Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Hey, Village! Fix My Child!


In Park City, Utah a mother, fed up with her 10-year-old son's shoplifting, put him on a street corner for three hours holding a sign that labeled him a thief and listed all the stores that he'd stolen from. The police, apparently, wouldn't take any action because he is too young for juvie. You know, when things like this happen, you have to ask, "Where were the daycare workers?"

The mother's actions back fired though, as this elicited a heated response from the community in defense of the child. Child protective services were called and someone even gave him money as he stood there. I guess you have to pick your village carefully if you're going to depend on it to raise your child.

there is no

7 comments:

Dancer said...

I don't think what the mother did was intirly wrong. She was trying to teach her son a valuble lesson and I do think it could have been affective. I wosen't like she was throwing him out for good. I do think however she could have left the names of the stores off of the box.

Heather said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heather said...

Heaven forbid a mother try and teach her child a lesson to keep him from going down a path which would only lead to a life filled with crime. I am not saying she went about it exactly the right way, but isn't it kind of nice to see someone who is not afraid to punish their child for once? I think far to often, we see lazy parents who have children in this same situation who blame it on the schools or the government. They claim "they failed my child so this is all he has to look forward to for the rest of his life." I would rather her do this than beat him with a baseball bat which there again is all too common in situations like this.

Heather said...

Rachael, I am not sure if you saw I had a blog also. it is http://happyhopkins.blogspot.com/

I will return your call soon and yes. We are still in the same place.

natalie said...

I don't know if I have the answer either but I'm pretty sure public humiliation wont work. Now he's an angry thief who hates hi mother. Freud would have a field day with this combination!
BTW, my sister has a friend who asked her gastroenterologist about the 40 lbs of fecal matter in the colon and he said thats a bunch of crap!

ray said...

Hahahaha! Good one, Natalie. I wonder if my sister ever used that line on her friend, though I doubt it would've gone over well. Have you ever met a vegan with a sense of humor?

Tim said...

Good intentions by the mother, but I tend to agree with Natalie, this won't work. The kid will resent his mother, and the focus for him will be on not getting caught the next time he steals. I don't have the answers either, but I think you have to somehow instill in the kid that stealing is hurtful, and therefore wrong. Perhaps you could have him go back to the stores he stole from and talk with the owners on how this hurts them. Guide the kid then to make reparation -- imagine the positive reinforcement he'd get from the owners.