@Jennifer1984 Said
I find the references to Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln somewhat odd in relation to this case. To the best of my knowledge and belief, when they went to school the motor car had not yet been invented so what their parents may or may not have done in the same circumstances is irrelevant.
Be that as it may......
I wouldn't make my daughter walk three miles to school simply because she missed the bus. Behaving in that way is inappropriate and excessive to the point of draconian in my opinion.
No, I'm not suggesting the mother "tortured" her child in any way (an exaggeration I can see being thrown at me from a mile off), rather, she responded to a simple instance of child forgetfulness in an inappropriate way and administered an excessive punishment.
I can't say how the child will respond to this punishment. She may indeed realise that it's a long way to school on foot and be more mindful in the future. Alternatively, she might become resentful and angry about it and not learn any sort of lesson at all except that her mother hurt her and made her a figure of fun at school. Other kids will be sure to have found out about it and might very well make the girl a target for taunts and name-calling.
The police have also over-reacted. Notwithstanding the unlawful driving charge, there was no need to arrest her for disciplining her daughter.... albeit inappropriately....
What's needed in these instances is some common sense. The child missed the bus. Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
Message to Mum: In future, call the school, tell them she'll be late for her first class and then take her in on a later bus. On the way, tell her how she's inconvenienced everybody with her forgetfulness and how she's going to be late now and that's not a good thing. Then tell her she's done a silly thing, but she's not a bad girl. Give her a hug and get her to promise to be ready for school on time in future.
That's how I'll do it if it happens with mine in the future.
No cops. No newspaper articles. No tears.
Simple.
Did you find a site about this story with more info about this ? If so would you link to it ?
I ask because the article I linked to gave no info on the age of the girls , did state that there were 2 daughters and only said that the mom will face the charges when she goes t court , nothing was said about her being arrested.
In my OP I mentioned that lack of details/info in the article and suggested that
if the mom had been arrested the media would spin the story in an ugly light , reporting on the horrible mom and her poor daughters etc.....
You say that you would handle the missed bus with an "Oh dear, how sad, never mind. " attitude and went on to add " In future, " statement . If a kid is missing the school bus because she hasn't developed any time management skills , your handling of the situation will just reinforce what will quickly become a habit , a bad habit . The kid learns that mom will take up her slack and totally adopt the attitude of Oh dear, how sad, oh well, never mind not my problem ,,,mom will deal with the effects of my ripples .
No set boundaries or discipline makes for a very unhappy kid .