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Parenting is never easy. And being the parent of a teen seems more challenging than scaling Mount McKinley. Short of beating your children to get them to behave, which is something I absolutely do not advocate doing, you do what you can when you can to ensure they make it to age 20 -- the finish line, as I think of it -- healthy and just a bit wiser.
One mom in Wisconsin might be judged harshly for the way she handled matters when she found out her daughter was cutting school. Basically, she followed her around and publicly shamed her until she realized the one safe place she could hide from mom was at school. Judge if you must -- it worked.
Jeannie Crutchfield is a single mother of three. When she discovered her 14-year-old was ditching class, she pulled a move that ALL teens fear: she showed up at Rickilee's school and videotaped herself following her daughter around. In the clip, the 34-year-old mom says, "This is what happens when my daughter Rickilee Durrant can't act right at school."
Rickilee blushes. She asks when she was ditching. And mom has an answer waiting: "Every day this week. And I can show you."
Oh. Snap.
Crutchfield then insists that her little girl hold her hand as they go from class to class.
Oh, and when she got home, she showed her daughter she meant business by uploading the video to her Facebook page.
Was Rickilee embarrassed? You betcha. But her mom's actions actually led to her taking school more seriously. And just to prove how kids really crave boundaries and rules even though they'll swear the opposite is true, Rickilee even admits she knows her mom had to care a great deal about her to go out of her way to do something like that.
I wouldn't think twice about doing something that causes my child a few minutes, hours, or days of shame if it means she'll learn that school attendance is not negotiable. Sure, I'd much rather she go to class because she values her education and not because she fears me, but at age 14, few kids are going to make the right choices for rational reasons.
It's nice to hear of a mom who is not afraid of her child and who doesn't treat her like a peer. At the same time, no permanent damage has been inflicted on this teen, and she will grow up always remembering how much her mom cared about her.
Watch it here:
What do you think about what this mom did?
Image via Christopher Webb/Flickr
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
