Parenting can be a tough gig.
And Tough Love an even rougher ride.
But it’s all a vital part of parenting, an essential element in teaching our children about the important stuff in life. You know, stuff like vajayjays and other things, like how to fish…
As such, I loved reading this Circle of Mom’s piece on one mother’s creative approach to dealing with her daughter’s bullying.
Seems the daughter was harassing another student about the way she dressed, tormenting her so much that the young girl didn’t want to come to school anymore.
And this mother didn’t let any excuse stand in her way of helping her daughter learn how it felt to be “on the other side.”
This Good Mom packed her child off to the Thrift store for a new wardrobe.
BRAVO, Mom!!
The story reminds me of a time when Fave was revealing his spirited side, giving us a run for our money.
Um, no.
More like giving us headaches.
And weekly visits with his principal.
We had reserved seating in her office.
Unlike the girl in the aforementioned article, my son was never mean-spirited.
Quite the contrary, he was the class clown.
And hell-bent on challenging an arm’s length of rules he deemed stupid.
His raucous and rebellious behavior bled into pretty much every aspect of his life.
After one too many incidents of horseplay, his driver informed us that if she had to reprimand him one more time, he’d be suspended from the bus.
“When we get home,” I said to him on the way home from his after school sports activity, “you need to pull out the phone book and call the taxi service.”
“Why?”
“Because, that’s how you’re going to get back and forth from school,” I told him, “if you’re kicked off the bus. And you need to know how much it’s going to cost you.”
One of my many Mama Mantras is “I don’t blow smoke up anyone’s ass.”
(And a shameful little plug – but I’ve not been blowing smoke anywheresince I kicked addiction to the curb. Six-and-a-half years ago! BEST. THING. I. EVER. DID!)
My boy knew I wasn’t messing around.
Walking and biking aren’t viable options, at least not for our twenty-first-century lifestyles.
Our house is ten miles from that building.
Yep. It’s hilly.
And living in the northeast, there’s also plenty of snow.
“It’s ten dollars,” he said as he hung up the phone. “Each way.”
I watched as all that tens mathematics practice was finally put to practical application.
“That’s a hundred dollars a week!” he gasped. “I don’t have thatkind of money!”
“Well, guess you better start looking for a job or cut the crap so you don’t get kicked off the bus, huh?”
Problem solved.
“Now, what shall we have for dinner?”
What imaginative means have you used to solve a conflict or problem with your kiddos? Do you have any of those proverbial tricks up your sleeve?
2 Comments on “Better Than Any Beating; a Different Kind of Punishment for Our Kids”
Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic.
May I say again… fantastic?
Thanks, BLW!
If I’d only been that awake, that quick to think during the rest of my parenting escapades… 😉