Mother makes son wear humiliating sign after bad behavior

[moosmom]

Kudos to the mother. I think the only way for him to actually be sorry is when the police file charges against him.

[Medusa]

Kudos to the mother. I think the only way for him to actually be sorry is when the police file charges against him.

Unfortunately, that's what it came to w/my friend's son and unless this mom gets a handle on things, it may come to that w/her son, too. He's 12 years old; he knows the difference between right and wrong. I don't necessarily agree w/humiliating him but she obviously was desperate and no doubt there are people just waiting for an opportunity to call CPS if she does something that they don't like or agree with when it comes to disciplining her son, even though they're not walking in her shoes.

[Lori Jordan]

I personaly think the mother went a bit far on that one,I have been in her situation and it frustrates you when your children act out.I have been in every situation with mine,You do the best you can and that is all you can do,There going to make these decisions no matter how well they are brought up.I would never though put my child on a street corner and have them hold a sign,Its disheartning i think.

[pomtzu]

Hmmm - that's a tough one to call. I think humiliating him won't solve the problem. I just hope it doesn't backfire on the mother since he probably has the potential to retaliate against her. It could possibly get ugly.

[CountryWolf07]

Hmmm - that's a tough one to call. I think humiliating him won't solve the problem. I just hope it doesn't backfire on the mother since he probably has the potential to retaliate against her. It could possibly get ugly.

Agreed.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

This reminds me of a something- I worked at a grocery store in high school and my friend worked in the photo center at that grocery store. My husband (then boyfriend), Justin, brought me dinner on my break, but got there early so he went to say hi to our friend in the photo center while he waited for me to go on break. There was a woman there picking up pictures. I guess our friend looked at her funny because she said "you saw the pictures, didn't you?" He admitted that he did see her pictures. She explained that her sons had done something wrong (though I can't remember what exactly, something with ladies underwear) so she made them put ladies underwear on over their clothes for punishment. She thought it would embarrass them, but it backfired. They ended up dancing around, joking, and having fun. The woman ended up busting out the camera and taking pictures of her boys dancing around wearing their "punishment".

Justin and our friend were in a "band" at the time and they ended up writing a song called "Panties for Punishment" about the story the woman told them.

Crazy, but true.

[Twisterdog]

With this child, the punishment didn't work. And I think that is one of the reasons people are coming down harshly on this mother. However, let's say the boy apologized, and said he would never do it again ... and then straightened out his behavior. Would people's responses be different then? I think so.

What works for one child does not work for another, even for biological siblings.

I personally would not have done this with my son. However, I think people need to walk a mile in this woman's shoes before they criticize her too much. At least she did something, she noticed her son's bad behavior and tried to stop it. I know a lot of parents, sadly, that would not.

IMO, nothing is more heart-breaking and sad than watching your formerly wonderful children start down the road to delinquency. And, sometimes, no matter what you do or try, they continue down that road. It leaves a parent feeling like a helpless failure. Maybe this woman has been in that situation with older kids, or has friends with older kids in trouble. Maybe she was trying her best to head off the bad behavior as soon as she could, before it went further. So, while we might not agree with the specific punishment per se, at least she cared and tried.