Mom puts bullying daughter in her place

[pegkerr]

Wow. As a woman who was bullied as a kid and knows how corrosive the experience is, I have to say I seriously admire this woman:

She's taken away the cell phone, she's banned the TV, but when her daughter was suspended for bullying a classmate last week, Ivory Spann felt a new punishment was in order: public humiliation.

After checking to see if it was legal, Spann forced her 12-year-old daughter, Miasha Williams, to spend four days this week in front of several Temecula schools carrying a big sign saying, "I Engaged in Bullying Behavior. I Got Suspended From School ... Don't Be Like Me. Stop Bullying."I felt I needed to do something that would make an impression," Spann said. (Read more)

From what I've read, research seems to indicate that bullying is much less likely if victims, bullies or bystanders feel that it is tolerated. I gotta think this would help. I suppose it might be argued by some that perhaps this would be counterproductive. Is the mother is perhaps "bullying" the daughter by making her do something that would humiliate her? Is this useful in a way that would teach empathy to the daughter? I suppose that it would very much depend upon the child, and the mother is the best judge of that. I also respect the fact that the mother took care to check to make sure that this was legal first.

At the very least, it might spark some useful discussions, if not between this mother and her child, or the child and the victims she was bullying, but between other children (potential victims, bullies and bystanders) and their parents.

Comments

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

I'm also a bit disturbed at the reported cause the sparked the bullying: a racist comment. That does not excuse bullying, but if true, doesn't seem to me to be very far from being abusive in its own right.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I noticed that, too. I commend parents who take action when their kids do bad things...but at the same time, I hope the message here isn't, "Don't stand up for yourself when other people treat you badly."

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Yeah - my first reaction was, so what happened to the girl who made the racist comment? Did anyone check into that and if true, was she punished?