What do you think about this punishment (details inside)?

Good for dad!

Love it, need more of it.

Anything that will curb bullying is OK in my books.

Because it’s a reaction to bullying, and led to a good outcome, I quite approve.

Also because it’s a case of natural consequences: your awful behavior on the bus causes you to be unwelcome on the bus, and if you’re so tough and hostile, you can run to school.

1) He caused problems on the bus, so shouldn’t be on the bus.
2) He has to get to school.
=> go ahead and walk/run. Dad’s not bailing him out – good!

The ends don’t always justify the means, so I’m not one to sign up for “anything that will curb bullying” or “a reaction to bullying [so that makes it okay]”. And I don’t know – nor am I interested enough to look into the specifics to see – what this father did on a micro level to get his son to run to school, how he enforced that, and what his own punishments were (or might have been) if the son had failed, refused, not run fast enough, etc.

So I’m not in favor of “anything goes”, not even “if it saves just one life” ... etc.

I’m in general favor of parents holding their children to higher standards than they might find if left to their own devices. No more Lord of the Flies for me, thanks.

I approve of parents being better parents, and let’s leave it at that.

@CWOTUS

http://abc7chicago.com/family/man-forces-son-to-run-to-school-in-the-rain-for-bullying/3185244/

Thanks. I’m still not that interested in hearing some journalist’s and editor’s story on the story. My point is that unless I’m intimate with the family – or one of the principals (or on a jury that’s empaneled to hear a criminal or civil case against him) – then it’s not my place to judge.

It seems the son may have learned his bullying ways from his father.

Sounds like a good punishment for bad behavior.

Make your kid look like shit for youtube views. Like father like son.

It got the childs attention and corrected the attitude without any kind of harm to the child. If it continues to work then it has done its job with minimal interference,. Go for it.
A) Child has to attend school
B) Attitude (being a bully) makes take bus to school no longer a valid option
C) Child still has to attend school but his actions have eliminated the easy option.
D) Get your butt to school the best way you can and in a timely fashion: to whit Run.
E) Adjust your behavior and get to ride the bus again.
F) Problem solved for the benefit of all.

Let me see… Healthy legs, boosted immune system, fresh air, possible beautiful scenery, possible meeting with new friendly faces…, Well! Sounds more like he has the advantages he hasn’t realized yet. As for whether or not he’ll learn his lesson will have to depend on whether or not he enjoys this kind of ‘punishment’.

Or you know. Talk to your fucking kid and tell them how what they did is wrong. And try to fix the situation with words.

This insane infatuation with punishment is why so many people are in jail here compared to other countries. IT IS FUCKING INSANE… And now I understand it.

Some of you I thought were reasonable.

But you are all.. Post a video of a kid on youtube where they are punished. It is like a game of wet-cookie but you are handicapped with a snicker-doodle in your mouth.

If you think this is good parenting I hope CPS pays you a visit. Because you are incompetent.

Yes to @johnpowell‘s response.

He and I don’t often agree on a lot, but I think we do on this.

I’m generally opposed to the whole concept of “punishment”. I understand it, and even though my childhood was a generally good one – oh, hell, it was “very good” – I was exposed to a certain amount of “punishment” for disobedience. And I’m not saying that it was undeserved, either. Mostly it was in the form of spankings by my mom in the heat of a moment, but for serious offenses it was, “Wait until your father hears about this,” followed by a hard spanking “in cold blood” when he laid down the law.

I loved my parents, and I didn’t often fear them, but those times when I had to “wait until your father hears about this” and then suffer those consequences… those were hard hours. And I fully realize that compared to other kids who were beaten, hit with belts, sticks and worse – I had it easy – but for me in my world then, that was “hard time”.

And now… with our prison populations growing, and recidivism also increasing (not to mention the stigma of what a prison sentence does for a person’s future) ... and more talk of law and penalty and punishment. What’s the point? Why do we continue to “punish” when it seems to do more harm than good, and when it doesn’t make the problems better? Are we so addicted to the brain chemistry in our own brains when we hear of someone’s punishment that we celebrate it and want more of it? It seems… insane to me. And it’s one of the basic principles of our society.

A lot of people point to the Bible and the “spare the rod and spoil the child” philosophy. But I think that they entirely misunderstand the purpose of “the rod” in a sheep-herding and goat-herding society: the rod – which is a real tool for the herdsman – is not for beating the flock, but for “guiding” them. And kids need guidance, too. Apparently so do some adults.

Getting back to the OP, if this was a “guidance” move by the father as an alternative to corporal punishment, and if the child was not damaged (by the actions themselves or whatever parental action was used to enforce the child’s actions), then it’s probably a good thing and worth celebrating.

But we talk of it as “punishment” ... and I think that people entirely miss the point. We don’t need more punishment of children, although some of them need more guidance.