Public Punishment for Boy Accused of Bullying

My hats off to Mom here!! I have no doubt that your son wilk learn a lesson that will never be forgotten!! A mother of two teenage boys myself, it is a difficult to try to instill morals & discpline in young people. With the way people scream about different punishments that were once totally accepted and not questioned to todays "abuse" where there is always someone saying this or that is the "wrong" way to deal with it. My hats off to you Mom! I only wish I would have thought of it!!!!

Now all his mom has to do is whenever this young man does something good, get him back on that corner with a sign boasting of his accomplishments with a hat that has a 'A' on it for "Awesome" Kid! That's a must!

Here's a mom who knows how thing can end up for a young man with this kind of mentality. Even if another boy's parents have more money than yours and you don't get the same toys as others... soceity will NEVER say it's okay to steal things if you are poor. In fact most people in prison for crimes that involve stealing ARE POOR!! So.. The only answer that society will accept is to get a job, makey money and buy stuff for yourself. But pay that rent first! Nobody said life was easy! (for everyone). gerard- g4theweb@aol.com

I think it's great and I'll tell ya why. First I have read the same pshycobabal and understand that many of your negitive reactions to this is really steming from a personal over exposure to personal pain you, yourself has experenced but lets not transfer your issues to this situation. This mother knows her son very well. She was there with her son to motivate and nuture him through the experience. I am sure his lessons will be many but perhaps the biggest one is how mom stood up for him and too him. That as a parent your humilation comes often through your kids. Many parents would hide from this offense but it takes a far greater love to drive home the seriousness of what the kid did. This mother is brave and knows her child's life situation & additudes far better than any of us looking from the outside in. I believe in protecting the every child from abuse but in this case mom seems to understand that her son's will needed this time and punisment. It more likly that the children who have a sense of no boundtries are really the greater danger to themselves and their society. So when you want to point your finger and accuse this mom of being too harsh I would take a second look and think about how she has taught her son that there is a push back when you take or harm someone else. That's not abuse but thats the job of a parent. A parent who knows her son, family and circumstances far better that you or I could imagine or position ourselves to. The greater crime would have been if the parent tried to blame everyone else for her son's actions. She is teaching him that he and he alone is responsible.I don't this would work for every young person but I do think that this mom understands her son far better and everyone else who seems to be up in arms should go buy him an Ipod with unlimted downloads for Christmas. That would a be great lesson. steal and be rewarded.(I hope you know the last sentence was sarcasim, even if I can't spell it) Jason Stone ythserver@aol.com

I think it's great and I'll tell ya why. First I have read the same pshycobabal and understand that many of your negitive reactions to this is really steming from a personal over exposure to personal pain you, yourself has experenced but lets not transfer your issues to this situation. This mother knows her son very well. She was there with her son to motivate and nuture him through the experience. I am sure his lessons will be many but perhaps the biggest one is how mom stood up for him and too him. That as a parent your humilation comes often through your kids. Many parents would hide from this offense but it takes a far greater love to drive home the seriousness of what the kid did. This mother is brave and knows her child's life situation & additudes far better than any of us looking from the outside in. I believe in protecting the every child from abuse but in this case mom seems to understand that her son's will needed this time and punisment. It more likly that the children who have a sense of no boundtries are really the greater danger to themselves and their society. So when you want to point your finger and accuse this mom of being too harsh I would take a second look and think about how she has taught her son that there is a push back when you take or harm someone else. That's not abuse but thats the job of a parent. A parent who knows her son, family and circumstances far better that you or I could imagine or position ourselves to. The greater crime would have been if the parent tried to blame everyone else for her son's actions. She is teaching him that he and he alone is responsible.I don't this would work for every young person but I do think that this mom understands her son far better and everyone else who seems to be up in arms should go buy him an Ipod with unlimted downloads for Christmas. That would a be great lesson. steal and be rewarded.(I hope you know the last sentence was sarcasim, even if I can't spell it) Jason Stone ythserver@aol.com

WOW! What a great idea! The mother is NOT denying her son's actions and that's great! More of us NEED to quit sticking up for our children and make them LEARN to pay for their bad deeds. Bet that boy won't think of bullying another child AGAIN! Way to go, mom! Your great! I don't care what anyone else thinks that you were wrong, I THINK YOU DID IT RIGHT! GOD BLESS!

I hope this child has someone positive in his corner-a teacher or a member of his religious community or family- who can nurture the good in him and help his spirit soar while helping him behave in appropriate ways. Our community has a responsibility to help the family and to stop this type of abuse. I also wonder where protective services were.

edehayes. In parenting, there are logical and natural consequences ... and there are abuses and humiliations. Forcefully DEGRADING your child, as did this mother, is ABUSE.

(continued) I can only hope that this mother’s child has the spirit of a Mandela coursing through his veins.

(continued) But what’s happening on the individual child level? Alice Miller, recognized world-wide for her work on the causes and effects of childhood traumas, writes that many notoriously destructive people are “precise demonstration(s) of what happens to millions and millions of children the world over in the name of good parenting.” “Inside every dictator, mass murderer, and terrorist cowers the humiliated child they once were, a child that has SURVIVED THROUGH THE COMPLETE AND UTTER DENIAL OF ITS FEELINGS OF HELPLESSNESS. But this complete denial of suffering once borne creates an inner void. Every newborn needs to love, be loved, protected, and respected … if maltreated by cruel upbringing he will develop the very strong wish to take revenge…Very many of these people will never develop a capacity for normal human compassion… I would hasten to add that creative inspiration and hope are victimized no less severely. Imagine the child who is humiliated for experimenting with coloring the wall of his bedroom green. Imagine the great courage it would take for this humiliated child to risk expressing the whisper of another creative idea come to mind. Miller advises us to be wary of the parent guided by the fairy tale that talks of "devil's children" who need to be chastised to become obedient and nice. Turning her attention to this parent, Miller warns, “parents may avenge themselves unconsciously for the suffering of their own childhood, sufferings they never came to terms with because they have denied their very existence.” It’s clear to Dr. Miller that “we must go in active search of different forms of communication, forms based on respect rather than the desire to inflict new humiliation by punishment…We need to gather the courage to look deeply within ourselves and confront the wellsprings of horror. We need to spread this new knowledge … that by humiliating children we inevitably create fertile breeding-grounds of violence.