On February 10, 2012 the Facebook video of a North Carolina father shooting his daughter’s laptop in response to the outrageous message she put on Facebook is getting mixed revues. By some of the comments you’d think he shot her and not the laptop that he purchased for her. I heard a woman say that for the daughter to lash out at her parents there had to be something behind it. This may be true for some but not for all. She could be lazy or think her social life is more important than family life that she’s supposed to participate in. She could have been spoiled and now that her parents want something from her, she’s unwilling to give. I also heard child psychologist, Dr. Michael Bradley, say he’s embarrassing and humiliating his daughter in front of the world and all that will do is incite a rage in her. The man said he’d do it all over the again, he doesn’t care what other people say, his family including his daughter is okay with what he did and that’s all that matters. Even though I own a gun I would not have shot the laptop but that would be my reaction and I don’t judge the man for his.
I have a bigger problem with the psychologist thinking that the daughter should feel rage instead of learning to deal with an embarrassing situation; a problem that will, if it hasn’t already, come up in life. I think the people that were outraged at this man’s response are probably the ones that coddle their children or do not do what it takes to stop their children from gang or other bad behaviors and are a bigger detriment to our society; these are probably the same ones that don’t believe in the death penalty but don’t want ex-cons to be released in their neighborhoods. I believe this man has taught his daughter several lessons: we live in a great country where we all have freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, what you put on the internet will come back to bite you, there are consequences to your actions, you should obey Commandment #5 - Honor thy father and thy mother; if you choose to use a gun – do not shoot it at the object of your rage if it is human, and think twice before you destroy property as you’ll get over your anger and be the one that pays the cost of replacing the object.
In 2011 we had several reports of parents acting poorly and showing their kids the wrong lessons at sports games and during the tryouts. There was the New York (NY) mother who got arrested for threatening little league officials, the coach and school principal because her son didn’t make the team; 50 people who got into a violent melee that required police to be called to a Maryland Little League game; a hockey Dad who killed another parent over an argument about rough play on the ice; a Massachusetts mother who kicked an 11 year-old because he was cheering for the opposing team; a Texas cheerleader mother who hired a hit man to kill the mother of her daughter’s rival so the girl would be so devastated that she wouldn’t try out and thus her daughter might get a position on the squad; a referee in Sarasota, Florida was attacked because of a disagreement over a call, and the Pennsylvania T-ball coach who offered an 8 year-old $25 to injure an autistic child before the playoffs because he didn’t want to use the child for the 3 innings required by league rules. I hear that these cases are extreme but no longer rare. After a game on January 2, 2012 3 Philadelphia Flyer fans assaulted 2 NY Ranger fans (one was a seriously injured Iraq war veteran) just for supporting their team.
On January 24 we heard that both the Baltimore Raven kicker and San Francisco 49er wide receiver that made mistakes in the playoff games received death threats from supposed fans. A father in speaking with his 7 year old upset 49er fan asked his son how he thought the player felt. The boy after thinking about it wrote and told Kyle Williams that he felt bad for him but for him to remember that he had a great year and that he’s awesome; the boy said it’s only a game. This lesson obviously was not learned by the older set as on February 6 1,500 University of Massachusetts students rioted in Amherst due to the New England Patriot’s loss to the NY Giants, police used smoke bombs to disperse the crowd; 14 were arrested.
In 2011 we had a NY mother who after having no success with the school or law enforcement in stopping her daughter from being bullied set up a fight between her 12 year old and one of the 10 bullies and during the fight she turned on one of the spectators and became the bully.
I don’t know what the heck is wrong with people exhibiting and thus teaching their children bad behavior but I do think the 2 Dads mentioned here taught their children very valuable lessons; I wish there were more like them.
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