*"I abused*& sold drugs"

[Floh]

Knoxville father makes boy wear sign as punishment for using drugs

"I would like to say that I'm not out here doing this to humiliate my son,' the dad said. "I'm doing this because*I love him. We do have an extreme drug problem in America, and maybe it's time for extreme measures that parents need to take to monitor this problem that we have."

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=6390423

I lean towards agreeing to this punishment.

 

[GlitchWizard]

Now little Johnny knows who to go to to get hooked up.

 

[southcitymom]

I lean towards it too, Floh (though Glitch has a point!). This reminds me of an email one of my mommy friends sent to me the other day:

A boy was standing on a street sidewalk carring a handmade poster that read:

"Hi! I am 13-years-old. I STEAL!! I want to go to prison to be with Daddy."

The boy's momma was sitting next to him on the sidewalk in a lawn chair, drinking a soda and giving him "the look."

 

[mrsjonnob]

I dont know... while I think it may make an impression, I think there are more effective, private ways to deal with this sort of behavior.

This public humiliation could make him lash out in far worse ways. Some things, especially where children are concerned, can be handled delicately and privately.

 

[Floh]

Now little Johnny knows who to go to to get hooked up.

Clearly he already knew who before the sandwich board, yes?

 

[southcitymom]

I dont know... while I think it may make an impression, I think there are more effective, private ways to deal with this sort of behavior.

This public humiliation could make him lash out in far worse ways. Some things, especially where children are concerned, can be handled delicately and privately.

I think it does depend on the child - a child of a certain personality type would probably respond positively to this type of consequence. The boy in the story seemed to be chagrined, but not freaked out.

I'd probably make my teenager go to an NA meeting everyday for 90 days...that would probably be way more torturous than what this boy had to do!

 

[Maral]

I dont know... while I think it may make an impression, I think there are more effective, private ways to deal with this sort of behavior.

This public humiliation could make him lash out in far worse ways. Some things, especially where children are concerned, can be handled delicately and privately.

I agree that there are more effective, private ways to deal with this. I don't believe it is right to humiliate your child.

 

[Nova]

Children have a tendency to live up to the labels we give them. God only knows what happens when we make them wear an actual sign in public!

I realize parents are frustrated, but even setting aside how the boy feels, this punishment may well be counterproductive.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

I agree that there are more effective, private ways to deal with this. I don't believe it is right to humiliate your child.

I agree. I think rehab would have been the better option.

 

[T-Rex]

SouthCityMom, that is a really, really great idea. And Nova is right on.

 

[Straitfan]

I agree, whatever it takes, just do it! After raising two boys and trying different things, guess one has to do what they think is best.. I used to attempt communication with other kids parents (works best if the kids know all involved are talking, harder to hide things) anyway it was amazing to me how many parents turned a blind eye to what their kids were doing.. oh well jmo.. Thank God, my kids have passed teen-agers now and seem to be on the right track in life..

 

[JBean]

Children have a tendency to live up to the labels we give them. God only knows what happens when we make them wear an actual sign in public!

I realize parents are frustrated, but even setting aside how the boy feels, this punishment may well be counterproductive.

I have never much been into humiliation as a form of help.

 

[Straitfan]

I agree, JBean but it takes ALOT to humilate some of these teen-agers now days, especially if their dealing drugs. Rehab doesn't work if they aren't wanting it, just a place for them to hang out for awhile as well as meet other "drug dealers."

 

[txsvicki]

I agree that there are more effective, private ways to deal with this. I don't believe it is right to humiliate your child.

I agree. Classmates, neighbors, and teachers would see and could even be dangerous to the child in the future maybe drawing the attention of thugs and cause the kid to be blamed for theft or drugs found on other kids in the future. Public displays of this sort could even draw the attention of pedophiles in the neighborhood to the child. I thought this sort of thing was always considered wrong, like public floggings, A's on the forehead, veils over faces, etc.

 

[White Rain]

As a former drug addict, I have to admit that this would have gave me yet another person to look to when I was hunting drugs...and if this child was an addict I seriously doubt that it embarrased/humiliated him at all. I can say that from experience.

 

[JBean]

I agree, JBean but it takes ALOT to humilate some of these teen-agers now days, especially if their dealing drugs. Rehab doesn't work if they aren't wanting it, just a place for them to hang out for awhile as well as meet other "drug dealers."

HI Straitfan
I guess after raising 5 boys, I just found that this tactic would have been counterproductive for each personality type I had. Each boy is completely different and what worked for some would not work for others.
But this, would have not worked for any of them. This is just public humilation as in less civilized times. This is nonsensical, IMO. there are plenty of humbling consequences that don't include public humiliation.
We can all only use our own upbringing as a yardstick to determine what is reasonable and what is not. My parents would never have done anything like this. There were 8 of us and man oh man they saw it all. But they never resorted to tactics like this, but managed to get through to us in other more productive ways. It sure wasn't easy.
That is the same strategy I used with my boys.As tough as it could be at times, humiliation was not an option.

 

[Taximom]

There are judges out there that assign this kind of punishment as well. I don't care for that either.

 

[White Rain]

HI Straitfan
I guess after raising 5 boys, I just found that this tactic would have been counterproductive for each personality type I had. Each boy is completely different and what worked for some would not work for others.
But this, would have not worked for any of them. This is just public humilation as in less civilized times. This is nonsensical, IMO. there are plenty of humbling consequences that don't include public humiliation.
We can all only use our own upbringing as a yardstick to determine what is reasonable and what is not. My parents would never have done anything like this. There were 8 of us and man oh man they saw it all. But they never resorted to tactics like this, but managed to get through to us in other more productive ways. It sure wasn't easy.
That is the same strategy I used with my boys.As tough as it could be at times, humiliation was not an option.

Humiliation was never an option in my home either....but the belt was...that's what I got, and I was an only child, no one to share the pain with...I would have rather encountered humiliation ANY day than the belt...but like I said, I am a former drug addict...there was no sense of humiliation at all...in fact, dare I say, I and my addict friends I hung around were PROUD of our predicament, looking down at non-addicts and thinking how vanilla they were...never realizing that we were the ones to be pitied(sp?)...but I am willing to bet this action made this teenager all the more appealing instead of someone to shake your head at and feel sorry for.

 

[timetravel]

i agree - this can be very counterproductive - if anything, maybe the kid thinks he's getting off easy....couple of n.a. meeting would do the trick - at least there one remains anonymous....

 

[jilly]

I have never much been into humiliation as a form of help.

Me neither J2 and especially with a drug dealer addict. As a sister of two such druggies (one over dosed when he was 40 and the other presently somewhere on skid row), I agree with Nova, it would be totally counterproductive.