
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Personally, I think this is the worst thing that this man can do to his daughter. First of all, it's really not that easy for her to get rid of this "punishment" and simply change once she got to school. Secondly, how is wearing a T-shirt a punishment for breaking curfew? Shouldn't the actual punishment just be that she can't go out for a week? It just doesn't really make sense.
Worse than that, though, I think what this parent isn't considering is the kind of mental and physical damage he may be inflicting on his daughter. For one thing, he may be taking steps to irreparably damage his relationship with his child. This kind of embarrassment can haunt a kid for a long time and, if I were her, I would be mad enough to seriously consider running away. More than that, though, he doesn't know what kind of bullying he is purposefully inflicting on her. I mean, kids are cruel and I can definitely imagine that this T-shirt would make her the fast target of the most vicious of bullies at her school.
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I hate to say it but I knew a lot of bullied kids, a lot of kids who really hated their parents and it was things like this that made them rebel even more and, even worse, depressed and suicidal kids. Has this dad considered the fact that he may be pushing his daughter toward the edge? Personally, that is not a risk that I would be willing to take with my own child.
Perhaps this dad thought it was funny (it certainly looks like he found himself to be quite amusing!) but I consider this bordering on mental child abuse. If your kid disobeys your curfew, then punish her with something curfew-related. Perhaps I am biased because my parents never gave me a curfew. Instead, they trusted me and so I always told them where I was going and when I would be back. I had a driving curfew imposed on me by the state of Florida and that was enough. But even if I wanted to stay out late, my parents would have been okay with that. I know this because their trust in me is what kept me from breaking any rules and disappointing them. Perhaps, next time, this dad can work on his relationship with his child instead of punishing her in the most bizarre and cruel way.
Yes, this was definitely a parenting FAIL.
Image via Imgur.com
