Parenting

Parent's Brilliant Punishment For A Bad Grade Goes Viral

by Maria Guido
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A parent, frustrated with their daughter’s bad math grade, decided to teach her a lesson. The parent posted an image of her “punishment” to Reddit:

The post simply said, “My daughter is currently pulling a D- in math. This is her phone.” The image has received over three million views in one day. The parent added in a follow-up remark on the thread, “I promise it’s a matter of motivation.” I’m no parenting expert, but the missing phone would be motivation enough without turning it into a clever art project. But then we all wouldn’t be able to laugh at how hilarious this is.

Teenagers who aren’t keeping up their grades should not be allowed to have access to perks like cell phones. There’s nothing wrong with punishing your child for neglecting her school work. And while I detest the trend of “humiliation parenting” – this is totally anonymous. No one knows who this kid is.

The image was posted to the “funny” subReddit. Some might argue that making a joke out of something as serious as a practically failing grade may not be the best way to go about punishing your child. But can you imagine how annoyed this teenager is — day in and day out looking at her beloved phone behind a piece of glass? If that isn’t motivation, I don’t know what is.

There’s nothing wrong with holding our children accountable when they don’t perform in school. And if this parent hadn’t posted the image to Reddit, millions of people wouldn’t have been able to rip off the idea.

This is probably going to be one of those things parents debate, but I’m in the “brilliant” camp. I’d just recommend now that the parents stop looking at their pageviews and go get their daughter a tutor. I’d also recommend that they really keep the phone behind that glass until her grade goes up.

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