Buzz
A plethora of resources exists to guide parents in disciplining their unruly children. While some advocate for strictness and consistency, others opt for a more empathetic approach. Methods like time-outs, positive reinforcement, and family discussions may help foster stronger bonds between parents and children. However, when these methods don't yield results—something that happens often—parents sometimes turn to far more drastic measures.
10. Mandatory Basketball Sessions
In the struggling town of Huntingdon, Tennessee, many parents find themselves unable or unwilling to actively guide their children's upbringing. Faced with behavioral challenges, they often lack the tools to enforce discipline. Enter the Carroll Academy—an alternative school run by the county juvenile court, funded by the state's Department of Children’s Services, which steps in when traditional methods fall short.
Aside from implementing strict disciplinary measures to keep students on track, the school's director, Randy Hatch, also recruits them to join the basketball team. Unless they have a legitimate medical excuse, participation is mandatory. Skill level doesn't matter; the goal is to teach the kids valuable lessons in perseverance, teamwork, and dedication.
9. Physical Punishment
Thirty-one countries have passed laws making it illegal to physically punish a child, including several African countries, New Zealand, and Sweden. However, in the United States, there are no laws specifically prohibiting corporal punishment at home. For some, the line between spanking and child abuse can be hard to distinguish.
The debate around spanking often stems from the belief that any form of spanking equates to beating. This was certainly the case in 2004 when William Adams, a Texas judge, was caught on video violently beating his teenage daughter for eight minutes as punishment for using the internet without permission and downloading music illegally. Ironically, Adams specialized in child abuse cases.
8. Humiliating Clothing
When a mother in Murray, Utah, found out that her teenage daughter had been mocking other students for their unusual outfits, she took action beyond just telling her daughter to stop. Instead, she wanted to teach her daughter a lesson in empathy. So, she went to a nearby thrift store, spent $50, and bought a whole new wardrobe that her daughter was required to wear to school for two days.
The outfit consisted of grandma-style prints with polka dots and flowers, large ruffled collars, and calf-length skirts—exactly the kind of attire that would guarantee the teenager would be ridiculed. After enduring the two-day punishment, the teen assured her mother that she had learned her lesson and promised not to bully others again.
7. Deprivation of Food
Earlier this month, a preacher and his wife in Smethport, Pennsylvania, requested that a judge dismiss charges of child endangerment against them. The judge ruled that Mark and Susan Hooper were subjecting their three adopted children to a cruel form of punishment: starvation.
Their nine-year-old daughter had run away and informed the police that she was frequently denied food until she completed her math homework. She was severely underweight and suffered from several growth deficiencies, including having the bone structure of a five-year-old. Her 11-year-old sister and 10-year-old brother also testified that they were forced to beg neighbors for food, as they only received one bowl of oatmeal per day.
6. Neglect and Desertion
All 50 states have laws that allow parents to safely surrender their newborn infants at designated locations such as firehouses, police stations, or hospitals. These Safe Surrender or Safe Haven Laws are meant to prevent parents from abandoning their children in unsafe places. However, Nebraska overlooked adding an age limit to its law.
This oversight led to a troubling trend in September 2008, when parents in Nebraska began abandoning teenagers. The first case involved a 14-year-old son left at a police station. Then, two boys and a girl were dropped off at a hospital, followed by another 15-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl. The largest incident involved a grieving single father, who left nine children, ages one to 17, at an Omaha hospital.
It was discovered that parents from Michigan, Georgia, Iowa, and Arizona, struggling with out-of-control teenagers, were traveling to Nebraska to abandon their children. Nebraska quickly amended the law to include an age restriction, but only after 30 teenagers had been abandoned in just two months.
5. Changing Diapers
In May 2012, residents of Fridley, Minnesota, were shocked when a 12-year-old girl was seen running down the street wearing nothing but a tank top and a diaper. Her head was also shaved. This strange punishment was a result of her failing grades on her latest report card. Her mother and stepfather forcibly held her down, shaved her hair, and threatened to harm her if she didn’t wear the diaper.
When the authorities arrived, the girl's parents did not express regret, but they were remorseful when both were arrested, charged with malicious punishment of a child, and sentenced to a year in jail. The judge described the 'diaper duty' punishment as an 'assault on her dignity.'
4. Public Humiliation with Signs
Earlier this year, two children, Unique Caruthers (11) and Xacherey Scott (14), stood on a street corner in Indianapolis holding cardboard signs. These weren’t your usual 'Will Work for Food' type signs. Instead, Unique’s sign read: 'I am a thief. I stole from my mother and family. I can’t be trusted. If you see me on the streets, watch out because I am a thief.' Xacherey’s sign said: 'I am an accomplice to a thief. I help steal money from my stepmom.'
Indeed, his stepmother was there, instructing the boys to remain standing as punishment for stealing a $50 gift card from her dresser to buy ice cream at Dairy Queen. That money was intended to pay the family’s gas bill, and in the Caruthers-Scott household, where 11 children live, every penny counts.
3. Abduction
In truly desperate circumstances, parents may resort to extreme measures to control their children. Mr. and Mrs. Levy were at their wit’s end with their 15-year-old daughter Shannon’s rebellious behavior. She was drinking excessively, having relationships with older men, smoking marijuana, and failing her classes. Worse still, she refused to listen to her parents and was openly disrespectful toward her mother.
After nothing else worked, they made the drastic decision to hire someone to abduct their daughter in the middle of the night. The kidnappers were affiliated with a behavior modification camp called Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. That night, Shannon was taken to Jamaica, where she spent a year away from her parents and endured a strict program of schooling, therapy, labor, isolation, discipline, and even more discipline, all at the cost of about $40,000.
From the outside, perched on the edge of a cliff in Treasure Beach, Jamaica, the camp may appear to be a high-end resort—until you notice the barbed wire, security cameras, and the eerily quiet teenagers walking in gender-segregated lines, dressed in camp-issued uniforms and flip-flops. These flip-flops were intentionally designed to make it more difficult for the teens to escape.
2. Selling Priceless Belongings
In 2008, Jane Hambleton from Des Moines earned the title of 'meanest mom'—a label she gave herself in an advertisement published in the Des Moines Register, where she attempted to sell her 19-year-old son's car. The ad read: 'OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love their teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom, who needs to get a life, found booze under the front seat. $3,700 or best offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.'
Indeed, while searching his car a week earlier, Jane discovered alcohol under the driver's seat. Although Steven swore the alcohol wasn’t his, Jane still chose to punish him by selling his prized possession—even though she believed his claim.
