@white_swan53 Said
I am sure ,even though it is not hinted at or stated in the article, that the act of mom driving 50 yards or so and parking on the side of the road , repeatedly was what caught the attention of the cops.
It seems that the majority ,75 %,of the people who have read this short article think it is " Ridiculous" and after reading some of the comments, what they think is ridiculous are the child neglect charges.
The very fact that the mom was found about 50 yards away from her daughters . It seems and this is pure assumption on my part, what mom was doing ,was driving ahead and pulling over and parking on the shoulder of the road to wait for the girls to 'catch up' then mom would drive ahead again ,pull over, park, wait ,repeat . If I'm assuming correctly, mom was not obstructing traffic at any time and the girls were never out of mom sight, that cancels out the child neglect charge. And since mom wasn't cited for obstructing traffic, it's a safe bet that she wasn't obstructing traffic. I haven't read every comment but haven't come across anyone disagreeing with the driving without a license charge,
I personally think that making her daughters walk to school as punishment for missing the bus is a case of ' the punishment fits the crime' so to speak . In the short term , It teaches the girls that managing their time in a way that allows them to catch the bus is important, in the long term , good time management skills is a very important part of life as an adult . the mom choose a way to teach her daughters a very important lesson on responsibility , time management , and being where they need to be at a certain time of day all without any pain or suffering for the girls. And really can anyone disagree that there are health benefits to a 3 mile walk ?
So in this instance there as no " proverbial "big stick" used , there was nothing to instill fear of their parent in the girls .. It could be assumed that the walk may have made the girls roll their eyes and use a grumpy tone of voice when talking about mom making them walk.
But eye rolling is a girl thing , I know this because I raised a girl . My girl rolled her eyes at everything that she didn't appreciate ,it started about the time she learned to walk and talk . By the time she hit her pre teens, she had perfected the act of eye rolling to a fine art.( to the annoyance of just about every male in her world )
For my own FYI, in your opinion , how many times of missing the bus would it take for the act of 'missing the bus ' to stop being a trivial matter and become a real problem for who ever was responsible for getting the girls to school on time ? a few weeks, months , a couple of levels /years ?
Some interesting points and I take them on board entirely. It just goes to show how two people can read and interpret something quite differently.
As the parent of a small child - albeit not yet of school age - I can see your points about wanting to instil good habits by example. And yes, rolling the eyes is a girl thing. I used to do it all the time to my mother <laughing>.
My little girl is a little too young to have perfected the art of eye rolling, but I'm sure she'll get there in the fullness of time. I don't mind. If that's the worst thing she ever does to me as a parent, I'll figure I've got off pretty lightly.
But getting back to the issue at hand, a three mile walk may not be a big deal to a healthy, fully grown adult but to a small child it is significantly more difficult and it's quite possible that the child could become physically distressed. Once again, it's about proportion. As the saying goes: Walk a mile in the other person's shoes....
When I see articles such as this, I ask myself, would I do this to my own little girl..? Would my parents have done this to me..? The answer is no on both counts. And yet, I have no difficulty keeping good time.
I appreciate you have your way of doing things and I have mine. It's good that we can relate our differences. But when you say "The punishment fits the crime", I think that calling it a crime at all is somewhat excessive. I read it as a simple case of childish negligence, or forgetfulness or perhaps even naughtiness. But crime..? Isn't that a bit strong..? I think that attaching an excessive interpretation to an event leads to making an inappropriate response.
I also take your final point too, about "how many times does it take... etc". Well, I don't think it will get that far with my daughter. She can be a little madam at times for sure. But she is smart and learns quickly. She's realised that good behaviour and doing things when she's told to do them gains approval.... smiles from mummy.... and occasionally, reward. Bad behaviour is not approved of.
Example: When she painted on the lounge wall once, I made it pretty clear that she'd been naughty. Then I told her that she wouldn't be going to the swimming pool that day (she loves the swimming pool.... she's a real water baby..!!) because I now had to spend the time when we should have been going out, cleaning the paint off the lounge wall.
I left her to mull on that while I cleaned the wall (actually, it didn't take long) but after that, we sat down and painted together on paper. She'd been upset by not going to the pool... so the message had sunk in...... but a punishment can only go on for so long. Once it has had its desired effect it should be over. Not needlessly prolonged
She painted a picture for me. I told her how clever she was, and that I loved it. I gave her a big hug then I put it on the fridge door (every mothers' art gallery is her fridge door, right..?). We went to the swimming pool the next day. She hasn't painted on the lounge wall since, but now you can't see the fridge door for "Megan Pollocks" as my wife calls them.
Do you think I was soft on her..? I don't think so. She was made to know that she'd been naughty and that naughtiness carries a penalty. But even when she is being punished, she is still loved and that mummy will teach her how to do things the right way with fun.... and that doing things the right way gains approval instead of punishment. I think what I did was appropriate and that it had the desired effect in that it has (so far, lol) corrected the improper behaviour.
Kids.... who'd have 'em, eh..? <laughing>