A Sign of Good Parenting
A 16 year old Florida boy got stopped by police for doing 107mph in a 55mph zone. He hasn’t been to court yet, but he’s begun serving the sentence ordered by mom. In addition to having his car taken away, Adam Clark stands along the road near his high school wearing a sign that says “I was stupid. I drove over 100mph and got caught. Thank God! I could have killed me and my friends.” I doubt Adam will ever forget the incident, and hopefully will think twice before putting the pedal down when he gets his car back. Mom says he’ll be out there every day before and after school for the rest of the month. Some will whine that it’s cruel, but I believe if more parents took an approach like this the courts and jails would have a lot more vacancies. Good job mom!
Loading …
Amen. Need to see more mom’s out there doing stuff like this. Glad to see she’s enforcing it too.
My son hasn’t done anything this bad, but thanks for the idea just in case he does.
Congratulations to the parent. A good effort to teach youngsters
Good for mom! When my oldest son was 16 he got got for underaged drinking at a high school dance. So his punishment was he wansn’t allowed to go to any more dances for the rest of the year and if I ever caught him drinking again, I informed him that I would be his date for his prom.
I guess it worked, I never caught him drinking again!
I love it! Especially in the teenage years, nothing works better for punishment than embarrassment!
Hopefully my boys will be perfect teenagers(I know, I’m cracking myself up at that one!)….but I will definitely tuck that idea away in case it’s ever needed!
That mom is awesome. What’s better, I’ll bet that boy actually turns out pretty good thanks to this, what some would call “cruel” parenting.
While I applaud parents who stand firmly behind warnings to their kids about the repercussions of inappropriate behavior, I believe it’s incumbent on the parents to make sure that the punishment is not excessively humiliating, in light of the child’s personality. Had I ever been required to serve this type of public punishment I would have been so profoundly mortified that I’d have made myself ill. Fortunately my parents figured this out; they knew that I self-punished much more effectively than they ever could, so they weren’t as tough on me as they might have been. I have two kids; I’d be more likely to impose a public sanction on my son than on my daughter, because he could handle it and learn from it, while she’d just crumble.
I think it is great that this parent is taking responsibility. Being a parent is sometimes hard, so how great that they are creative in their approach.
If my daughter ever does anything like that, this information will sure come in handy
That is so true. If more parents acted instead of coddled when their children get in trouble then, the prisons wouldn’t be filled.
while this was a good move
she parented him and he still made this decision
either this was the first time she punished him
or he has fallen in with a new crowd
because a mom who punishes like that normally
wouldn’t have a kid that would do that
Ridiculous. There are lots of ways to teach your kid without public humiliation. NOT cool at all.
We have all been that young person before. I think that was a great punishment in the days where we get in trouble for punishing our children. She did a great job.
Your words are sage feefifoto…while most just seem inspired by the lesson, you’ve done one better and analyzed with a foresight appropriate to the venue. Well said…..and yeah….I’ve spent a few years dealing with this stuff professionally…LOL….Peace……T
Not only moms, but also dads should be better parents. The first thing we need to give children is love, then discipline and values.
And I’m not posting for the comment link, we have a normal 14-year old male with raging hormones to deal with.
Kim - “I informed him that I would be his date for his prom” That’s genius. I imagine it did indeed work!
Jolene - Good luck with that “perfect teenager” plan. My oldest is about to turn 14 and I’m hoping for the same
Nathan - I agree. If first impressions mean anything, seems like he is a good kid. He’s taking his punishment, and when given the option agreed to have his face shown, admit his wrongs, and accept his mom’s loving intentions.
Feefifoto - Very good point. As a kid, the worst punishment for me was just to know I had disappointed my parents - I was much harder on myself than any punishment. The punishment should fit the crime… and the kid.
Emily - I think your assumptions are probably correct.
Tanya - I don’t agree, but I appreciate your point of view.
Bong - Absolutely, dads are just as responsible for all aspects of parentings as moms. And indeed love should be the foundation and motivation for everything we do.
sure there are other less “humiliating” ways of instilling discipline on your kids, but sometimes, no matter how you try and raise them to be good citizens, some kids just have a mind of their own.
different strokes for different folks, right? probably his mom thought this would be the best way to discipline her son. it’s her son, she knows his personality and only she has the right to say if her ways are good or bad for him.
i think it is great that mom is so closely involved in her son’s life. teenagers are hard to relate to as we get older.
but i think mom’s punishment was a bit rash in this case…not to mention devoid of creativity.
humiliating your child this badly causes long term damage.
i’ll bet in less than five years, this kid hates his mother and barely speaks to her. young kids do stupid things. we, as parents need to teach them and help them learn from their mistakes in an effective and creative manner, and to put them through such intense humiliation is not therapy. it is cruelty.
make sure the punishment fits the crime! and as a parent, think about how the punishments you dish out are going to help strengthen your relationship with your child, as well as teach them a lesson. there are ways of acheiving both!
I think it’s great. He’s an older teenager, not some 10 year old who is yet to develop into his own person. He doesn’t look too humiliated in the picture. I bet this works and he doesn’t do it again.
I don’t agree with the comment that his mother is the only one who knows best for him because there are plenty of mindless mothers, and fathers, who do not have a clue what is best or not.
In this case, however, I think it was fine.
i think a little public humiliation can do wonders. it’s better than being dead. just a month or two ago, there were some high school kids who got themselves killed in florida by driving a beemer off the end of a runway. it was estimated that the driver was doing around 90, wasn’t drunk, but couldn’t see the end of the runway before they went off. the car flew through the air and wrapped itself around a tree. not worth it, in my estimation. i think in hindsight the parents would’ve preferred publicly humiliating their kids.
gond
I think this was great! The mother not only had the responsibility to her son to discipline him, she had a responsibility to the other parents of the other kids in the car. We all have a tough job of parenting and need to know that our kids friends parents are doing their part too.
And as for the humiliation, teenagers do many things much worse than this to humiliate themselves. I think he’s old enough to know the lessen here!
[…] Teen With Stupid Sign to Control Speeding? by Sandra Williams Thanks to Operation Bob (A Sign of Good Parenting) I came across this story about a 16 year old teenager who was caught […]
More kids need this!
I don’t think that you can accurately say this must be a first time she’s punished like this. I’ve always been rather strict with my kids and have kids who are normally very well behaved. That didn’t stop my son from wrapping his car around a telephone pole (thankfully he’s fine) though, sometimes kids just push the limit and the only thing to do is try to prevent it happening again.
I say bravo, its time for parents to do whatever it takes to help their kids make smart safe decisions.
If Your Child Is Going To Act Reckless, Endangering Him/Herself Or Someone Else, Then That Sign Should Be A Lot Bigger and A Lot Heavier, So That His Arms and Muscle Can Burn And Ache. and If They Refuse, There’s Always Standing In The Street In Their Underwear, Carrying Another Sign Saying Why He Is In HIs Underwear For Being Disobedient And Not Listening the first Time . . . Look At This, Teen Stupidity just makes me want to Babble.
Well, it is interesting to hear everyones views. I am Adams aunt and my 14 year old son was the one in the car with Adam when this happened. Adam is a wonderful kid, smart, well-behaved, responsible….but still a kid. All kids make mistakes, regardless of how good the “parenting” is (Emily). In these days and ages, it has become tougher to “parent”…kids are bolder, they know how to work the system, run all over the parents, you can’t spank, etc. So I think this “creative parenting” is great. My mother in law turned me on to this years ago. Another example of creative parenting she came up with, which I hope you all will enjoy, is when my kids (boy and girl) continually were fighting with eachother….she made them sit in the corner and hug eachother for an hour. Wow, it was great! And let me tell u, I still use that threat today! They quit bickering right away. I will also say, this lesson Heidi taught….she taught not only her son, but mine too….as well as many more at that school….and that is “actions have consequences”. Thank god the consequence was not a dead kid, and only a lesson in dignity. Adam was never opposed to the sign, in fact he agreed with it. And this lesson made a lasting impression, one that will stick longer than a week. My son was originally told he might have to hold a sign also with adam that stated, ” I was with stupid”….because he was in the car egging him on when he was speeding. He learned his lesson thru adam…and I thank Heidi for that.
Jen - thanks for stopping by. You’re obviously closer to the whole thing, and the people involved, than any of us in cyberspace. Thanks for sharing. I absolutely love the hug for an hour method. That’s awesome!
I love my son. We’re pals, we have a ton of fun together. But he’s a total nutjob and I fully expect the first thing he’ll do when he drives by himself is see how fast he can go. Our hours and hours playing Burn Out 4 together surely don’t do anything to deter this potentiality.
So if he got caught doing 107 on the damn freeway, I’d stick his ass out on the side of the road holding that sing. In speedos.
You betcha I’d make my son do that!!!!
He turned 16 in Jan. I would much rather him be embarrassed, than to scape him up off the highway and have to have a funeral for him. THAT would be the end of my world…..
Kids make stupid decisions….I was a kid once….and I remember. But I knew the wrath of my parents would not be worth the risk of doing something like this. I can see my dad making me do this….and MORE!!!
Kudos to this mother….more need to be like her!!!
Better embarrassed than dead!
I could have done with the ‘hug for an hour’ idea yesterday! Still, if I need it today, I’ll know what to do …
Excellent Parenting Choice! Thank you for the creative idea to have for the future. (My twins are seven.) It’s not about wanting to embarrass or be mean to a child..it’s about loving them enough to show them right from wrong. Effectively. What a great family you seem to have. Keep it up. You are inspiring.
Fabulous idea! In reference to the negative comments, I feel this shows just the opposite. This is old school go out and get your own switch type of discipline. You cannot make a judgement like that about a parent because every child is different,some are more strong willed. That does not mean she did not parent correctly. Even a well behaved child makes mistakes sometimes. If you think this is not cool at all then this tell me your kids are probably the type our kids need to stay away from.