Despite our want to believe otherwise, none of our children are flawless.
Although I’m not arguing that most parents aren’t doing a good job—the majority are—childhood is a learning period, and all children will make mistakes they may come to regret.What matters most is not just what occurs, but also how the youngster grows and learns from those mistakes.
We establish the idea of punishment at a young age for this very reason: when a child does something wrong, they must bear the repercussions of their actions. They learn a basic lesson from it, and maybe they won’t repeat the same behavior.
Of course, punishments can vary in degrees, ranging from a metaphorical slap on the wrist to methods that the offending child won’t likely forget.
In any case, one dad’s choice for his daughter certainly sits in the latter of those two categories. She was caught making fun of another student at school who had lost all of her hair to chemotherapy. When her dad found out, it’s safe to say he wasn’t impressed.
He decided to take steps to ensure she never did it again. He shaved her head bald, so that she’d know what it felt like to be in her victim’s shoes.
Needless to say, his method of rebuke has drawn plenty of criticism online, but he isn’t phased by any of it. On the contrary, he told CafeMom that he thinks it was a perfectly acceptable reaction.
He also told CafeMom that his daughter is dating the other girl’s ex-boyfriend, which contributed to the drama that played out.
“They were having an argument in class about stupid teenage gossip regarding my daughter’s boyfriend. At some point the other girl mentioned how my daughter’s boyfriend was just using her for sex (this was actually a big shock to me as I had no idea she was sexually active) and called my daughter a slut.